• Question: What is a synchroton?

    Asked by shrinab to Susana on 19 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      A synchrotron in general is something scientists use to accelerate particles. You can think of it as a very large circle, inside which there are atomic particles moving very fast under vacuum. To make the particles follow a circular path, we put magnets around the ring. When these magnets make the particles change direction, there is emission of radiation and us crystallographers use those beams emitted to study our crystals.
      Here is a video for the one in the UK (Diamond): http://youtu.be/_xv_GwCgpAc

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