LE RAYON DE SOLEIL - N°24 THE SYNCHROTRON MAGAZINE

Contents

Research at SOLEIL 

A better understanding of the tissue degeneration
Tissue degenerations appear at the early stages of many pathologies. Better appreciations allow earlier diagnostics. The repartition of the fibres in the tissues can be measured using state of the art optical photonic microscopy method. The first technique consists in combining fluorescence from two-photon excitation and second harmonic generation microscopy.  A better understanding of the tissue degeneration (395.69 KB)

CAESAR data acquisition on the PSICHE beamline
The name of PSICHE (in French), Pressure, Structure and Contrast Imaging at High Energy, sums up the thematics of the beamline: X-ray diffraction under extreme pressure conditions (whether or not coupled with temperature) and X-ray absorption wide-field tomography (3-D imaging). Here, we will focus on the first application. CAESAR data acquisition on the PSICHE beamline (781.71 KB)
 

Know-how

When visible light serves invisible light
The metrology laboratory in the optics group uses visible light to scrutinize the optics installed on the beamlines. In most cases, the focusing optics are mirrors used at grazing incidence; this is why they are very elongated in the propagation direction of the X-ray beam. When visible light serves invisible light (93.76 KB)

Portrait: Kadda Medjoubi, scientist on the NANOSCOPIUM beamline
Recruited at SOLEIL in the Detectors Group in 2004, Kadda Medjoubi –with a PhD in Physics in the field of X-rays imaging- has been scientist on the long beamline NANOSCOPIUM since 20012. An always highspeed path for a scientist who succeeded in keeping the chilling of his thesis, going from challenge to challenge.  Portrait: Kadda Medjoubi (253.92 KB)

Spotlight on the Operation Group
The operators control the day-to-day operation of the synchrotron. They operate several accelerators and monitor 24/7 all readings to ensure top quality of the beam parameters. They also develop related tools, equipment and software programs. To end they are the first contacts for any safety issue since the control room is a security PC. Spotlight on the Operation Group (700.55 KB)
 

DOSSIER : 

SOLEIL, using light as an instrument (1.08 MB)
Interdisciplinary research and results obtained on:

Nanofocusing at NANOSCOPIUM (p17)
High societal impact research areas, such as biology, earth- and environmental sciences or bionanotechnology are seeking information down to nanometers scale on highly heterogeneous systems often in natural/ in operando conditions. Scanning hard X-ray nano-imaging is getting increasing interest in such research providing morphological and elemental information together with high penetrating power particularly well suited for in situ studies.

CRISTAL Extreme coherence (p18)
Since the advent of the laser, we are accustomed to deal with “coherent light”, a high quality light characterized by its spectral purity and the regularity of its wave front (planar or spherical). Physicists characterize these properties by two lengths, the longitudinal coherence (...) 

AILES High-resolution THz spectroscopy with coherent synchrotron radiation at SOLEIL (p19)
A new operation mode called Low-Alpha is now fully functional and available to SOLEIL’s users. In this mode, the electrons emitting synchrotron radiation are densely packed in very short bunches, which allows for significant advances on beamlines performing time-resolved experiments on fast-changing phenomena. It has also been used by researchers from the AILES beamline to identify the spectral signatures of molecules in the area that lies between microwave and infrared radiation.

Generating ultra-short X-ray pulses with femtosecond visible light pulses (p20)
On September 29, 2014 the first successful observation of femtosecond slicing of an electron bunch in the storage ring of SOLEIL was made. This opens up the door for studies of ultrafast structural and electronic phenomena at SOLEIL. The femtoslicing technique relies on the interaction between a femtosecond short infrared laser pulse and one of the electron bunches circulating in the storage ring
 

Innovations

A Smart Building demonstration project at SOLEIL
Created by the Essonne Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Advancity cluster, the Paris IDF Smart Building network gathers SMEs from the Paris area with a specific expertise in the field of smart building, such as telemetry, flow control and monitoring, automation, and energy efficiency in buildings. A Smart Building demonstration project at SOLEIL (101.84 KB)
 

SOLEIL Science and Society

SOLEIL and cosmetics
Cream, shampoo, gel or lotion, these daily-used high-tech products incorporate the very last scientific advances in order to offer textures, shades, perfumes or new active principles. Quality and effectiveness control must be very rigorous, as well as their safety control. SOLEIL and cosmetics (177.8 KB)