Compact Synchrotron Sources and New X-ray Science Opportunities

Conventional synchrotrons are large-scale (typically hundreds of meter radius storage ring) facilities and cost close to a billion dollars to build and tens to hundreds of million yearly to operate. There are several of such facilities in the United States, and about 50 in the world. Synchrotrons operate as user facilities, granting academic, government and industrial researchers access to instrument time based on peer-reviewed research proposals. Synchrotron X-ray radiation is very intense and has unique properties that make it attractive for cutting-edge research in disciplines ranging from materials science to medicine. They allow real-time in situ observations of chemical reactions and physical processes, determination of crystal structures of complex solids, liquids, and protein biomolecules, and imaging of 3-dimensional objects with resolution better than 1 micrometer. Between 1990 and 2020 as many as 10 Nobel prizes have been awarded in chemistry and physics for synchrotron-related research.

Over the last decade, lab-based compact synchrotron devices have been developed, and some are now available as commercial, almost turn-key instruments, offering many of the advantages of the large-scale facilities, though their usage thus far has been limited mainly to industrial labs and few universities outside the USA. This workshop is related to an ongoing effort to develop the Hawaiian Center for Compact Advanced Synchrotron Technology Innovation and Development (HI-COAST-TIDE) and aims to review existing compact-synchrotron source technology solutions and experience from ongoing projects of this type. It will also showcase diverse examples of user science that can be conducted at compact synchrotron facilities, and offer an introduction to experimental techniques such as In Situ X-ray Diffraction, X-ray Fluorescence and Absorption Spectroscopy, Computed X-ray Tomography and Phase Contrast Imaging, as well as Small Angle X-ray Scattering. The workshop will feature about 15 30-min-long presentations from leading X-ray science experts around the world and will target applications in chemistry, physics, materials science, geology, planetary science, biology, biophysics and medical research.

If you already are a synchrotron user, we hope to show you if any of your research could be carried out efficiently at compact synchrotrons. If you have not used synchrotron X-ray techniques before, the workshop presentations should help you decide if becoming a home-synchrotron user could enhance your research and help addressing key science questions you are studying.