Abstract

The use of synchrotron radiation has reached a quite mature stage all over the world with dedicated electron storage rings equipped with a large number of beam lines to accommodate an even larger number of simultaneous experiments. The spectrum of the light which depends upon the energy of the accelerated particles covers continuously the electromagnetic spectrum from the infra-red to the ultra-violet up to the soft X-ray and hard X-ray range. The main characteristics are the high flux or mean power, the high brillance, the small divergence, an access to linear and circular polarization, the high spatial and temporal stability and a usable time structure. The interest and the complementarity of these sources with respect to conventional laboratory sources (X-ray tubes, discharge lamps and lasers) is now recognized and explains the growing demand in fundamental and finalized research.

© 1997 Optical Society of America