Super microscope, Synchrotron

Scientists say the opening of a super microscope in Melbourne will transform Australia's scientific landscape and bring millions of dollars into the national economy. The Australian synchrotron, built in south-east Melbourne, harnesses beams of electrons creating light a million times brighter than the sun which is used in science and industrial research. Medical research director Suzanne Cory, of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, said the synchrotron would change Australian science by turning the nation's "brain-drain into brain-gain". "This synchrotron will transform Australia's science agenda across many fields," Professor Cory said. "People who previously felt they needed to work overseas to get access to a synchrotron for their science will be able to rethink their career plan, and we will attract scientists from other countries to join us," she said. Opening the synchrotron on Tuesday, Victorian Premier John Brumby said it would herald a new era in research. Synchrotrons can be used for research in medicine, manufacturing, mining and mineral processing, forensics, the environment, pharmaceuticals, biology, forestry, agriculture, micro-machining and nano-technology. The Australian project, which is the size of a football field, has been partially running for more than a month.It is expected to bring an extra $110 million a year into the national economy, creating an extra 2,500 direct and indirect jobs, Mr Brumby said. CSIRO researcher Jeff Church says he plans to use the synchrotron to find the cause of Devil Facial Tumour Disease, a deadly cancer affecting Tasmanian devils. He will develop a test to diagnose the disease among Tasmanian devils captured in the field. The synchrotron generates radiation, or light, when an electron beam is deflected by magnets. The light beam is used to probe samples of material.Five beamlines are now operating and four more are under design and construction at the machine site in Clayton, in Melbourne's south-east. Overseas researchers have used synchrotron technology in producing designer medicines, creating flat screen computers and extending the life of jet engines.It has also been used in developing smoother chocolate and more absorbent disposable nappies.There are more than 40 synchrotrons in the world and Australia's rates in the top 10, according to information from the Victorian government, which contributed $157 million to the $207 million machine.Other funding partners include Australian and New Zealand consortia.The federal government has contributed a further $14 million to enable additional capabilities on the initial beamlines.
addendum:
What is a synchrotron device — a sub-atomic particle accelerator.
Synchrotrons are now mostly used for producing monochromatic high intensity X-ray beams; here, the synchrotron is the circular track, off which the beamlines branch.
A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the magnetic field (to turn the particles so they circulate) and the electric field (to accelerate the particles) are carefully synchronized with the travelling particle beam. They were originally developed by Luis Walter Alvarez to study high-energy particle physics.