The installation of the synchrotron booster ring has begun at the SKIF installation; it will be launched by the spring of 2025

As the TASS news agency reports, specialists from the Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS have begun installing equipment for the booster synchrotron at the Siberian Ring Photon Source (SKIF) installation. The work is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2025, after which the first experiments at the installation will begin.

General view of the facilities of the SKIF Center for Collective Use. Render. Image source: SB RAS

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The first batch of girders – stands for magnetic and vacuum equipment with a placement error of 70 microns – was delivered to the center in early summer 2024. The total weight of the equipment for installing the booster exceeds 160 tons. In order to maintain the specified and record accuracy (previously, an error of about 100 microns was allowed), a geodetic network was installed in the room, to which it will be referenced during installation.

In total, for a booster ring 158 m long, 44 girders will need to be installed. They will be equipped with equipment for accelerating and focusing a beam of elementary particles. A linear accelerator is also being installed in the injector building. The accelerating and diagnostic elements of the linear accelerator have already been installed in accordance with the design. All that remains is to assemble the vacuum system, the first experiments with which are expected in December 2024.

The SKIF project belongs to the class of scientific projects “megascience”. This is a 4+ generation synchrotron. The unique characteristics of the new synchrotron will allow for advanced research with bright and intense X-ray beams in many fields – chemistry, physics, materials science, biology, geology, and the humanities. SKIF will also help solve problems in the interests of industry.