Operation of the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (CHESS)

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project will continue to operate, develop, and improve the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) over the five-year period 1 April 2003 through 31 March 2008. CHESS is a unique national synchrotron radiation user facility that operates parasitically on the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), producing high energy X-rays from the 5 - 8 GeV electrons and positrons in the ring. Since 1998, CHESS has hosted 2516 visits from investigators from all over the world to conduct research in a wide range of science and engineering disciplines in academia, industry, and government. For example, CHESS has been used for investigations of the atomic structure, properties, and time-resolved behavior of electronic, structural, polymeric, and biological materials, protein and virus crystallography, environmental science, radiography of solids and fluids, and microelemental analyses. CHESS is an incubator of new synchrotron science, people, methods, and instrumentation. To date, 449 students have received Ph.D. degrees using data taken at CHESS. In consequence, CHESS is a national resource for new beamline scientists. X-rays are produced as byproducts from the acceleration of electrons to very high energies. This occurs in the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), producing X-rays that are utilized by the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). This radiation can be used to determine the properties and time-resolved behavior of a wide range of electronic, structural, polymeric, and biological materials. In addition, the X-rays can be used to determine the structures of proteins and viruses, for environmental science, and to obtain radiographs of solids and fluids. Many of these pieces of information can be obtained in no other way. For example, time-resolved X-ray images of pressurized fuel sprays have been obtained that may lead to significant improvements in engine performance. This project will continue to operate, develop, and improve CHESS over the five-year period 1 April 2003 through 31 March 2008. CHESS is a unique national synchrotron radiation user facility, which has hosted visits from investigators from all over the world to conduct research in a wide range of science and engineering disciplines in academia, industry, and government. CHESS is an important incubator of new synchrotron science, people, methods, and instrumentation.