Every child knows it: when we want to see something more clearly, we need to shine a powerful light on it. But at the atomic level, familiar rules start to break down. To see details on this scale, no ordinary light will do. Conventional illumination, even from the strongest of bulbs, is much too dim, its mix of wavelengths too chaotic.
What’s needed is an immensely powerful, full-spectrum source of light, along with the means to precisely control and separate that light into the many wave-lengths it comprises. In short, what’s needed is a synchrotron—a tool so useful and so versatile that it’s been called the “Swiss army knife of modern science.” And now, Canada has one of its own—the Canadian Light Source, located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Housed in a football-field sized building, the synchrotron consists of an electron source that generates a high-energy beam of light and feeds it into a circular ring where it gains even more energy. Branching off the ring are beam lines into which the beam can be diverted, filtered to include only a narrow frequency of light, and then focused on a target. The resulting beam—with the brightness of a million suns—can reveal details and structures otherwise inaccessible to scientists.
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| The Light Fantastic To see at the atomic level, Ontario scientists use light a million times brighter than the sun. |
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Spinning off more than light Light isn’t the only thing that spins off from the Canadian Light Source. Ontario companies were involved in building some of the sophisticated equipment involved in the synchrotron—and the result has been credibility on a global scale. “The CLS contracts,” says Johnsen Ultravac president, Hans de Jong, “have enabled us to become a major international player in construction of synchrotron beam line equipment worldwide.” Following on the heels of the Saskatchewan project, Johnson Ultravac signed a contract to provide the Indian Space Program with high-tech vacuum equipment. |
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The Canadian Light Source is Canada’s first and only synchrotron, the product of many years of lobbying and planning by scientists nation-wide. And because the facility will be heavily used by Ontario researchers, the Ontario Innovation Trust is helping to finance two of the synchrotron’s beam lines and associated equipment.
The newly-completed beam lines will be used for an astonishing variety of research. A few examples: • study of the atomic structure of proteins, leading to the development of new and better drug treatments • analysis of chemicals in mine tailings, leading to better environmental controls and more effective rehabilitation of mine sites • imaging of the human body in unprecedented detail, leading to new approaches to treatment in a wide range of ailments including cancer, arthritis and reproductive dysfunction • study of surface materials, leading to the development of new engine anti-wear coatings for the oil and automotive industry For decades, Canadian researchers have been forced to go to other countries to perform essential synchrotron research. But now, with the opening of a world-class Canadian facility, they can compete in the global arena. And from medicine to mines to car motors, the Canadian Light Source will allow them to throw new light on a host of issues that affect the quality of life for Canadians.
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