Twenty years in the making, SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) finally began debugging in November. If all stays on track, the light source, located in Allan, Jordan, will open for experiments next year.
“Our fluffy dreams are becoming reality,” says Eliezer Rabinovici, a theoretical particle physicist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “When I touched the magnets, it was unbelievable.”
The 2.5 GeV SESAME will start with two beamlines, one for x-ray spectroscopic studies in the energy range of 3–30 keV and one for investigations in the range of 0.01–3 eV, which extends from the far-IR up to the visual. The machine can accommodate more than two dozen beamlines, some with wiggler and undulator insertion devices to increase the beam energy and flux.
As at any synchrotron light source, the research program will be broad, spanning materials science, geology, biochemistry, industrial applications, and more....
