Free Press: June 15, 1999
INDORE : India joined the select band of a dozen nations on Monday with the commissioning of the indigenously designed and developed synchrotron radiation facility - Indus-1, at the Centre for Advanced Technology here. Only a dozen nations in the world have the capability to design and construct such highly complex scientific facility.
Dr.R.Chidambaram, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy visited the Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) in Indore on Monday (14th June) and witnessed the commissioning of the synchrotron radiation facility Indus-1. Centre Director Dr.D.D.Bhawalkar and other engineers and scientists accompanied him.
Synchrotron radiation is the light which is emitted when electrons travelling at almost the speed of light follow a curved path under the influence of magnetic field. This radiation is extremely bright and is continuous in wavelength extending from infra-red through visible, ultra violet, soft x-rays to hard rays.
The unique characteristics of synchrotron radiation have made it a powerful tool for research in wide ranging areas including surface physics, solid state physics, spectroscopy, chemical kinetics, protein crystallography, x-ray lithography, cell biological behavioural studies and even medical sciences.
The facility constructed at CAT, comprises three accelerators namely microtron, booster synchrotron and storage ring, Indus-1. The entire design of Indus-1 has been carried out indigenously by scientists and engineers of CAT. They have designed large dipole electromagnets for vacuum electron beam to move in a circular orbit.
The microtron requires nearly 5 megawatts of pulsed microwave power to accelerate electrons to an energy of 20 MeV. Engineers at CAT have developed such a microwave source along with associated electronics. The booster synchrotron of Indus-1 also require radio frequency (RF) power at nearly 31 MHz to accelerate electrons further.
Such high power radio frequency system with very stable frequency has also been developed at CAT. Scientists at CAT have designed the RF cavities for booster synchrotron and Indus-1 storage ring and have fabricated both these cavities. To evacuate the region through which electrons move, CAT has developed complete technology of ultra high vacuum.
The design and construction of synchrotron radiation facilities has enabled CAT to develop several other accelerators for medical and industrial application as well as to develop several advanced technologies. A radiotherapy machine using a 10 MeV microtron built at CAT is also under construction. With the experience gained in constructing Indus-1, CAT has now taken up construction of a larger facility. Indus-2 which is expected to be ready for commissioning in the year 2002.
Synchrotron Light from Indus-1
