Diamond synchrotron

The UK's new synchrotron, the Diamond Light Source, welcomed its first users in February 2007.

Three times the size of the new Wembley Stadium and the largest UK-funded scientific facility to be built for more than 40 years, Diamond is the result of a £263 million collaboration between the Wellcome Trust and the UK Government that began almost a decade ago.

The facility is run by Diamond Light Source Ltd, a joint venture company established in March 2002 and jointly funded by the Government via the Science and Technology Facilities Council and by the Wellcome Trust. Construction began in March 2003, and operations commenced in January 2007.

A synchrotron is a large, multi-user facility that produces beams of very bright light. This light can be used by scientists to look at the atomic structures of molecules such as proteins.

Diamond produces pinpoint ultra-violet and X-ray beams of exceptional brightness. These highly focused light beams enable scientists and engineers to probe deep into the basic structure of matter and materials, answering fundamental questions about everything from the building blocks of life to the origin of our planet.

The Diamond synchrotron has been built on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, near Didcot in Oxfordshire, UK – a world-renowned scientific research facility. The first seven beamlines have been constructed and an additional 15 are being constructed during phase II; the storage ring ultimately has the capacity for up to 40 beamlines.

The project is managed by Diamond Light Source Ltd, a joint-venture company set up to build, commission and run the Diamond Synchrotron Light Source. Its shareholders are the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which holds 86 per cent of the shares on behalf of the UK Government, and the Wellcome Trust which holds the remaining 14 per cent.