MOLECULAR

Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) necessitates MMRI to build a Synchrotron which is a particle accelerator about the size of 2 football fields. MMRI's Synchrotron will generate and control protons which are harnessed to target the annihilation of cancer cells without the collateral damage of healthy cells.

SYNCHROTRON

A Synchrotron is a huge scientific machine designed to produce very intense beams of x-rays and ultraviolet light. This “Synchrotron light” can penetrate deep inside matter and allows scientists to investigate the world around us at the scale of atoms and molecules.

X-rays and ultraviolet light are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the family of electromagnetic waves: electric and magnetic fields that vary in intensity with space and time. Visible light is the small range of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can detect. Our eyes can distinguish between millions of different colours of visible light, each colour having a different wavelength.

However, there is a huge range of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can’t see directly: radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, ultraviolet light, x-rays and gamma rays.

Throughout the 20th century, mankind learnt how to use the different types of electromagnetic waves. These uses include: radio waves to transmit television and radio signals; microwaves to cook foods; radar to locate moving objects; infrared pulses to remotely change the channel on your TV; and x-rays to image the body in hospitals.

Synchrotron light uses this knowledge and takes it further, allowing scientists to probe further into materials, to investigate smaller objects, and to reveal even more about the world we live in.

Synchrotron Benefits

Many of the everyday commodities we take for granted, from chocolate to cosmetics, from revolutionary drugs to surgical tools, have been improved or developed using Synchrotron light.

This uniquely bright and intense light can reveal, treat and transform a vast range of materials. University researchers are the core users of synchrotron light, but household companies through to high-tech start-ups have already benefited from the data generated by Synchrotron facilities.

How does a Synchrotron work?

At the heart of the Synchrotron is a storage ring: a huge, doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber. Electrons are accelerated by the linear accelerator and the booster Synchrotron and confined to travel around the storage ring at nearly the speed of light. Because the electrons are constantly changing direction they are accelerating, and accelerating electrons lose energy in the form of Synchrotron light.

A Synchrotron produces x-rays, infrared and ultra-violet light of exceptional quality and brightness: a million times more intense than a hospital x-ray machine. These beams of Synchrotron light enable scientists and engineers to investigate the basic structure of matter, leading to scientific breakthroughs in the fields of biotechnology, medicine, environmental studies and material science.

A Synchrotron is a third generation, medium energy source, with an electron beam energy of 3 Giga electron Volts (3 billion Volts). Specially designed arrays of magnets called insertion devices produce exceptionally bright light beams to suit a huge variety of complex experiments.

Synchrotron light is advancing research and development in a range of fields including:

Biomedical - protein crystallography and cell biology;

Medical research - microbiology, disease mechanisms, high resolution imaging;

Environmental sciences - toxicology, atmospheric research, clean combustion and cleaner industrial production technologies;

Agriculture - plant genomics, soil studies and plant imaging;

Minerals exploration - rapid analysis of drill core samples, comprehensive characterisation of ores for ease of mineral processing;

Advanced materials - nanostructured materials, intelligent polymers, ceramics, light metals and alloys, electronic and magnetic materials;

Engineering - imaging of industrial processes in real time, high resolution imaging of cracks and defects in structures, the operation of catalysts in large chemical engineering processes;

Forensics - identification of suspects from extremely small and dilute samples.

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