Sirius will help attract foreign researchers to Brazil

New Brazilian synchrotron light source scheduled to begin operating in 2019 will contribute to an increase in the internationalization of science.

By Elton Alisson, in Buenos Aires

Agência FAPESP – Researchers in Argentina are currently the main foreign users of Brazil’s synchrotron light source, which has been operating since 1997 at the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) in Campinas, São Paulo State, and is the only such facility in Latin America.

When Sirius, the new Brazilian synchrotron light source, is launched, participation by researchers in Argentina and other countries as foreign users of the Brazilian particle accelerator will increase significantly. Installed in an area adjoining the current synchrotron facility on the campus of the National Energy & Materials Research Center (CNPEM), also in Campinas, Sirius is scheduled to go live in 2019.

The increase in foreign participation was predicted by LNLS Director Antonio José Roque da Silva during a round-table session on large-scale scientific collaborations held as part of FAPESP Week Buenos Aires.

Hosted in Buenos Aires by FAPESP in partnership with Argentina’s National Scientific & Technological Research Council (CONICET), the event brought together researchers from São Paulo State and several different higher education and research institutions in Argentina to discuss an increase in scientific collaboration between the two countries.

“Argentinian researchers now account for 14% of all users of the current synchrotron light source at LNLS, and foreign users are 20% of the total,” Roque da Silva said.

“Once Sirius is online there will be greater interest on the part of researchers from Argentina and elsewhere because the new particle accelerator is designed to be globally competitive.”

Sirius will be one of the world’s first fourth-generation synchrotron light sources, alongside the Max 4 facility now under construction in Sweden, according to Roque da Silva.

The existing synchrotron light source at LNLS is second-generation. The more advanced facilities now used around the world to produce high-brilliance radiation over a wide spectrum, from infrared and ultraviolet to X rays, are third-generation.

One of the differences between a fourth-generation synchrotron light source and a second-generation facility such as the current one at LNLS resides in electron beam emittance, which influences brilliance and coherence, Roque da Silva said.

Because Sirius is being designed to have one of the lowest electron beam emittances among the world’s existing synchrotron light sources, it will generate much more intense high-brilliance radiation and will enable scientists to perform a wider range of experiments with organic and inorganic materials using different techniques. “Sirius will be able to do many experiments that can’t be performed in Brazil today, with a direct impact on nanotechnology, biotechnology, molecular biology, pharmaceuticals and agriculture, as well as other areas such as paleontology and archeology,” Roque da Silva said.

“Sirius is being built with the most advanced technology in the world. It will offer higher brilliance and cutting-edge experimental conditions. So it will attract researchers in many knowledge areas to Brazil and contribute to an increase in the internationalization of Brazilian science.”

Because of its lower emittance, Sirius will operate at a much higher energy level: 3 billion electron-volts (3 GeV), compared with 1.37 billion electron-volts (1.3 GeV) for the existing accelerator, Roque da Silva said.

This means it will be possible to use Sirius to study the structure of high-density materials such as steel and rock. In practice this cannot be done with the existing synchrotron light source because the photon beams it emits cannot really penetrate dense materials.

“The new synchrotron light source will emit far higher energy photons, opening up opportunities for a much broader spectrum of experiments that can’t be done with the accelerator we have today,” Roque da Silva said.

Brazilian design and technology

The LNLS director highlighted the fact that Brazil participates in various international collaborations in different fields but Sirius, like LNLS’s existing facility, represents one of the large-scale international scientific projects in which the leadership is genuinely Brazilian.

The conceptual design, scientific design and a substantial proportion of the instrumentation and technological solutions are being developed in Brazil.

“The construction of Sirius has already begun. We expect to start assembling the accelerator in 2017 and obtain the first beam emitted by the light source in 2018,” Roque da Silva said.

FAPESP supports small and medium enterprises in São Paulo State that are interested in participating in the construction of Sirius as suppliers.

Argentina is also interested in participating in the construction of the light lines that will be used for experiments involving the particle accelerator.

“Today Argentinian researchers participate as users of LNLS through an agreement with CONICET, which pays the expenses of displacement to Brazil by the researchers involved,” he said. “But the research community in Argentina is interested in participating in the construction of light lines.”

For more information about FAPESP Week Buenos Aires, go to: www.fapesp.br/week2015/buenosaires.