ANKA (Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory)

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ANKA Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Category: research Institute
Carrier: Karlsruher Institute for Technology
Consist: since 1999
Membership: Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers
Facility location: Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Subjects: physics
Homepage: http://www.anka.kit.edu/

The Angströmquelle Karlsruhe or short ANKA is an electron - synchrotron in Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which as a synchrotron radiation source is used. Together with KIT, ANKA belongs to the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers .

The part of the name "Angstrom" refers to the old length of the same name (1 Angstrom = 0.1 nanometer). T. is still used today for wavelengths in the area of X-ray and synchrotron radiation.

Storage ring
Panorama of the ANKA storage ring

history

After the decision to build in 1997 at what was then the Karlsruhe Research Center, the first electrons could be fed into the storage ring in 1999 . Operation for internal and external users began in March 2003 with a total of seven beamlines . Since then, improvements have been made continuously. These expansion measures relate to additional beamlines (fifteen in operation, three under construction and more planned in 2013), the ANKA user house to accommodate external scientists, the wigglers and undulators used and partly developed at ANKA, as well as other infrastructure measures .

In the summer of 2015, the KIT Senate announced the decision to no longer make ANKA available to external users in the future and to only use it for in-house research by KIT employees within the Helmholtz programs. Financing problems were cited as the reason.

technology

The storage ring with a circumference of 110.4 m stores electrons at an energy of 2.5  GeV . For this purpose, the electrons (90 keV) generated in a triode are pre-accelerated to 53 MeV by a racetrack microtron and then to 500 MeV by a “booster” synchrotron. In the storage ring there is an ultra-high vacuum of 10 −9  mbar. A beam current of 200 mA is accumulated there and brought to the working energy by further acceleration. The beam current then drops to 150 mA within 16 hours, but is usually "refreshed" twice a day.

The synchrotron radiation is created during the deflection in the 16 magnets that keep the electrons on the ring path, and also in special dipole magnet arrangements with alternating field directions, the wigglers and undulators, which deflect the electrons in a sinusoidal-like path.

A special feature in the structure of ANKA is the superconducting SCU15 undulator , which, like its predecessor SCU14, was co-developed by ANKA. The advantages of such an undulator are significantly improved brilliance of the generated radiation and a variable light spectrum that can be adapted without much effort.

Benefits of synchrotron radiation

Compared to conventional sources of electromagnetic radiation, synchrotron radiation sources deliver a much higher spectral bandwidth and intensity. The radiation covers a continuous range in the electromagnetic spectrum from hard X-rays through ultraviolet, visible light and infrared to terahertz radiation . With monochromators you can filter out certain wavelengths. Since the electrons are stored in the ring in the form of packets, the synchrotron radiation occurs in a pulsed manner. This enables dynamic processes to be recorded in resolution down to the nanosecond range. The radiation is already polarized in its creation (linear or circular) and thus offers a prerequisite for many applications.

Existing and planned beamlines and their applications

Imaging examination procedures

IMAGE
Use of X-rays for imaging processes in 2D and 3D, both statically and dynamically - is still under construction
MPI-MF
Coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, specializing in in-situ analysis of interfaces and thin films
NANO
Beamline in the final stage of construction for high-resolution in-situ X-ray diffraction examinations
PDIFF
Analysis using the Debye-Scherrer method (examination and identification of crystalline substances in powder form)
SCD
Analysis of X-ray diffraction on single crystals
TOPO-TOMO
Location for topography , microradiography and microtomography with white and X-ray light

Spectroscopy

FLUO
X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy , non-destructive, qualitative and quantitative determination of the elemental composition of a sample
INE
Built and supervised by the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal at KIT for actinide research
IR1
Infrared spectroscopy and infrared - ellipsometry into the range of terahertz radiation
IR2
Infrared spectroscopy and infrared microscopy up to the terahertz radiation range
SUL-X
Absorption, fluorescence and diffraction analysis as part of the Synchrotron Environment Laboratory
UV-CD12
Is operated by the Institute for Biological Interfaces at KIT. UV - circular dichroism spectroscopy (structural analysis of biological substances)
WERA
Soft X-ray analysis facility organized by the Institute for Solid State Physics at KIT
XAS
X-ray absorption spectroscopy, XANES (chemical composition of a sample) and EXAFS (type, number and distance of neighboring atoms also in non-crystalline form)

Microfabrication

LEAGUE I, II, III
X-ray deep lithography that works according to the LIGA method developed at KIT . The three beamlines differ in the amount of energy available.

organization

Synchrotron research at KIT is divided into three areas:

  • The ANKA synchrotron with the associated beamlines was transferred to the KIT Institute for Accelerator Physics and Technology (IBPT) in 2016 as part of a restructuring.
  • The formerly independent service unit ANKA Commercial Services (ANKA-CoS), which enables commercial customers from industry and research to use it, was integrated into the IBPT in 2016.
  • The former Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (ISS), which had been entrusted with the operation and further development of the synchrotron radiation source since the establishment of ANKA, was transferred to the new Institute for Photon Research and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) in 2012 . The IPS is still doing intensive research on the facility, but is now institutionally independent of it.

Access to use

Scientific users

In addition to internal users and researchers who are involved in the further development of the synchrotron and individual components (undulators, etc.), external users were able to use the radiation from ANKA for scientific projects. In the summer of 2015, the KIT Senate announced the decision to no longer make ANKA available to external users for cost reasons and to only operate it for KIT's own research within the Helmholtz programs. Use is still possible within the framework of cooperation with employees who work on ANKA.

Commercial users

Commercial use of the ANKA beamlines as well as industrial exploitation and licensing of the technologies developed at ANKA took place via the service unit ANKA Commercial Services (ANKA-CoS) and now directly via the IBPT. Access to the beam time takes place without a peer review process and is possible at short notice by agreeing with the responsible beamline scientist. In contrast to scientific use, the results of which have to be published, the results of commercial use can remain confidential.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ M. Pfalz: New direction for ANKA. Physik Journal , Volume 14, Issue October 2015, Page 8
  2. ↑ Description of the accelerator in the ANKA home page

Web links

Coordinates: 49 ° 5 ′ 48 ″  N , 8 ° 25 ′ 42 ″  E