Synchrotrons:
– produce ultra-high intensity light over a wide range of energies from infra-red to visible light to ultraviolet to X-rays.
- the energy of this light can be precisely tuned allowing many different kinds of element-specific investigations
- can be used to determining atomic scale and nanoscale STRUCTURE in proteins, semiconductors, and nanoparticles
- can be used to determine the MECHANISM by which superconductors work, cells respire, diseases infect, and catalysts operate
- can be used to ANALYZE and IDENTIFY trace quantities of harmful substances in lakes, oceans, air, soils, or human tissues.
The Science of Neutrons
Neutrons:
–are uncharged, so they can penetrate deep into materials to give precise information about positions and motions of atoms in the interior of a sample.
–are particularly well-suited to study the magnetic structure and properties of materials.
–are especially sensitive to the presence of light elements such as hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen which are found in many biological molecules.
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