Nanotechnology

Allectra is an industry-leading designer of precision vacuum components for challenging areas of study, including synchrotron science.

The Synchrotron consists of a large vacuum ring known as a storage ring, typically greater than twenty metres in diameter, in which electrons are accelerated to very high energy. As the electrons travel around their curved path, they emit a very high intensity, broad range of photons (X-ray, UV etc.) known as synchrotron light. This is directed through beam-lines where the photons are focussed, energy-selected and collimated before reaching a target or sample in the End Station.

The light arriving in the End Station can be highly-monochromatic, intense, and focussed to a spot on the nanometre scale. This can then be used for very powerful Microscopes which can see into the structure of materials at the atomic level, for protein crystallography for instance for virus research and even in medical physics for high-resolution imaging of tumours.

As these machines operate under High Vacuum or Ultra High Vacuum (HV/UHV), Allectra components can be found throughout their construction and maintenance. Allectra’s core customers include the researchers at the End Station, the scientists and engineers responsible for the storage ring and the beam-line, and the manufacturers of beam-lines and End Stations.

Most Synchrotron research is open and published in scientific journals. Synchrotron Scientists around the world co-operate and share their knowledge. Synchrotrons have contributed enormously to our scientific understanding in various fields from motor vehicle technology to medical research and treatment and beyond.

Many countries in the world operate Synchrotrons, including DIAMOND in the UK, SOLEIL in France, Brookhaven in the United States, BESSY II in Germany and Elettra in Italy. There are many other machines in, for example, Sweden, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, Russia, Jordan and China. Many other countries around the world are building Synchrotrons because of their vital contribution to scientific, engineering and medical research.