Tantalus, a 240MeV Dedicated Source of Synchrotron Radiation, 1968–1986

Abstract

Tantalus was a 240 MeV electron storage ring completed and commissioned in 1968. It was the first storage ring operated exclusively for the production of synchrotron radiation, although it was not designed for that purpose. As such, it influenced the operating pattern for subsequent dedicated sources of synchrotron radiation. Pioneering experiments using synchrotron radiation were carried out on this machine, and innovative instrumentation was produced there. It ceased operation in 1986.

A call for a round robin study of XAFS stability and platform dependence at synchrotron beamlines on well defined samples

“…This led to several meetings (Lytle et al, 1989), a workshop and a report (Sayers, 2000a,b) over a similar time period, however, without a resulting laboratory or synchrotron benchmark or round-robin. XAFS began with local sources (Fricke, 1920;Lytle, 1965Lytle, , 1966Lytle et al, 1975), but it was soon understood that synchrotron sources dominated for the acquisition of high-flux high-precision data sets (Lapeyre et al, 1983;Doniach et al, 1997;Lynch, 1997). Indirectly, this initiative has led to the development of some standard practices at synchrotron beamlines for sample preparation and data collection (Newville, 2004;Bunker, 2010).…”

Current status of the Synchrotron Radiation Center

“…First research at the center used the 240 MeV storage ring, Tantalus, which had been originally designed for eϩ/eϪ experiments. 1 This ring supported as many as ten beamlines during the period from 1968 to 1985, operating as the world's first dedicated synchrotron light source.…”