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The Lyncean Compact Light Source (CLS) is a true miniature synchrotron x-ray source with undulator output x-ray characteristics (inherently monochromatic, tunable, high flux). The compact size (8m x 4m) is accomplished by employing a low energy (45 MeV) electron beam storage ring combined with a sub-micrometer period “laser undulator” replacing the permanent magnets of traditional undulators. The output beam of the Lyncean CLS is axially symmetric with 4 mrad beam divergence, a 4% bandwidth and tunable from 8 to 35 keV by changing the energy of the stored electron beam. It delivers 1010 photons per second to experimental end stations located outside of the CLS shielded enclosure.
The first commercial installation of a Lyncean CLS is at the Technical University Munich (TUM) in Germany. Applications pursued there are primarily Talbot grating based multi-modal imaging and tomography (quantitative absorption/phase contrast, dark field) and high-resolution x-ray tomography. The Lyncean CLS is very well matched to these measurements due to the inherent coherence property, Monochromaticity (no beam hardening + quantitation) and the high flux. Analytical applications using specifically developed multilayer focusing optics have been demonstrated at the Lyncean factory in the USA. Protein crystallography with freely selectable x-ray energy to enable advanced phasing techniques such as single wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD) are possible. Other examples include powder diffraction and small angle scattering to name a few.
Operating the Lyncean CLS has been made extremely simple for users. The complexity of the system is packaged into easy to use interfaces enabling non-experts to run the machine after one week of training. The special characteristic of the Lyncean CLS of producing a truly symmetric and monochromatic beam without contamination by higher x-ray energies (compared to traditional synchrotrons) allows very simple beam transport systems and experimental stations with relaxed shielding requirements to be utilized.
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