Commissioning and performance of the ESRF

The ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) is a fundamental research institute based in Grenoble, France. Construction of the ESRF source started in 1988 as a joint project of 12 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom). The facility consists of a 200 MeV electron linear accelerator, a 6 GeV fast cycling booster synchrotron and a 6 GeV low emittance storage ring optimized to produce high brilliance X-rays from insertion devices. The project is now well advanced. The electron linac delivered its first beam in May 1991 and reached design performance in the 1 μs pulse operation during the following one month commissioning period. Commissioning of the booster started in September 1991, with the operational energy of 6 GeV being reached in November 1991. Storage Ring commissioning began in February 1992, and progress was extremely fast and promising since, less than 4 months later, the target intensity of 100 mA in the multibunch mode was reached. In July 1992 the first undulator was operated without any effect on the beam and the machine diagnostics beamline was run at the full nominal current with a record brilliance in the 10¹⁷ range. The focusing of X-rays using a bent crystal has also been carried out to a record-breaking level for the spot size (22.7 μm). Components of three user beamlines have already been tested with beam and several more beamlines will be built and commissioned in 1993. The first external users for routine operation are expected for the beginning of 1994