Imaging using synchrotron radiation

Synchrotron radiation (SR) is the electromagnetic radiation emitted by relativistic electrons (energies of several GeV), circulating in storage rings. Originally SR was an unpleasant side effect, contributing to the losses in particle accelerators. The new, third generation storage ring-based X-ray sources, like the ESRF, are optimized for SR emission. These new machines can produce X-rays with unprecedented features like extremely high brilliance, very small divergence of the beam and wide energy spectrum. Using such a beam allows us to carry out imaging which was never possible or difficult to make in the past. We present some of the approaches developed in hard X-ray SR imaging, and some of its applications in quite diverse fields.