RI Awarded Contracts from South Korea and Great Britain

RI Research Instruments GmbH (RI), a majority-owned subsidiary of Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies (BEST) has been awarded a contract with the South Korea-based Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL) for the supply of a 500 MHz superconducting accelerator module, as well as the award of another contract with the Diamond Light Source (DLS) in Great Britain for a similar 500 MHz superconducting accelerator module. The value of both contracts together is approximately $5.2 million.

The PAL contract represents the third module ordered for the upgrade of its third generation synchrotron light source, the Pohang Light Source (PLS). This national user facility provides synchrotron radiation with continuous wavelengths down to 1 micrometer. Owned and operated by PAL and the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH ) on behalf of the Korean government the upgrade, due for completion in 2013 will produce synchrotron radiation with 100 times higher brightness.

DLS, the UK’s national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, generates brilliant beams of light from infra-red to X-rays by accelerating electrons to near light-speed (3 GeV). It currently operates three accelerator modules purchased previously from RI’s predecessor, while the new module will initially serve as backup.

Both contracts cover the engineering, manufacturing, integration, testing, delivery and installation of these 500 MHz superconducting accelerator modules.

Hanspeter Vogel, Managing Director of RI Research Instruments, explained: “Including these two awards, RI has now been contracted for 16 such accelerator modules within the past 15 years for light sources and storage rings in Taiwan, Canada, USA, Great Britain, China and South Korea. Based on the design originally developed by Cornell University, RI refined the technology to industrial standards and is well positioned for future applications of this technology in synchrotron light sources and other accelerator projects using superconducting radio-frequency (srf) technology.”