The SOLARIS research team (fot. Emilia Król)

Thanks to dedicated work of the SOLARIS research team, the synchrotron has already created its first electrons. During this process, the electrons are created by a thermionic RF-gun and then accelerated. Afterwards, they enter a linear particle accelerator, in which their speed is increased until it approaches the speed of light.

"We do all of this to produce synchrotron radiation which we employ in our research. Producing these first electrons was preceded by many hours of hard work of physicists, computer scientists and SOLARIS engineers. We awaited the results with bated breath," said Adrianna Wawrzyniak, coordinator of the operation. "There is still a lot of work and testing ahead of us, but this is encouraging – it promises us success in the near future, when we activate the synchrotron," she added.

The synchrotron is being assembled at the Jagiellonian University campus. It is a multidisciplinary device which will allow for further development of research in the field of biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, medicine, pharmacology, geology and crystallography.