On 11 September, French Minister of Research and Technology Roger-Gerard Schwartzenberg announced the decision to build the SOLEIL third-generation synchrotron radiation source near Paris.
This decision marked the climax of 10 years of effort to convince French scientific and political authorities to replace the DCI and Super-ACO rings at the LURE synchrotron radiation laboratory at Orsay with a modern synchrotron radiation source.
The project study was started and led by LURE between 1990 and 1996, and developed in a 3 year collaboration aimed at producing a 2.5 GeV machine with a circumference of 337 m and very high brightness. The detailed pre project, costing 70 million French francs ($9 million) including salaries, was completed in June 1999.
Three major obstacles have been overcome in reaching the final decision. First, the reference site of Orme des Merisiers met opposition from proponents of political decentralization from 1992 onwards. Then budgetary restrictions on research quickly led to a successful search for alternative financial sources in different French regions. In this area, LURE made a spectacular breakthrough.
Finally, the categorical no to SOLEIL on 2 August 1999 from the previous Minister of Research in favour of a minority participation in the British project DIAMOND began a pitched battle. The massive intervention of the French synchrotron radiation community, with wide support from scientific and political circles, brought the question into the media spotlight.
In March this year, a French parliament scientific and technological evaluation committee mounted a strong counterattack that was taken up by the Académie des Sciences and numerous scientific institutions. The arrival of the new Minister of Research and Technology turned the tide and helped produce the final decision.
In addition, the authorities of the Ile-de-France Region and the Département of the Essonne decided to increase their financial support to 1.2 billion francs ($160 million) out of a total of 2.1 billion francs including salaries, over an 8 year period.
SOLEIL will have 16 straight sections, of which 14 will be for insertions with undulators or wigglers, and must be able to provide room for a maximum of 40 beamlines including those from the dipoles. The photon spectrum must be wide, with performances of particular interest in the 1-11 keV range, but also on either side.
SOLEIL is a project of nationwide importance, but also intends to be European in scope, bringing in researchers from Spain, Belgium and elsewhere, as has always been done at LURE. Several governments, in particular those of Spain and Portugal, are also examining the possibility of participating in SOLEIL. The project incorporates a dozen innovative ideas, including a monomode superconductor which has been designed and built in collaboration with CERN.
First beams should appear in 2005. In this way LURE will continue its long pioneering tradition at the Orsay site.
