Following extensive peer review, the fourth-generation light source (4GLS) proposed for the Daresbury laboratory, UK, has been given the green light to proceed to the next stage of planning. In a further development, the US Jefferson Laboratory (JLab) has shown its support for the project by making available key equipment and technical advice on basic concepts and techniques pioneered at JLab.
The 4GLS team will now prepare a detailed business case and undertake initial design and feasibility studies aimed at full exploitation of the energy recovery linac and free-electron laser (FEL) technical capabilities central to the 4GLS project.
These are both techniques in which JLab has considerable expertise, making an international collaboration a logical step forward. A wiggler magnet array from JLab will form the central part of a test facility that will be established at Daresbury during the initial phase of the project, and will be the first FEL facility to be established at a UK national laboratory. A formal agreement between the two laboratories lays the ground for future scientific and technical exchanges.
