I went to "SPring-8", a huge research facility with a total length of 1.5 km that strikes a beam of 8 billion electron volts

HayabusaAnalyzed the particles of Itokawa's asteroid brought back from Toyota's fuel cell researchWakayama poisonous curry incidentUntil the investigation, a huge research facility used for analysis of a wide range of substances "Super Photon ring-8 GeV"SPring-8" was conducting a large-scale facility release event once a year, so I actually decided to go to the site and see the state-of-the-art research facilities that Japan boasts of the world Did.

From the sky, you can see that there is a size as small as one small town.


First of all, we look at the number of "SPring-8" how far it is a gigantic research facility in magnitude as follows.

Area: Approximately three times that of Disneyland, approximately 30 times that of Tokyo Dome
Total length of the device: about 1.5 kilometers
Number of users: Approximately 14,000 people (year)
Total construction cost: 110 billion yen
Electricity bill: about 1.9 billion yen (year)

The location is located in Harima Science Park City, Hyogo Prefecture, across Sayo County and Ako County.

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In addition, I made this facilityRIKEN Independent Administrative Institution(RIKEN), driving and maintenance etc.Public interest Foundation corporation High Brightness Optical Science Research Center(JASRI) is doing it.

I visited

So, in order to confirm with this eyes how huge the facility, I actually went to the site.

The nearest is JR Aoshima station.


Go down the stairs on the left side of the ticket gate and you will get a bus stop, so take the bus bound for "SPring - 8".


People waiting for the bus in the early morning are preparing a queue with an annual event.


It is a bus like this to get on.


The journey time is about 40 minutes. From the train window you can see a peaceful countryside view full of greenery.


Arrived at "SPring-8".


It is like an university campus atmosphere.


Central management building which becomes the entrance of the facility.


A silver object is standing.



First of all, alongside the reception, write the name and get a tourist pass.


The mascot existence of the facilityNyankakase.



Enter the central administration building, go up the stairs and head towards the central control room.


Scenery seen from the window.


The surroundings are surrounded by mountains.


Arrived in central control room.


The inside is full of people who have already visited.


There are 18 large-sized displays on the front, and it monitors the condition of the facility.


A monitor for monitoring is also arranged on the desk.


There is also an emergency stop button. Since touching the device is strictly prohibited, in the picture below it is just a finger pointing the button.


◆ Purpose and mechanism of the facility

The facility group called "SPring-8" was created to analyze the properties of various substances.

For example,X-ray shootingSince its discovery, technology has made a tremendous contribution to the treatment and research of diseases by "allowing you to see things you have not seen before", but "SPring-8" By creating powerful X-rays more than a factor of 10 times, we are analyzing proteins and minerals to "see things that were not seen".

Roughly summarizing, it is the strength of this facility to be able to produce powerful X-rays that can not be generated in general facilities, and various institutions can use these X-rays to make experiments necessary for each business and scientific research I am doing it.

The main applications that "SPring-8" announces are as follows.

Application to material science: Structures of atoms / electrons of advanced materials, material properties under extreme conditions, creation of new materials, material modification etc.
Use for life science / medicine: Three-dimensional structural analysis of biological substances such as protein (→ research on the mechanism of life, development of medicine etc.) and high resolution imaging of biological samples by refraction contrast imaging
Application to environmental science: analysis of environmental purification catalyst, analysis of trace elements of environment pollution in biological samples, etc.
Usage for Earth science and space science: Structure and state analysis of deep Earth matter, Structure analysis of meteorite / cosmic dust etc.
Industrial application: Used for materials evaluation in industrial world and three dimensional structural analysis of proteins

Also, if you divide the basic structure of the facility roughly, it will look like the following.

◆ "Linear Accelerator" which carries out the first stage acceleration by striking an electron
◆ "Synchrotron" which accelerates the second stage to electrons
◆ "Storage ring" that maintains the energy stored in electrons and converts it into X-rays etc.
◆ "Beamline" to conduct research with X-rays taken out of electrons

So from here, let's see the details of each facility.

◆ Linear accelerator

Looking at the following facility overhead picture, it is in the red frame.


The appearance of the building looks like this.


Yellow and red signs indicating radiation control areas are affixed.


When the lamp is green, it is stopped so you can enter inside.


All researchers who can enter inside have exclusive keys, so that they can not enter the building unless they are out. Also, as the facility does not operate in the state where even this one key is missed, as all members go out and the radiation does not occur unless the keys are put in the right place, the risk that someone will be trapped and trapped It can be eliminated.


A device that generates electrons that become all starting points looks like this.


In this part, it seems that tungsten containing barium is heated to near 1000 degrees, and electrons bound to the inside of the metal are taken out by thermal energy.



Metal that extracts electrons is like this.


The electrons taken out are accelerated until it gets about 2000 times the weight through the vacuum tube and energy is applied.


Using the electromagnetic wave in the following part, I will accelerate with a feeling like extruding electrons with a wave.


Apply force from the surroundings with a powerful electromagnet so that the electrons are not diffused too much at the moment of acceleration.


We will accelerate gradually with devices that are juxtaposed.


Electrons that proceed fast by bending the electron trajectory with a powerful electromagnet move to the outside of the curve and the travel distance is long, and the advancing electrons pass through the in-course, and the moving distance becomes short, so that the speed becomes equal as a result It will be adjusted.


◆ Synchrotron

The following "synchrotron" is a facility that further accelerates the electrons produced using the equipment we have seen above and has a large amount of energy of "8 billion electron volts".

Looking at the map of the bird's eye view, it is in the position of the red frame.


The basic structure is the same as that of a linear accelerator, but it has been made larger as a whole to accelerate more strongly.


A device that accelerates by electromagnetic waves is like this.


The section is like this.


In order to incrementally increase the speed by turning the electron through the donut-shaped tube many times, since it is necessary to bend the electrons, the corner portion is a huge electromagnet Has been installed.



The cross section of the electromagnet looks like this.


Devices such as cylinders and accelerators that electrons turn around and inside are installed at the height of the shoulders from the waist of an adult male.


In the future, we will introduce "high-performance electron beams in other places"SACLAWe are planning to attract the electrons from "and preparations for that are proceeding.


As electrons advance in the cylinder, they are accelerated rapidly.


Dedicated touch key is necessary for access to main block.


A black phone that can be used even in case of a power outage is installed for emergency contact.


Next time we bend the electron beam upwards and lead it to a facility called "storage ring".


The position of "accumulation ring" is around here.


The circumference of the ring is about 1.5 kilometers, looking from the side like this.


By vibrating the electron beam with a device called "undulator" it is a powerfulSynchrotron radiation(X rays and infrared rays) etc are taken out.


The following synchrotron radiation outlets are located around the ring in more than 50 places, each company and research institute making facilities for analysis in that part.


If you want to stop synchrotron radiation, place a copper block on the path.


The cylinder through which synchrotron radiation passes is like this.


The extracted light can be divided into X rays used for analysis using the following spectrometer.


The interior of the spectrometer is as follows.


Beam line

The place which is actually connected to the facility as we have seen so far is actually called "Beamline" and it is as follows. As a structure, I felt that radiation beams traveling through a donut-shaped "accumulator" were taken out at each beam line.


Looking at panoramic photographs of how the research facilities connected to the beam line line up is this way.


Anyway it is wide.



It is too wide to walk, so we will do internal movements with a shared bicycle.



Researchers and facility staff are moving as follows.


I sometimes have a note on the floor saying "get off" ....


Beyond that there is low piping etc, so it is quite dangerous.


Currently more than 50 companies and research institutes are conducting experiments in this place.


For example, in the following places, the state of 90 atmospheres, 2500 degrees is made with a hydraulic press machine and a heater to reproduce the deep part of the earth. Analysis is done by irradiating synchrotron radiation extracted from "SPring-8" to substances formed in that state.



The hardest metals, alloys of tungsten and carbon etc. are subject to analysis.


Furthermore, it seems that ice that sinks in water can also be formed in an ultra-high pressure environment.


There are places where the plumbing which was pretty chaotic was stretched.


A project that is analyzing catalyst for new type batteries.


"47 XU" beam line is the place where Hayabusa collected particles of Itokawa.


On weekdays except year end and new yearFree tours and booking toursSo, if you are interested and actually go to the site and actually look at some of the huge facilities and state-of-the-art technology you should be able to enjoy it considerably.