Photon Factory

KEK

What is the Photon Factory?

The Photon Factory is an accelerator-based light source facility, as a part of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) Japan. The Photon Factory operates two storage rings; the 2.5-GeV PF Ring and the 6.5-GeV PF Advanced Ring (PF-AR). The Photon Factory supplies brilliant X-rays and VUV light, which provide the means to understand the function of materials and life.

What are the properties of light from the Photon Factory?

When charged particles move in a circular orbit at speeds close to the speed of light, photons are emitted in the forward direction. This radiation is called as synchrotron radiation (SR). The properties of the synchrotron radiation are;

  • a continuous spectrum from ultraviolet to X-rays, allowing an energy-tunable source
  • highly collimated light
  • highly polarized light
  • pulsed light with the pulse widths about 100 picoseconds