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India's Minister of State for Science & Technology visits Photon Factory
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On October 6, Shri Prithviraj Chavan, India's Minister of State for Science & Technology, visited the Indian beamline at KEK's Photon Factory (PF). Before commencing the tour, the minister's party was briefed by Prof. Milan Kumar Sanyal, project leader and director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, and Atsuto Suzuki, Director General of KEK, on the facilities and on the experiments being conducted in each laboratory.
India's Department of Science & Technology (DST) and KEK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Scientific and Technological Cooperation October 2008. Based on this MOU, India has set up at the PF a dedicated beamline (BL-18B) for use by Indian researchers. Preparatory work began in November 2009. In June 2010, Indian researchers initiated a preliminary experiment using the PF's X-ray diffractometer provided by KEK. Full-scale operation of the Indian beamline is expected to start in 2011.