The High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) designs and installs accelerators for specific purposes and conducts research in a wide range of fields such as particle physics, nuclear physics, materials science and life science, together with university researchers. For more than 40 years since the first beam of 1982, KEK's synchrotron radiation facility, the Photon Factory, has achieved remarkable research results, including its contribution to the structure determination of the ribosome, the subject of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It has also created innovative technologies such as the in-vacuum undulator, which has spread to synchrotron radiation facilities all over the world.

KEK has decided to move forward with plans for the Photon Factory Hybrid Light Source (PF-HLS), a synchrotron radiation multi-beam facility, as an essential research infrastructure for the purpose of Japan's leadership in materials and life sciences for the next 100 years. This facility is a challenging one that integrates all the capabilities of synchrotron radiation. We would like to realize this dream of researchers to elucidate the origin of the functions of materials and life, and to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society.

We would be grateful for your support.

September 2023

Masanori Yamauchi, Director General of KEK