Article

Tour the Canadian Light Source

A video exploration of Canada’s strongest light
Institution(s)
University of Saskatchewan
Province(s)
Saskatchewan
Topic(s)
Engineering
Materials Science and Technology
A large building seen from above at night. The sides are lit up with bright blue light.

The Canadian Light Source (CLS), located at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, is celebrating 10 years of serving researchers from all over the world. The CLS is Canada’s national centre for synchrotron research and a global centre of excellence in synchrotron science and its applications. To highlight the cutting-edge work being done at this research facility, the CFI and the CLS have created a package of videos that showcase the brightest minds working with the brightest light.

A synchrotron is a source of light many times brighter than the sun which allows scientists to see the structure and chemical properties of all kinds of materials, ranging from bones to soil. This extremely bright light is produced by using radio frequency waves and powerful magnets to accelerate electrons close to the speed of light, and is shone down beamlines to labs, where researchers select specific wavelengths of light to make observations at the atomic level.