Sirius at Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS)

Sirius is one of the first 4th-generation storage rings globally and the only synchrotron lightsource in Latin America. It has a set of beamlines already operational and being used by researchers on a wide variety of scientific programs, some of them in strategic areas of Brazil’s development.

Sirius is operated by the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), part of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM). CNPEM is a non-profit private research and development institution under the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI) supervision.

Sirius currently has six operational beamlines dedicated to multiple techniques, such as macromolecular crystallography, x-ray nanoscopy, coherent and time-resolved x-ray scattering, x-ray spectroscopy and diffraction in extreme conditions, infrared micro and nanospectroscopy and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering and photoelectron spectroscopy. Another four beamlines are under scientific commissioning.

In the first official call for research proposals in November 2022, Sirius received 334 proposals from scientists in 15 countries and 17 Brazilian states. Of those, 125 projects were selected through a distributed double-anonymous peer review process and marked the beginning of the operational phase of the lightsource.

– From 1997 until 2019, LNLS operated UVX, the first synchrotron light source in the Southern Hemisphere. Its 1.37 GeV storage ring has delivered yearly around 3700 hours of synchrotron beam, with a reliability of about 97.5%, benefiting around 1000 researchers every year.

Latest News From LNLS

• Sirius helps reveal previously unknown process of maturation for key protein in SARS-CoV-2 replication 2023/04/26
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• Researchers investigate the origins of superconductivity 2022/10/26