Tag: synchrotron staff

Portrait of Damien Jeangérard – At the heart of the accelerators

Portrait of Damien Jeangérard – At the heart of the accelerators

Through a series of portraits, Synchrotron SOLEIL meets the men and women who bring the synchrotron to life. For this seventh episode, Damien Jeangérard, control room operator, agreed to take part. His main mission? To ensure the smooth operation of the electron accelerators so that scientists on the beamlines can successfully carry out their experiments. A strategic role at the very heart of the synchrotron, where no two days are alike and learning never stops. Much to his delight.

If you ask Damien Jeangérard to name two essential qualities for his profession, he will likely reply: a love of technical challenges and a strong ability to adapt. A control room operator at SOLEIL for the past two years, he works rotating shifts—three eight-hour shifts and sometimes two twelve-hour shifts—requiring his circadian rhythm to adjust regularly.

“It’s a rhythm that suits me,” he notes. “My children are grown up now, and working staggered hours gives me time during the day for personal activities.”

Keeping an eye on everything

Particle accelerators require constant attention. In the control room, Damien Jeangérard sits at the center of everything happening within the synchrotron. “The range of tasks is vast,” he explains. “The most important is preparing and maintaining a stable and homogeneous electron beam.”

This beam produces the radiation used by SOLEIL’s 29 beamlines—research laboratories that operate simultaneously and independently.

To prepare the beam, Damien and his team must first validate the proper functioning of the accelerator equipment and the injection of electrons into the storage ring. Once this delicate operation is complete, the infrastructure cannot be left unattended.

“We need to keep an eye on hundreds of equipment parameters—on the LINAC, the Booster, and the storage ring—and adjust some of them when necessary,” he details.

In the event of an incident involving “the Machine”—the internal name for the entire set of electron accelerators—control room operators must quickly identify the faulty equipment, restore operations, and, for the most serious technical issues, call in SOLEIL’s support groups.

Read more on the SOLEIL website

Image: Portrait of Damien JeangeJeangérard

Credit: SOLEIL

“Research, a collective adventure”

“Research, a collective adventure”

Through a series of portraits, SOLEIL sets out to meet the people who make the synchrotron what it is. For this sixth episode, Edwige Otero, a scientist on DEIMOS—one of SOLEIL’s 29 beamlines—agreed to take part.

Driven from an early age by the joy of understanding, Edwige Otero naturally gravitated toward research. But just as important was her desire to contribute to a collective endeavour, one in which knowledge and discoveries are shared. From Lorraine to Canada, from chemistry to physics, her path reflects a constant passion for science and dialogue.

“Truth be told, I didn’t choose research; I simply followed my interest in science, step by step, and that’s where it led me.” When asked about the origins of her career, Edwige Otero, now a scientist on the DEIMOS beamline at SOLEIL, takes us back to her childhood. “There was no predetermined path, but rather a sensitive, open-minded upbringing and a “sincere and collective investment in the pursuit of knowledge.”

“I was lucky to grow up in a family where reflection and curiosity mattered a lot, where people always took the time to answer our questions,” she explains. “Wondering, asking, and trying to understand became second nature,” she adds. “It’s such an exhilarating feeling when you finally realise: so that’s how it works!”

“All I wanted was to be older”
In the days before the Internet, Edwige learned to look for answers wherever she could: in books, museums, exhibitions, open days… Her first physics–chemistry teacher also played a decisive role: “He made you want to understand everything,” she recalls. “He often took us beyond the official curriculum, and whenever he did, he would say: you’ll learn that later. All I wanted was to be older already.”

Read more on the SOLEIL website