The National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) is a non-profit research institute funded by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). It is located in the Hsinchu Science Park, hailed as the “Silicon Valley of Taiwan,” which is home to many of the island’s leading IT and semiconductor companies. NSRRC is also ideally situated near two of Taiwan’s top-tier universities: National Tsing Hua University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University.
Also known as a light source, a synchrotron facility is a ring-shaped particle accelerator in which bunches of electrons travel along a circular path at nearly the speed of light, generating exceptionally bright beams of electromagnetic radiation. The spectrum ranges from infrared and ultraviolet light to soft and hard X-rays. With its ability to probe the microscopic structure and properties of matter, synchrotron radiation has become an essential tool for fundamental and applied research across a broad range of fields, including physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, materials, chemical engineering, environment, energy, geology, archeology, micromechanics, electronics, and nanotechnology.
As Taiwan’s largest shared research facility, the NSRRC currently operates two synchrotron light sources, the Taiwan Light Source (TLS) and the Taiwan Photon Source (TPS). With a beam energy of 1.5 GeV and a circumference of 120 meters, the TLS was the first third-generation synchrotron light source facility in Asia and the third globally. It has been open to users since October 1993 and is optimized for photon energy ranging from vacuum ultraviolet light to soft X-rays.
The TPS, with a circumference of 518.4 meters, is one of the world’s brightest synchrotron light sources and began user operations in September 2016. Designed to meet the demand for higher-brightness photon beams in cutting-edge fields such as biomedicine and nanoscience, the TPS features a low-emittance storage ring and a booster synchrotron that accelerates electrons to 3 GeV. It produces photon beams ranging from soft to hard X-rays and can accommodate around 40 beamlines.
Through international collaboration, the NSRRC has also constructed and operates two Taiwanese hard X-ray beamlines at SPring-8 in Japan, as well as a cold neutron triple-axis spectrometer at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Scientists from around the world may access the NSRRC’s facilities through a competitive proposal review process to investigate the properties of matter across a wide range of disciplines. Each year, nearly 3,000 researchers use these facilities to advance fundamental science and drive high-tech innovation. With world-class synchrotron facilities and pioneering research capabilities, the NSRRC strives to keep Taiwan at the forefront of scientific research.