Brilliant opportunities across the spectrum

Third generation synchrotron light sources provide stable, tuneable light of energy up to the hard X-ray region. The gain of a trillion in brightness as compared to a conventional laboratory X-ray source transforms the opportunities for establishing structure-function relationships. The light may be quasi-continuous or pulsed, have controllable polarisation and have coherence lengths larger than the sample size. The high brightness provides a basis for adding time and spatial resolution to X-ray scattering and spectroscopy. It may also be used to identify very specific information about the magnetic properties of atoms within materials, element specific vibrations, and local structural descriptions identified with chemical speciation. More demanding scattering and diffraction problems can be solved such as weakly scattering materials, large unit cells and structural entities. The high collimation of the source also provides enhanced spectroscopic and diffraction resolution that gives more insight into molecular, extended and supramolecular structures. The length scales can be bridged from the atomic up to that of visible light microscopy and buried features within materials can be observed with the appropriate energy. With an increased emphasis on ease of use, such capabilities are open to exploitation for chemical challenges.