Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source
Encyclopedia
The Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based Sciences and Education (CLASSE) is a particle accelerator
facility located in Wilson Laboratory on the Cornell University
campus in Ithaca, NY. CLASSE formed from the merger of the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) and the Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics (LEPP) in July 2006. Maury Tigner is the chairman of the directorate of the organization.
light source. The lab provides synchrotron
radiation
facilities for multidisciplinary scientific research, with a particular focus on protein
crystallographic
studies under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH).
CHESS was built between 1978 and 1980 as a synchrotron x-ray facility tied to the Cornell Electron Storage Ring
(CESR) High-Energy Physics program (sometimes referred to, and better known as, particle physics
), which produces an electron energy of 5.5 GeV
.
"The original laboratory, CHESS West, included 3 instrumented beamline
s [with] 6 independent experimental stations.
"The CHESS East laboratory was constructed during 1988-1989, adding 2 beam lines [...] and 4 instrumented experimental stations. CHESS East contains a biohazard level BL3 facility (built with funds from the NIH) [....]
"Construction began in 1999 for an addition to the facility" to provide a new beam line and three additional experimental stations. This station, commissioned in 2002, was "constructed with extensive toxic gas handling capabilities advancing the prospects for in-situ crystal growth experiments."
Work performed at CHESS and at the National Synchrotron Light Source
(NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory
garnered a split of the 2003 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for Dr. Roderick MacKinnon
, M.D.
Particle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
facility located in Wilson Laboratory on the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
campus in Ithaca, NY. CLASSE formed from the merger of the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) and the Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics (LEPP) in July 2006. Maury Tigner is the chairman of the directorate of the organization.
LEPP
The Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics (LEPP) is a High-energy physics laboratory studying fundamental particles and their interactions.CHESS
The Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) is a high-intensity, high-energy X-rayX-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
light source. The lab provides synchrotron
Synchrotron
A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the magnetic field and the electric field are carefully synchronised with the travelling particle beam. The proton synchrotron was originally conceived by Sir Marcus Oliphant...
radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
facilities for multidisciplinary scientific research, with a particular focus on protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
crystallographic
Crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of the arrangement of atoms in solids. The word "crystallography" derives from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and grapho = write.Before the development of...
studies under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
(NIH).
CHESS was built between 1978 and 1980 as a synchrotron x-ray facility tied to the Cornell Electron Storage Ring
Cornell Electron Storage Ring
The Cornell Electron Storage Ring is an electron-positron collider at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, United States. The CLEO and CUSB particle detectors collected data at CESR, and the CHESS facility used the synchrotron radiation to perform a variety of studies.CESR was built in the...
(CESR) High-Energy Physics program (sometimes referred to, and better known as, particle physics
Particle physics
Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
), which produces an electron energy of 5.5 GeV
GEV
GEV or GeV may stand for:*GeV or gigaelectronvolt, a unit of energy equal to billion electron volts*GEV or Grid Enabled Vehicle that is fully or partially powered by the electric grid, see plug-in electric vehicle...
.
"The original laboratory, CHESS West, included 3 instrumented beamline
Beamline
In particle physics, a beamline is the line in a linear accelerator along which a beam of particles travels. It may also refer to the line of travel within a bending section such as a storage ring or cyclotron, or an external beam extracted from a cyclic accelerator.In materials science, physics,...
s [with] 6 independent experimental stations.
"The CHESS East laboratory was constructed during 1988-1989, adding 2 beam lines [...] and 4 instrumented experimental stations. CHESS East contains a biohazard level BL3 facility (built with funds from the NIH) [....]
"Construction began in 1999 for an addition to the facility" to provide a new beam line and three additional experimental stations. This station, commissioned in 2002, was "constructed with extensive toxic gas handling capabilities advancing the prospects for in-situ crystal growth experiments."
Work performed at CHESS and at the National Synchrotron Light Source
National Synchrotron Light Source
The National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York is a national user research facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy...
(NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory , is a United States national laboratory located in Upton, New York on Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base...
garnered a split of the 2003 Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in Chemistry for Dr. Roderick MacKinnon
Roderick MacKinnon
Roderick MacKinnon is a professor of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics at Rockefeller University who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Peter Agre in 2003 for his work on the structure and operation of ion channels....
, M.D.