"The Canadian Light Source is very pleased to formalize our relationship with SOLEIL," says CLS Executive Director William Thomlinson. "Future growth and development at the CLS will advance by sharing expertise in optics and insertion devices with SOLEIL."

Insertion devices are intricate arrays of magnets that are responsible for producing a synchrotron's super-brilliant X-rays.

"This is the first step towards creating scientific understanding that will be of mutual benefit to both facilities," notes Denis Raoux, Director-General of SOLEIL and co-signatory of the agreement with Dr. Thomlinson. "There are many unique opportunities at the Canadian Light Source that do not exist at SOLEIL."

This is the third MOU to be signed by the CLS and another synchrotron in the last 18 months. Other agreements have included an MOU with the Australian Synchrotron involving research into medical imaging and applications of synchrotron light to the mining sector, and an agreement with the Italian Sincrotrone ELETTRA for the development of a life science imaging program.

Located at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, the CLS is Canada's national synchrotron research facility. Synchrotron light is used to understand the structure of matter at its fundamental level, leading to improved medical imaging, new drugs, advanced materials, better mineral extraction techniques and enhanced environmental monitoring.

Located south of Paris in St-Aubin, France, SOLEIL is currently becoming operational. It opens new prospects for probing materials with resolutions on the scale of a millionth of a metre, with applications in physics, chemistry, environmental sciences, medicine and biology.

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For more information, contact:

Matthew Dalzell
Communications Coordinator
Canadian Light Source Inc
Ph: (306) 657-3739 Fax: (306) 657-3535
Cell: 227-0978
matthew.dalzell@lightsource.ca
www.lightsource.ca

Christine Lateur
Communications
Synchrotron SOLEIL
Ph: 01 69 35 90 20
Fax: 01 69 35 94 51
Christine.lateur@synchrotron-SOLEIL.fr
www.synchrotron-SOLEIL.fr/anglais

Michael Robin
Research Communications Officer
University of Saskatchewan
Ph: (306) 966-2427
michael.robin@usask.ca