Minister Burt visits the Canadian Light Source

British Columbia and Saskatchewan got a visit last week from Alistair Burt, the UK’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (a broad remit, which covers North America). As part of a wide-ranging programme, the British delegation visited the Canadian Light Source for a tour and brief chat about engagement with the UK.

The Canadian Light Source (Centre canadien de rayonnement synchrotron) is Canada’s national synchrotron facility, analagous to the UK’s Diamond Light Source (with which it has a cooperative agreement).

It produces very high-intensity light, which is used in a variety of experiments to probe the structure of matter – from figuring out the concentration of trace elements in fossil bone to studying charge density in superconductors. Since the Canadian and Diamond Light Sources already collaborate closely, SIN aims to play a supporting role in setting up new networks and assisting with multilateral projects.