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[[Image:Sp8-3972.JPG|thumb|300px|Inside the SPring-8 facility]]
'''SPring-8''' (an acronym of Super Photon Ring – 8 GeV) is a [[synchrotron radiation]] facility located in [[Sayō, Hyōgo|Sayo Town]], [[Sayo District, Hyogo|Sayo District]], [[Hyōgo Prefecture]], Japan, which is the main facility of [[Harima Science Garden City]]. It was developed jointly by [[RIKEN]] and the [[Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute]], and is owned and managed by RIKEN, and run under commission by the [[Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute]].  The machine consists of a storage ring containing an 8&nbsp;GeV [[electron]] beam. On its path around the storage ring, the beam passes through [[insertion device]]s to produce synchrotron radiation with energies ranging from soft [[X-ray]]s (300 [[Electronvolt|eV]]) up to hard X-rays (300 keV). The synchrotron radiation produced at SPring-8 is used for materials analysis and [[biochemical]] [[protein]] characterization by many Japanese manufacturers and universities.

Together with the [[Advanced Photon Source]] at [[Argonne National Laboratory]] and the [[Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source]] at [[Cornell University]] in the United States, the [[European Synchrotron Radiation Facility]] in [[Grenoble]], France, and [[PETRA]] at [[DESY]] in Hamburg, Germany, it is one of the five large (beam energy greater than 5&nbsp;GeV) synchrotron radiation facilities in the world.

==Research==
The Laser Electron Photon Experiment at SPring-8 (LEPS) is an experiment producing high-energy ([[GeV]]) [[photon]] beams by the [[Compton scattering#Inverse Compton scattering|inverse Compton scattering]] of photons upon the 8&nbsp;GeV [[electron]]s of the SPring-8 synchrotron. These are then used for various [[particle physics]] experiments on [[hadron]]s. The first beam was produced in 1999, and data-taking commenced in 2000.<ref>{{cite web
 |author=T. Hotta
 |date=27 October 2009
 |url=http://www.rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jp/Divisions/np1-b/index.html
 |title=Laser Electron Photon Experiment at SPring-8
 |publisher=[[Osaka University]]
 |accessdate=2009-11-21
 |archive-date=2009-10-08
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008033126/http://www.rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jp/Divisions/np1-b/index.html
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref>

{{Wide image|SPring-8 2007 12img pano.jpg|800px|The SPring-8 circumference ring facility}}
The collaboration is known for their reports of a [[resonance (particle physics)|resonance]] which they interpret as a {{SubatomicParticle|Theta+}} [[pentaquark]] candidate made of two [[up quark]]s, two [[down quark]]s and a [[strange antiquark]] (uudd{{overline|s}}). The 2008 ''[[Review of Particle Physics]]'' of the [[Particle Data Group]] ruled out the existence of this resonance,<ref>
{{cite journal
 |author=C. Amsler ''et al.'' ([[Particle Data Group]])
 |title=Review of Particle Physics: Pentaquarks
 |url=http://pdg.lbl.gov/2008/reviews/pentaquarks_b801.pdf
 |journal=[[Physics Letters B]]
 |volume=667 |issue=1 |pages=1–1340
 |year=2008
 |doi=10.1016/j.physletb.2008.07.018
|bibcode = 2008PhLB..667....1A |hdl=1854/LU-685594
 |s2cid=227119789
 |hdl-access=free
 }}</ref> but new reports from LEPS indicate that the resonance could be seen in the {{SubatomicParticle|Photon|link=yes}}{{SubatomicParticle|down quark|link=yes}} → {{SubatomicParticle|Kaon+|link=yes}}{{SubatomicParticle|Kaon-|link=yes}}{{SubatomicParticle|proton|link=yes}}{{SubatomicParticle|neutron|link=yes}} channel.<ref>
{{cite journal
 |author=T. Nakano ''et al.'' (LEPS collaboration)
 |title=Evidence of the Θ<sup>+</sup> in the γd → K<sup>+</sup>K<sup>−</sup>pn reaction
 |journal=[[Physical Review C]]
 |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=025210
 |year=2009
 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevC.79.025210
 |arxiv=0812.1035
|bibcode = 2009PhRvC..79b5210N |s2cid=118475729
 }}</ref>

==Use by police==
The materials analysis at SPring-8 can be used as forensics to identify substances for police investigations by detecting the types and combinations of impurities. For example, in the 1998 [[Masumi Hayashi (poisoner)|Wakayama curry poisoning incident]], the arsenic used as the poisoning agent in a communal pot of curry contained trace impurities of bismuth and antimony, which were also present in arsenic found in the perpetrator's home.<ref name = ABC_Au>{{cite web|author1=Clark, Sue|author2=Delaney, Anne|title=Sleuthing with Synchrotrons|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/buzz/sleuthing-with-synchrotrons/3632728#transcript|website=The Buzz|publisher=Radio National|accessdate=30 April 2015|date=30 July 2004}}</ref><ref name=Nature_forensics>{{cite journal|last1=Cyranoski|first1=David|title=X-ray evidence points to Japanese cult|journal=Nature|date=9 July 2004|doi=10.1038/news040705-6}}</ref>

In another case, evidence from SPring-8 led to the arrest of three former members of the [[Aum Shinrikyo]] cult suspected in the 1995 shooting of Takaji Kunimatsu, Japan's head of the National Police Agency at the time.<ref name=Nature_forensics /> Like the curry poisoning incident, impurities in the metal traces in the coat of a suspect were matched to impurities in the gun used in the shooting.

==In popular culture==
In the ''[[Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG]]'' [[anime]] series, SPring-8 is mentioned several times, and is the facility where the character [[List of Ghost in the Shell characters#Ishikawa|Ishikawa]] takes a sample of weapons-grade [[Plutonium]] to be analyzed to verify its source.

In ''[[Salvation of a Saint]]'', a piece of evidence is sent to SPring-8 for analysis.

==See also==
*[[List of synchrotron radiation facilities]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.spring8.or.jp/en/ SPring-8 website]
* [http://www.rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jp/Divisions/np1-b/index.html LEPS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091008033126/http://www.rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jp/Divisions/np1-b/index.html |date=2009-10-08 }}

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{{Synchrotron radiation facilities}}

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[[Category:Synchrotron radiation facilities]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Hyōgo Prefecture]]
[[Category:Science and technology in Japan]]
[[Category:Riken]]
[[Category:Harima Science Garden City]]
[[Category:Sayō, Hyōgo]]