In particular it can be used to investigate the structure and properties of a wide range of materials from proteins (to provide information for designing new and better drugs), and engineering components (such as a fan blade from an aero-engine[1]) to conservation of archeological artifacts (for example Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose[2][3]).

Diamond produced its first user beam towards the end of January 2007, and was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 October 2007.

[5][6] A design study during the 1990s was completed in 2001 by scientists at Daresbury and construction began following the creation of the operating company, Diamond Light Source Ltd.[7] The construction costs of £260m covered the synchrotron building, the accelerators inside it, the first seven experimental stations (beamlines) and the adjacent office block, Diamond House.

The company receives 86% of its funding from the UK Government via the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and 14% from the Wellcome Trust.

As Diamond is a third generation light source[further explanation needed] it also uses special arrays of magnets called insertion devices.

The electrons reach this high energy via a series of pre-accelerator stages before being injected into the 3 GeV storage ring: The Diamond synchrotron is housed in a silver toroidal building of 738 m in circumference, covering an area in excess of 43,300 square metres, or the area of over six football pitches.