synchrotron radiation

noun

: radiation emitted by high-energy charged relativistic particles (such as electrons) when they are accelerated by a magnetic field (as in a nebula)

Examples of synchrotron radiation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Editor’s Note: Yusef-Zadeh explains that these long, vertical filaments turned out to be made of synchrotron radiation, which is produced by particles moving at nearly the speed of light through a magnetic field. —Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 22 June 2023

The ions gyrate around the SMBH magnetic field lines, producing synchrotron radiation at many wavelengths. —science.org, 25 Apr. 2023

Those scientists used synchrotron radiation to zap the samples, causing each element to release a unique X-ray signature that could be detected to identify the sample's composition. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 25 Apr. 2023

Skin of the teeth Using X-ray tomographic microscopy with laser-like synchrotron radiation, a technique that reveals the internal structure and composition of fossils, Donoghue and his team were able to analyze early conodonts to reveal how their tooth-like spurs evolved. —Matt Kaplan, Scientific American, 16 Oct. 2013

Back in 2008, European scientists used synchrotron radiation to reconstruct the hidden portrait of a peasant woman painted by Van Gogh. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 18 July 2022

The synchrotron radiation excites the atoms on the canvas, which then emit X-rays of their own that a fluorescence detector can pick up. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 18 July 2022

The astronomers were specifically looking at a type of radio emission called synchrotron radiation. —Mara Johnson-Groh, Discover Magazine, 11 Sep. 2019

The researchers were able to scan the intact samples using neutron beams and synchrotron radiation. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 21 Sep. 2022

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Word History

Etymology

from its having been first observed in a synchrotron

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above