Synchrotron light is a type of electromagnetic radiation of high flux and high brightness produced when charged particles that are accelerated close to the speed of light have their trajectory deflected by magnetic fields. The synchrotron radiation spans a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum from infrared radiation to ultraviolet radiation and X-rays.

Its broad spectrum allows researchers to use the wavelengths most suitable for their experiments. Its high flux allows faster experiments and its high brightness the analysis increasingly smaller details in materials. In addition, it also makes it possible to track the evolution of processes that occur in fractions of a second.

These characteristics make the synchrotron light sources extremely versatile equipment which allow the study of matter in its various forms and with applications in virtually all areas of the scientific and technological knowledge, such as in physics, chemistry, materials engineering, nanotechnology, biotechnology, pharmacology, medicine, geology and geophysics, agriculture, oceanography, petroleum and gas, paleontology and many more.