What is Beamline?
[[Image:Schéma de principe du synchrotron.jpg|thumb|300px|Here, the synchrotron is the circular track, off which the beamlines branch.]] [[Image:Beamline at Brookhaven National Laboratory.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Beamline at [[Brookhaven National Laboratory]].]] In [[particle physics]], a '''beamline''' is the path in a [[particle accelerator]] of the particles. In [[materials science]], [[physics]], [[chemistry]], and [[molecular biology]], a '''beamline''' leads to the experimental endstation utilizing [[particle beam]]s from a particle accelerator, [[Synchrotron light source|synchrotron light]] obtained from a [[synchrotron]], or [[neutrons]] from a [[spallation source]] or [[research reactor]]. ==Beamline in a particle accelerator== In [[particle accelerator|particle accelerators,]] the beamline is usually housed in a tunnel and/or underground, cased inside a cement housing. The beamline is usually cylindrical metal. Typical names include, ''beam pipe'', and/or a blank section called a ''drift tube''. This entire section must be under a good [[vacuum]] in order to have the beam travel for a long distance. A [[Surveying|survey]] and alignment crew carefully align the beamline segments by using a [[laser tracker]]. All beamlines must be within [[micrometre]] tolerance. Good alignment helps to prevent beam loss, and beam from colliding with the pipe walls, which creates [[secondary emission]]s and/or [[radiation]]. ==Synchrotron radiation beamline== [[Image:Aust.-Synchrotron-Soft-X-ray-Beamline-Experimental-Station,-14.06.2007.jpg|right|220px|thumb|The exposed workings of a soft x-ray beamline and endstation at the [[Australian Synchrotron]]]] [[Image:Aust.-Synchrotron,-eVBL-Experimental-Station,-14.06.2007.jpg|right|220px|thumb|Inside the Optical Diagnostic Beamline (ODB) hutch at the [[Australian Synchrotron]]; the beamline terminates at the small aperture in the back wall]] Regarding [[synchrotron]]s, a '''beamline''' is the instrumentation that carries beams of [[synchrotron radiation]] to an experimental e