About SESAME Launch of SESAME

The SESAME Project (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science Applications in the Middle East) reached two major milestones in January 2003

1. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 6 for the building to be constructed at the Allan site in Jordan, 30 km northwest of Amman. The Government of Jordan is providing the site and has agreed to fund the construction of the building, estimated at $5M US, which will house the upgraded BESSY I light source that has been donated by the German Authorities. The upgrade will result in a third-generation ring with electron energy in the 2-2.5 GeV range. The building has been designed (see figure) by civil engineers from Al-Balqa' Applied University in Jordan, based largely on the design of the building for the ANKA synchrotron radiation facility at the Karlsruhe Research Center (KFZ). Bids for its construction have been received and a contract for construction is expected to be signed in January or February 2003.
2. At the groundbreaking ceremony Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, announced that SESAME is formally launched since he has received notice from seven Founding Members that they accept the statutes for the governance of the project. These Founding Members form the SESAME Council, which, among other responsibilities, will provide the annual operating budget. Four Advisory Committees (Technical, Scientific, Beam Lines, and Training) report to the Council. See the SESAME web site (www.sesame.org.jo) for the members of these committees.

His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan laid the cornerstone for the building in the presence of Matsuura and other officials of UNESCO, members of the Jordan Cabinet, the Deputy Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Werner Burkart, and dignitaries from around the world

The Founding Members of SESAME are Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Turkey. Kuwait is an Observer. More states are expected to join the project and become full Members - or Observers- in the coming months. For example Libya has asked to become an Observer.

The Council replaces the International Interim Council, which had twelve Members from the Middle East plus twelve Observers, and which has met nine times since its formation in 1999. Herwig Schopper (former Director-General of CERN) was elected to continue as President of the Council with Khaled Toukan (Minister of Education of Jordan) and Dincer Ulku (Hacettepe University in Turkey) continuing as Vice-Presidents. Several countries outside the Middle East were Observers to the Interim Council and are expected to reconfirm their Observer status in the new Council. These include Armenia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK, and the US.

SESAME is an independent laboratory created under the auspices of UNESCO in much the same way that UNESCO assisted in the creation of CERN 50 years ago. The project has been authorized by the UNESCO General Conference and recommended by the UNESCO Executive Board in May 2002. The SESAME Project aims to establish the Middle East's first major international research center as a cooperative venture by the scientists and governments of the region.

Since the suggestion was made in 1997 that BESSY I be used in this way rather than discarded, the project has gained momentum. The BESSY I components are now in Jordan where upgrading will begin soon. Six scientific and technical workshops and schools have been held in the Middle East on topics relating to the project. Thirty scientists and engineers from the Middle East have spent periods of up to two years working at synchrotron radiation laboratories in Europe and the US. Financial support for these activities has come from Members of the International Interim Council, UNESCO, synchrotron radiation laboratories in Europe and the US, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), the US Department of Energy (DOE), and other sources. For reports on these activities see the web site www.sesame.org.jo.

The most comprehensive SESAME scientific meeting was a workshop/school held in Jordan in October 2002 with funds provided by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). This nine-day meeting, organized by Professor Isa Khubeis (Vice President of Al-Balqa' Applied University in Jordan) and Professor Shin-ichi Kurokawa (General Head of Divisions of Accelerator Laboratory, KEK in Japan) was, in effect, the first SESAME Users' Meeting. It brought together about 100 scientists from the region with experts in synchrotron radiation sources and applications and began the process of defining the beam lines and scientific programs.

A newly formed Training Committee is implementing a strong training program aimed at securing the scientific, technical, and beam line support staff. A Technical Committee is advising the Technical Director and reviewing accelerator designs, and a Scientific Committee and Beam Lines Committee are working jointly to secure proposals for the scientific program and define the initial set of beam lines required for this program.

The BESSY I equipment will be upgraded and reassembled in a new configuration - a 2-2.5 GeV high-performance light source with an emittance of 15-25 nm-radians. The SESAME Technical Director, Professor Dieter Einfeld, is developing the design for this new facility together with about 11 scientists and engineers from the Middle East who are on long-term visits to synchrotron radiation facilities in Europe. Professor Einfeld has been working full time for SESAME since September 2001. Prior to that he led the team that designed, constructed, and commissioned the very successful 2.5 GeV ANKA synchrotron radiation facility at the Karlsruhe Research Center. In 2002 an Administrative Director, Hany Helal of Cairo, was appointed. The appointment of a Scientific Director and the hiring of technical and scientific staff are in progress.

The SESAME ring will cover a broad spectral range from the infrared to the hard x-ray parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will have straight sections for up to 13 wiggler and undulator insertion devices as well as a similar number of beam lines from bending magnets. It is planned to have 3-4 of these beam lines operational when the first electron beam is stored, now expected in 2007. It is anticipated that the initial user community of several hundred scientists will grow to more than one thousand as more beam lines are developed.

SESAME will provide excellent performance for applications now carried out at other multi-GeV rings. Specific programs planned for SESAME include structural molecular biology, molecular environmental science, surface and interface science, microelectromechanical devices, x-ray imaging, archeological microanalysis, materials characterization, and medical applications. As an international scientific and technological center of excellence open to all qualified scientists from the Middle East and elsewhere, SESAME will serve as a propeller for the scientific, technical, and economic development of the region and strengthen collaboration in science. The center will be jointly operated and supported by all Members with additional support from other countries interested in promoting the peaceful development of science in the Middle East.

For more information please visit the SESAME web site (www.sesame.org.jo) or contact one of the following:
Herwig Schopper, President of the Council of SESAME (Herwig.Schopper@cern.ch)
Khaled Toukan, Vice-President of the Council of SESAME (ktoukan@moe.gov.jo)
Dincer Ulku, Vice-President of the Council of SESAME (dulku@hacettepe.edu.tr)
Maciej Nalecz, Representative of the Director-General of UNESCO on the Council of SESAME (m.nalecz@unesco.org)
Clarissa Formosa-Gauci, SESAME project officer at UNESCO (c.formosa-gauci@unesco.org)
Dieter Einfeld, Technical Director of SESAME (Dieter.Einfeld@anka.fzk.de)
Hany Helal, Administrative Director of SESAME (hhelal@mailer.eun.eg; hhelal@hotmail.com)
Samar Hasnain, Chair Beam-lines Committee of SESAME (S.S.Hasnain@DL.AC.UK)
Zehra Sayers, Chair Scientific Committee of SESAME (zehra@sabanciuniv.edu)
Costas Papanicolas, Chair Technical Committee of SESAME (cnp@iasa.gr; C.Papanicolas@iasa.gr)
Reza Mansouri, Chair Training Committee of SESAME (mansouri@sharif.edu; mansouri@sharif.ac.ir)