Welcome to the NanoTerasu website

NanoTerasu, a 3GeV high-brilliance synchrotron radiation facility,
is the world’s most advanced large-scale research facility that enables observation of the nano world at one billionth of a meter.

NanoTerasu uses an accelerator to accelerate electrons to nearly the speed of light,
producing X-rays, which are about one billion times brighter than sunlight, and shines them on materials for observation.

Through these observations, they are widely used not only in basic science, but also in various industrial fields such as energy, materials, devices, biotechnology, and food.

NanoTerasu supports both science and innovation.

The name “NanoTerasu” expresses the facility’s characteristic of illuminating (Terasu) the nano world.

Like Amaterasu Omikami, the goddess who illuminates the world in Japanese mythology,
this name was chosen in the hope that the research conducted at this facility and the results produced from it will bring about a rich harvest for academia and industry around the world.

NanoTerasu is operated by the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), the national entity that established the facility, with the participation of the Photon Science Innovation Center, a representative organization of the regional partners, and the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, which performs utilization promotion services based on the Law for Promotion of Public Utilization.

It is located at the Tohoku University Aobayama New Campus in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture.