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The establishment of the Synchrotron Radiation Research Center under the Executive Yuan was approved by the government of the Republic of China on July 9,1983. The major parts of Synchrotron Radiation Facility have been reviewed and advised by the Technical Review Committee ( TRC ) and decided by the Board of Directors (BOD) during this period. The detailed information from the TRC and BOD was presented at the ’86 X-ray microscopy conference [1]. The technical aspects of the Taiwan Synchrotron Radiation facility ( Taiwan Light Source ) and its current progress as well as the organization of the technical and user divisions of SRRC are described.

The construction of a 1.3GeV synchrotron radiation storage ring in Taiwan (Taiwan Light Source (TLS)) began recently (Yen, 1986). The photon energy (critical energy of 0.99keV) of the TLS without insertion device will cover the near infrared, visible light, ultraviolet and vacuum ultraviolet as well as soft x-ray spectra. The synchrotron storage ring, when completed, will provide useful photons for various x-ray imaging work including x-ray microscopy. In anticipation of the commission of the synchrotron, we have built a stationary target x-ray source for some initial work on x-ray contact imaging. The stationary anode x-ray source was chosen for its simplicity and reliability. The soft x-ray source had been set up by the middle of August, 1986. After the source was tested, two biological specimens were exposed to the source.

It has long been the dream of the biologists to observe living cells with a high resolution, much beyond the limits of the optical microscope. However, due to the inherent difficulties of electron microscopy (EM) with hydrated specimens, our knowledge of cellular ultrastructure is primary based upon fixed and dehydrated materials.