Canadian Light Source Inc. (CLS)

University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
What the facility does

Canada’s light source centre, enabling innovative health, agriculture, environment, and advanced materials research for industry, government, and academic scientists.

Areas of expertise

The Canadian Light Source, a national research facility of the University of Saskatchewan, is the only synchrotron in Canada and one of the largest scientific infrastructure investments in the country’s history. More than 1,000 academic, government and industry scientists from across Canada and around the world access the CLS every year, in innovative health, agriculture, environment, and advanced materials research. 

Synchrotron light's high brilliance, high intensity, sharp focus, and tunability offer a huge advantage over conventional techniques. 

Many synchrotron techniques can be performed with little to no sample manipulation or preparation before analysis, detecting even low concentrations of elemental forms. Fast, in-situ, non-destructive experiments allow scientists to use our tools in a broad range of research areas, furthering knowledge in myriad fields. 

CLS enables an extremely wide range of science projects on multiple experimental stations (beamlines) operating simultaneously. The beamlines are optimized for select parts of the light spectrum and used in a broad range of experimental techniques including spectroscopy, diffraction, imaging from the macro to the nanoscale and combinations thereof. Data collection can be relatively rapid (on the order of sub-second) and is of a quality and breadth not possible at any other facility in Canada.

The Industry Services group, a dedicated team of experts whose mission is to bring the power of synchrotron-based tools to Canadian industry, offers a wide range of services on a fee-for-service basis, from purchased access to full-service experimental design, execution, and analysis, unlocking unparalleled insights into sample composition and structure, spanning macro to molecular scales.

Research services
  • Plant Phenotyping, Crop and Agri-Product Development, including cannabis research: available techniques include computed tomography (CT); X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS); macromolecular crystallography (MX); infrared spectromicroscopy; Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
  • Drug Development, Protein Crystallography and Biomedical Imaging: macromolecular crystallography (MX); small-molecule diffraction (SM-XRD); powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD); computed tomography (CT).
  • Development of Advanced Materials: powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD); small-molecule diffraction (SM-XRD); computed tomography (CT); X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS); X-ray spectromicroscopy; X-ray photoelectron microscopy.
  • Mining, Oil and Gas, and Soil Science, including radioactive materials and critical minerals: powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD); X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS); computed tomography (CT); Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM); X-ray fluorescence mapping.
Sectors of application
  • Aerospace and satellites
  • Agriculture, animal science and food
  • Automotive
  • Chemical industries
  • Clean technology
  • Defence and security industries
  • Energy
  • Environmental technologies and related services
  • Fisheries and aquaculture
  • Forestry and forest-based industries
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
  • Manufacturing and processing
  • Mining, minerals and metals
Specialized labEquipmentFunction
 Biomedical Imaging and Therapy beamlines
  • Computed Tomography (CT)
  • Conventional Absorption Imaging
  • Diffraction Enhanced Imaging (DEI)
  • K-edge Subtraction Imaging (KES)
  • White Beam Access
  • Computed Tomography (voxel size >= 2um^3) (CT)
  • In-Line (Propagation-Based) Phase Contrast Imaging (PBI)
  • Micro Computed Tomography (voxel size < 1um^3) (uCT)
 Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography facilities 
  • Single anomalous dispersion (SAD)
  • X-ray diffraction
  • Multi-wavelength anomalous dispersion (MAD)
  • XANES on crystals
  • Single-crystal X-ray diffraction
 Far-Infrared Spectroscopy beamline
  • Far-Infrared Microscope
  • Far-Infrared Photoacoustic Spectroscopy
  • Far-Infrared Spectroscopy (Far-IR)
  • High Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy
 Hard X-Ray Microanalysis beamline
  • Diffraction Anomalous Fine Structure (DAFS)
  • Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering (GISAXS)
  • Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD)
  • High Pressure Powder Diffraction
  • Resonant X-ray Diffraction (RXD)
  • X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
  • X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
 High-Resolution Spherical Grating Monochromator beamline
  • Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)
  • Micro XAFS/XRF Imaging
  • X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
  • X-ray Absorption Imaging
  • X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES)
  • X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)
  • X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL)
  • X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF)
  • X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
  • X-ray absorption spectroscopy
 Mid-Infrared Spectromicroscopy beamline
  • ATR Infrared Spectroscopy
  • Chemical Infrared Imaging
  • Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
  • FTIR Spectromicroscopy
  • Technique Under Development: ATR Infrared Chemical Imaging
 Resonant Elastic And Inelastic X-Ray Scattering beamline
  • Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS)
  • Resonant Soft X-Ray Scattering (RSXS)
  • X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
  • X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES)
  • X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)
  • X-ray Emission Spectroscopy (XES)
  • X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD)
  • X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism (XMLD)
  • X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS)
  • X-ray emission spectroscopy
 Soft X-Ray Microcharacterization beamline
  • Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES)
  • Micro XAFS/XRD/XRF Imaging
  • X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
  • X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES)
  • X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)
  • X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL)
  • X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
  • X-ray absorption spectroscopy
 Soft X-ray Spectromicroscopy beamline
  • Cryo-Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (Cryo-STXM)
  • NEXAFS Spectromicroscopy - STXM XRF mode
  • Photoemission Electron Microscopy (PEEM)
  • Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM)
  • Soft X-ray Tomography
  • STXM-Ptychography
  • X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD)
  • X-ray Magnetic Linear Dichroism (XMLD)
 Synchrotron Laboratory for Micro and Nano Devices
  • Deep X-ray lithography
    LIGA process lithography steps
 Variable Line Spacing Plane Grating Monochromator beamline
  • Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)
  • X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
  • X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES)
  • X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS)
  • X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL)
  • X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
  • X-ray absorption spectroscopy
 Very Sensitive Elemental and Structural Probe Employing Radiation from a Synchrotron
  • Differential Aperture X-ray Microscopy (DAXM)
  • Fluorescence Microscopy
  • Grazing Incidence X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (GI-XAFS)
  • Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD)
  • Micro XAFS/XRD/XRF Imaging
  • White Beam Access
  • X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS)
  • X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XAS)
  • X-ray Diffraction (XRD)
  • X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL)
  • X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF)
  • X-ray Laue Diffraction
Electron Imaging and Microanalysis LabThermo Quattro S ESEM Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope 
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM-in-SEM)
  • Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)
  • MAPS (Modular Automated Processing System) Mineralogy
  • BASF
  • BP
  • Cameco
  • Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
  • Chevron
  • Cocrystal Pharma Inc.
  • Composites Innovation Centre
  • Composites Research Network
  • Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec (CRIAQ)
  • Dow Chemical
  • Ford
  • General Motors
  • IBM
  • Lorax Environmental Services Ltd.
  • National Research Council Canada
  • NASA
  • Orano
  • Petroleum Technology Research Centre 
  • SRK Consulting Inc.
  • Suncor Energy
  • Zymeworks Inc.
TitleURL
Virtual tour of the synchrotron research facility.https://www.lightsource.ca/public/tours.php 
Beamlines and techniques.https://www.lightsource.ca/facilities/beamlines/where-to-start.php
Canadian Light Source's industry services.https://www.lightsource.ca/industry/our-services.php
Better data, faster.https://www.lightsource.ca/science/better-data-faster.php