The “Purple Book” describes the science and technology programme of the ESRF for the next ten years. This programme builds on the five year ESRF Medium-Term Scientific Plan with the added value of the far-reaching and ambitious scientific Upgrade Programme. The Upgrade is an exceptional ten year project that will greatly extend the scientific impact of the ESRF, beyond that achievable within the normal ESRF annual budget. The Upgrade will deliver both new facilities and a unique associated environment for the scientific communities of the Member and Scientific Associate countries, designed to match the future scientific challenges facing society: health, energy, environment and climate change, new materials and nanotechnology.

The Purple Book provides a description, in Part 1, of the scientific motivation for the Upgrade Programme, outlining the science and new X-ray-based techniques of the coming decade. Part II presents new concepts and methodologies for synchrotron radiation that support the science cases described in part I. Part III deals with the infrastructure required to make the science possible, whilst a summary of the project budget, staffing and planning is presented in Part IV. A series of annexes includes a set of Conceptual Design Reports describing potential new beamlines at the ESRF.

The Science and Technology Programme 2008-2017 is available for download in pdf format.  Both low-resolution (21 mb) and medium-resolution (52 mb) versions are available, please select the version that best suits your needs. Printed copies will be sent automatically to the principal investigators of ESRF experiments during the years 2006 and 2007. For other ESRF users and collaborators, an on-line form is available permitting the request of a printed copy. Download electronic version: - Low-resolution pdf (21 mb) - medium-resolution pdf (52 mb) Request printed version: - request form

Table of contents

Part 1: Science at the ESRF
1.1 Science at the nanometre scale
1.2 Structural and functional biology, soft matter
1.3 Structural properties and chemistry of materials
1.4 Dynamical properties and electronic structure of matter
1.5 Emerging scientific applications of synchrotron radiation

Part 2: Technology and engineering challenges
2.1 Beamline engineering developments
2.2 Towards nanoscale imaging
2.3 Extended pump-and-probe techniques
2.4 Advanced sample environments and extreme conditions
2.5 X-ray detector developments

Part 3: Infrastructure to enable new science
3.1 Accelerator and source developments
3.2 Building and infrastructure extensions
3.3 Computing challenges

Part 4: Cost, staff and schedule
4.1 Cost and additional staffing
4.2 Planning the ESRF upgrade

Annexes
Annexe I Conceptual design reports
Annexe II Safety
Annexe III Other synchrotrons
Annexe IV ESRF facts and figures