A beamline at the Photon Factory synchrotron radiation facility in Japan has been successfully set up. The project is sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, with Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics as the nodal center for its implementation. It is conceived as a multipurpose beamline to accommodate various planned facilities. At present, the available facilities are  (a) high resolution powder diffraction in ambient condition, (b) powder diffraction at low temperatures down to 10K, (c) powder diffraction at high temperatures up to 1200 K, (d) diffraction from single crystals and epitaxial multilayers, (e) x-ray reflectivity and diffuse scattering from solid surfaces and interfaces, (f) x-ray reflectivity, diffuse scattering and grazing incidence diffraction from liquid surface and liquid-liquid interfaces and (g) small angle x-ray scattering. Researchers from about 25 Indian institutes and universities have performed experiments in this facility. The successful installation and operation of this beamline has been recognized as a flagship cooperative activity between the two countries in the recent visit of the Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi to Japan and a statement was included in the joint press release:

Recognizing the successful operation of the Indian Beam Line at High-Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) at Tsukuba as a flagship cooperative activity, both sides announced their decision to take forward this collaboration in structural materials science area to the second phase for the study of advanced materials. Profs. M. K. Sanyal, M. K. Mukhopadhyay, K. S. R. Menon and S. Bhunia are involved in this project.