Status of the crystallography beamlines at synchrotron SOLEIL

. Synchrotron SOLEIL (www.synchrotron-soleil.fr) is the French national centre for synchrotron radiation research, and has been open, for user applications, since 2008. Operating at an energy of 2.75GeV, injected current of 500mA, with an excellent beam stability of < 1 micron at the source position and beam “top up”, and with a high proportion of straight sections for the ring circumference, SOLEIL offers a wide range of possibilities for diffraction experiments. The beamlines serving crystallographic communities are listed, along with their area of expertise and available equipment. A detailed description of the design of the PROXIMA 1 beamline for macromolecular crystallography is given, and an example of an (unsuccessful but significant) experiment is given.