FIP: a highly automated beamline for multiwavelength anomalous diffraction experiments

FIP is a French Collaborating Research Group (CRG) beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) dedicated exclusively to crystallography of biological macromolecules, with a special emphasis on multiwavelength anomalous diffraction data collection in the 0.7–1.81 Å wavelength range. The optics, consisting of long cylindrical grazing‐angle mirrors associated with a cryocooled double‐crystal monochromator, delivers an optimal beam in the corresponding energy range. The high level of automation, which includes automated crystal centring, automated data‐collection management and data processing, makes the use of this beamline very easy. This is illustrated by the large number of challenging structures that have been solved since 1999.