ULTRABRIGHT SYNCHROTRON SOURCE ELETTRA - FIRST PERIOD OF OPERATION

ELETTRA, the brightest source of soft-X-ray in Europe and one of the t wo brightest in the world, is officially operating as a user facility since the summer of 1995. The source and the operating beam lines have reached and surpassed the design performances. The impact of such per formances is already felt in experiments: new applications are possibl e which were very difficult or quite impossible with the previous gene ration of sources. We present a few specific results to illustrate thi s point, and some considerations on the future development of the faci lity - primarily in view of its large and rapidly growing internationa l use.