Report on DELTA, one year before routine operation

A status report of the Dortmund Electron Test Accelerator DELTA in its final phase of construction is presented. DELTA is a 1.5 GeV 3rd generation synchrotron light source designed for low emittance (10^-8 m rad), high currents (500 mA for ⩾12 bunches) and beam lifetimes of ⩾10 hours, which is dedicated to free-electron-laser (FEL) and accelerator-physics research and development. With the first FEL experiment, already funded and to be installed in one of the two long straight sections of the racetrack-shaped storage ring, DELTA represents a new storage ring-FEL facility. After first oscillator operation in the visible (planned for end of 1994), FEL experiments in the VUV clearly below 100 nm are foreseen. In the second long straight section an asymmetric superconducting wiggler, providing 1 Angstrom radiation, will be installed in the future and used as a wavelength shifter. A predesign study of this second insertion device has been performed already. Details of the construction of DELTA and the present status of most hardware components of the 100 MeV linac, booster synchrotron, storage ring, vacuum system, beam lines and first FEL experiment will be discussed