The Institute for the Structure of Matter's Trieste Section was established in 1992 with the goal of constructing beamlines at ELETTRA and conducting research, particularly in basic and applied solid state physics.

Section researchers and technical experts have constructed two beamlines: a VUV photoelectron spectroscopy line, and a POLAR circularly polarized line. Institute staff are responsible for the operation and use of the two lines.

Research goals include examination of electronic properties of surfaces; low-dimensional systems; and semiconductor, metal and magnetic materials.

The beamlines are also used for studying the interaction between gaseous materials and surfaces.