Advanced Light Source

Advanced Light Source
U.S. Department of Energy from United States · Public domain · source
Name	Advanced Light Source
Location	Berkeley, California
Established	1993
Type	Synchrotron radiation facility
Operator	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Country	United States

Contents

Advanced Light Source The Advanced Light Source is a third-generation synchrotron radiation facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory near University of California, Berkeley that produces bright beams of ultraviolet and soft x-ray light for scientific research. It serves investigators from National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy (United States), NASA, and international institutions such as CERN, Max Planck Society, and National Institute for Materials Science. The facility supports studies across materials science, chemistry, biology, and environmental science and connects to user programs at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Overview

The facility is a storage-ring synchrotron that provides tunable photon beams for experiments in spectroscopy, microscopy, and scattering to users from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, and many other universities and industrial partners. Experimental endstations host instruments developed by collaborations with IBM, Intel, General Electric, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and national consortia such as Advanced Photon Source Users Organization. Facility operations coordinate with agencies including National Science Foundation and programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Conceived during planning efforts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the 1980s, the project drew on accelerator research from Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and designs tested at Cornell University and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Construction and commissioning involved partnerships with Department of Energy (United States) offices and contractors linked to projects such as Human Genome Project infrastructure and instrumentation initiatives influenced by the Berlín Big Science era. The ALS opened for users in the early 1990s and underwent midlife upgrades inspired by developments at Diamond Light Source and SOLEIL. Leadership and scientific direction involved scientists associated with Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Paul Alivisatos, and collaborations with investigators from University of Tokyo and Imperial College London.

The storage ring operates at an electron energy optimized for VUV and soft x-ray production, with injector systems including a linear accelerator and booster inspired by designs at DESY and KEK. Beamlines use undulators, wigglers, and bending magnets similar to hardware at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Canadian Light Source, and SPring-8. The facility infrastructure integrates cryogenics technologies from Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory projects and vacuum systems with specifications comparable to those used at National Synchrotron Light Source II. Control systems employ software and hardware standards influenced by EPICS implementations at Paul Scherrer Institute and timing systems related to Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory developments. Safety and environmental compliance coordinate with California Energy Commission and Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidance.

Beamlines support techniques including soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy, resonant inelastic x-ray scattering, photoemission electron microscopy, scanning transmission x-ray microscopy, coherent diffraction imaging, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy linked to studies from Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and National Institute of Standards and Technology. Endstations interface with sample environments developed in collaboration with General Motors and cryostats from Bruker-affiliated engineering programs. Many beamlines were advanced by method developers who also published with collaborators at University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Columbia University. User support and proposal review processes align with practices used at Advanced Photon Source and Canadian Light Source.

Work performed at the facility has enabled insights into high-temperature superconductors studied alongside teams from Bell Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, catalysis research driven by partnerships with Boeing and ExxonMobil, and structural biology investigations that complement efforts at European Molecular Biology Laboratory and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. ALS-enabled publications have impacted fields related to battery materials research with contributors from Tesla, Inc. and Toyota Research Institute, protein-ligand interaction studies relevant to National Institutes of Health programs, and environmental aerosol characterization informing United States Environmental Protection Agency assessments. The facility has also supported applied projects with Intel and Applied Materials on semiconductor lithography and thin-film metrology.

Operations are overseen by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory management under contracts with Department of Energy (United States), with user access administered through peer review panels similar to those at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. Upgrade projects have included source improvements inspired by diffraction-limited storage ring initiatives at MAX IV, optics enhancements paralleling developments at PETRA III, and digital control upgrades influenced by systems at European XFEL. Workforce development and outreach programs coordinate with University of California campuses, industry partners such as Lam Research, and federal training programs from National Science Foundation.