National Synchrotron Light Source II

National Synchrotron Light Source II
Name	National Synchrotron Light Source II
Location	Upton, New York
Established	2015
Type	Synchrotron radiation
Owner	U.S. Department of Energy
Operator	Brookhaven National Laboratory

Contents

National Synchrotron Light Source II is a high‑brightness, medium‑energy synchrotron light source located at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. It provides intense beams of X-ray and ultraviolet light for scientific research across fields such as materials science, chemistry, biology, and nanotechnology. The facility supports academic, industrial, and government users, enabling experiments tied to major initiatives like the Materials Genome Initiative and collaborations with institutions including Columbia University, Stony Brook University, and Princeton University.

Overview

The facility operates as a user facility under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy and is sited within the Brookhaven National Laboratory complex near the U.S. Department of Energy Brookhaven Site Office. It hosts beamlines and experimental endstations delivering coherent and tunable radiation for techniques such as X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Major partner organizations and programs include National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Boeing, and General Electric, while scientific collaborations have involved Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Planning for the project followed early 21st‑century roadmaps issued by entities such as the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The project succeeded an earlier facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory and drew on accelerator design expertise from teams at CERN, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Advanced Photon Source. Construction involved contractors and designers from firms including Jacobs Engineering Group, AECOM, and research inputs from universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Yale University, and University of California, Berkeley. The first experiments followed commissioning phases comparable to schedules at Diamond Light Source and Soleil, and governance reviews were overseen by panels including members from National Academy of Sciences and American Physical Society.

The storage ring was designed using concepts refined at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and features low‑emittance lattice structures inspired by developments at MAX IV and Swiss Light Source. Its electron beam is produced by an injector system comprising a linear accelerator and a booster synchrotron similar in principle to systems at FERMI and Trieste Synchrotron. Key technical parameters—such as beam energy, current, emittance, and bunch structure—support high coherence needed for techniques pioneered at DESY and Paul Scherrer Institute. Beamlines span the soft X‑ray to hard X‑ray regimes, enabling instrumentation comparable to that at Photon Factory, SPring-8, and Canadian Light Source. Control systems and data acquisition leverage middleware and software developed in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory computing groups, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility.

Research at the facility addresses challenges in energy storage batteries with projects tied to Argonne National Laboratory and Toyota Research Institute, catalysis studies linked to ExxonMobil and Shell, and structural biology programs coordinated with Howard Hughes Medical Institute and National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Studies include operando experiments on lithium-ion batteries relevant to Tesla, Inc. and Panasonic, investigations of perovskite photovoltaics connected to National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and characterization of quantum materials related to work at MIT and Stanford University. The facility supports environmental science programs involving researchers from NOAA and U.S. Geological Survey, and cultural heritage projects in partnership with institutions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.

Access is organized through peer‑reviewed proposal cycles coordinated with user offices analogous to procedures at Advanced Photon Source and European XFEL. Users come from universities such as Cornell University, University of Chicago, University of California, Los Angeles, and companies like IBM and Intel Corporation. Training and outreach programs involve collaborations with City University of New York, Hofstra University, and community initiatives with Suffolk County Community College. Scheduling, safety training, and sample handling protocols align with standards used at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and international user facilities including KEK and Australian Synchrotron.

Safety systems and radiation protection programs follow regulations and best practices from agencies such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and draw on experience from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. Environmental reviews were conducted in coordination with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and local authorities in Suffolk County, New York. Planned upgrades have been discussed with international partners at meetings of the International Union of Crystallography and involve technology roadmaps similar to upgrade paths at ESRF and APS Upgrade Project. Funding and policy decisions intersect with oversight by the U.S. Congress, reviews by Government Accountability Office, and recommendations from the National Science and Technology Council.

Category:Synchrotron radiation facilities Category:Brookhaven National Laboratory