The hierarchy of length scales needed for a functioning computer chip ranges from the atomic scale of device interfaces (bottom) up to the centimeter scale of assembled packages.

The complex process of charge transfer and storage in batteries limits performance. Improvements are expected by observing the Electrochemistry in action with hard x-rays.

Message from Murray Gibson:
News about the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade

November 2009

We are delighted that our sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is considering Critical Decision 0 approval for an upgrade to the APS. The APS Upgrade Project (formerly known as the APS renewal), is a coupled set of major enhancements to the accelerator and beamlines that will address important key scientific challenges underpinning sustainable energy, healthier living, and economic security.

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The Advanced Photon Source Upgrade

The APS-U project will upgrade the machine to higher operating current, introduce longer straight sections and new insertion devices, front ends, and optics for almost all sectors around the storage ring, including superconducting undulators for high performance at high energies. Many beamlines will be substantially upgraded, some new beamlines will be built, but all beamlines will see improvements. The focus will be on x-rays above 20 keV and ultrafast dynamics and imaging, but all of our users will see benefits from the upgrade.

The scientific vision for the APS Upgrade is detailed in a proposal submitted to the DOE in May 2009 (Strategic Renewal of the Advanced Photon Source, Proposal for Approval of Conceptual Design (CD-0), May 31, 2009 (pdf)), which is organized around two themes ideally suited for study with the upgraded APS:

  • Mastering Hierarchical Structures through Imaging
    “How can we master energy and information on the nanoscale to create new technologies with capabilities rivaling those of living things? New capabilities planned for the APS … would transform imaging, allowing objects three times larger to be imaged, improving resolution several times over, increasing sensitivity more than an order of magnitude, and doubling available [x-ray] beamtime.” — “Strategic Renewal of the Advanced Photon Source, Proposal for approval of Conceptual Design (CD-0),” p. 6.

  • Real Materials under Real Conditions in Real Time
    “The conditions under which we manufacture most real materials are not at equilibrium. … How do we characterize and control matter away – especially very far away – from equilibrium? High-energy x-rays provide powerful tools to answer this question, with capabilities that will be dramatically enhanced through the APS renewal.” — “Strategic Renewal of the Advanced Photon Source, Proposal for approval of Conceptual Design (CD-0),” p. 5.

The upgrade of the APS will render this facility the most brilliant source of high-energy x-rays worldwide, and will ensure the U.S. leadership position at 10 keV and above. With an upgraded APS, the construction of the National Synchrotron Light Source-II at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Linac Coherent Light Souce at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the DOE will have equipped our nation with a suite of state-of-the-art, complementary scattering tools to solve the most advanced materials and biological problems.

We expect the Upgrade to be completed in ~2017. We are also engaged in R&D on next-generation hard x-ray sources that might go beyond the limits of third-generation machines such as the APS, with the aim to take the lead in hard x-ray sciences for 20 years and beyond. Several options have been studied and a particularly promising direction undergoing R&D now is the X-Ray Free Electron Laser Oscillator (XFEL-O). We are engaged with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in a joint effort to identify the scientific needs for next generation sources in the hard x-ray region, and expect to hold a workshop in the summer of 2010.