The Advanced Photon Source
a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility

APS-U Approach

The Advanced Photon SourceThe APS Upgrade project involves replacing the existing electron storage ring at the APS, already one of the most powerful and busiest synchrotron radiation facilities in the world, with a new array of magnets, a multibend achromat lattice. This design will reduce electron beam emittance by a factor of 70 from its present value which, together with a doubling of stored beam current and the introduction of high performance insertion devices (some superconducting), will make the resulting X-ray beams two to three orders of magnitude brighter.

The brightness and energy of X-ray beams are critical properties for research. Higher brightness, accompanied by higher coherence, means more X-rays can be focused onto a smaller, laser-like spot, allowing researchers to gather more data in greater detail in less time. Higher energies allow X-rays to penetrate deeper inside materials to reveal crucial information about a material’s structure and function. The combination of high brightness and high energy allows the observation and imaging — in real time — of fast and ultrafast technologically important processes, including fuel sprays, magnetic switching, and biological processes in living organisms. Scientists will be able to see matter at the atomic level.