The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is the brightest synchrotron X-ray light source in the world. It provides ultrabright, high-energy storage-ring-generated X-ray beams for research in almost all scientific disciplines.
These X-ray beams are created by a series of accelerators culminating in an electron storage ring that spans about 2/3 of a mile. The original storage ring was built in the early 1990s along with the rest of the APS complex, and it was replaced by a new, upgraded storage ring in 2023 and 2024. The X-ray beams it generates are sent to 72 experiment stations around the ring, each one optimized for different techniques and scientific fields. These X-ray beams allow scientists to pursue new knowledge about the structure and function of materials, from the center of the Earth to outer space and all points in between.
APS research has been part of three Nobel Prize-winning scientific efforts and leads to real-world impacts regularly. Data from the APS powers new breakthroughs in energy storage, fuel efficiency, microelectronics, quantum materials and public health.
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