The Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab’s synchrotron, is currently under scheduled maintenance, and the core of the facility is accessible, thanks to the absence of harmful radiations when not in operation. All photos are here.
A series of Berkeley lab postdocs and young researchers were allowed to tour the inside of the facility, learning about the physics behind the accelerator on the spot, with a close look at the electron gun, the booster ring and the storage ring.
The careful and illuminating explanations where provided by Banda, ALS’ Operations Deputy, who acknowledged the difficulties and tremendous work of the technicians who are essential to keep the soft X-ray beam running, with an uptime over 98%
The ALS is staged for a major upgrade, ALS-U which recently received CD-zero approval. This will propel it into the Generation IV category of light sources, dubbed Diffraction-Limited Storage Ring (DLSR), effectively reaching the very limit of physical optics and enabling whole capabilities of research.
Tours will soon be open to the staff at ALS.