The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...

(in Lemont, Illinois) is a storage-ring-based high-energy X-ray light source facility. It is one of five X-ray light sources owned and funded by the

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...

Office of Science. The APS began operation on March 26, 1995. It is operated as a user facility, meaning that it is open to the world’s scientific community, and more than 5,500 researchers make use of its resources each year.

How APS works

The APS uses a series of

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

s to push electrons up to nearly the speed of light, and then injects them into a

storage ring A storage ring is a type of circular particle accelerator in which a continuous or pulsed particle beam may be kept circulating, typically for many hours. Storage of a particular particle depends upon the mass, momentum, and usually the charge o ...

that is roughly two-thirds of a mile around. At every bend in the track, these electrons emit

synchrotron radiation Synchrotron radiation (also known as magnetobremsstrahlung) is the electromagnetic radiation emitted when relativistic charged particles are subject to an acceleration perpendicular to their velocity (). It is produced artificially in some types ...

in the form of ultrabright X-rays. Scientists at 65 experiment stations around the ring use these X-rays for basic and applied research in a number of fields. Scientists use the X-rays generated by the APS to peer inside batteries, with the goal of creating longer-lasting, faster-charging energy storage devices; to improve 3D printing for more durable materials; to learn more about the behavior of charged particles in order to improve electronics; and to map the brain to understand more about neurological diseases. APS research played a role in the development of the COVID-19 vaccines in use in the United States. The Experiment Hall surrounds the storage ring and is divided into 35 sectors, each of which has access to x-ray

beamline In accelerator physics, a beamline refers to the trajectory of the beam of particles, including the overall construction of the path segment (guide tubes, diagnostic devices) along a specific path of an accelerator facility. This part is either ...

s, one at an insertion device, and the other at a bending magnet. Each sector also corresponds to a lab/office module offering immediate access to the beamline. Two Nobel prizes in Chemistry have been granted for work performed in part at the APS. The 2009 prize was awarded for the discovery of the structure of the

ribosome Ribosomes () are molecular machine, macromolecular machines, found within all cell (biology), cells, that perform Translation (biology), biological protein synthesis (messenger RNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order s ...

, and the 2012 prize for the structure of

G protein-coupled receptor G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), also known as seven-(pass)-transmembrane domain receptors, 7TM receptors, heptahelical receptors, serpentine receptors, and G protein-linked receptors (GPLR), form a large group of evolutionarily related ...

APS upgrade

The APS underwent an upgrade that saw the original storage ring replaced with a new multi-bend achromat lattice. Construction of nine new feature beamlines and 15 enhanced existing beamlines will be completed in 2024 and 2025. The result will be X-rays that are up to 500 times brighter than those currently generated, and beamlines that will enable greater focusing ability to examine smaller materials in sharper detail. The installation period for the new storage ring began on April 24, 2023, and was completed roughly 12 months later in 2024, with stored beam demonstrated April 20, 2024.

References

External links

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Lightsources.org
{{authority control Argonne National Laboratory Synchrotron radiation facilities

How APS works

APS upgrade

See also

References

External links