ALBA is a 3rd generation Synchrotron Light facility located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, (Barcelona), being the newest source in the Mediterranean area.

It is a complex of electron accelerators to produce synchrotron light, which allows the visualization of the atomic structure of matter as well as the study of its properties.  

The 3 GeV electron beam energy at ALBA is achieved by combining a LInear ACcelerator (LINAC) and a low-emittance, full-energy BOOSTER placed in the same tunnel as the STORAGE RING. ALBA's 270 meter perimeter has 17 straight sections all of which are available for the installation of insertion devices.

ALBA currently has seven operational state-of-the-art phase-I beamlines, comprising soft and hard X-rays, which are devoted mainly to biosciences, condensed matter (magnetic and electronic properties, nanoscience) and materials science. Additionally, two phase-II beamlines are in construction (infrared microspectroscopy and low-energy ultra-high-resolution angular photoemission for complex materials).

This large scientific infrastructure provides more than 5.000 hours of beam time per year and is available for the academic and the industrial sector, serving more than 1.000 researchers every year. Since as early as 2012, ALBA has been hosting official users, 75% from Spanish institutions and 25% from other countries.

Managed by the Consortium for the Construction, Equipping and Exploitation of the Synchrotron Light Source (CELLS), it is funded in equal parts by the Spanish and the Catalonian Administration.

ALBA is a facility committed to scientific excellence and to improve the well-being and progress of society as a whole.

Official Webpage

Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste is a multidisciplinary international research center of excellence, specialized in generating high quality synchrotron and free-electron laser light and applying it in materials and life sciences. Its mission is to promote cultural, social and economic growth through:

• Basic and applied research
• Technology and know-how transfer
• Technical, scientific and management education
• Role of reference in the national and international scientific networks

We develop excellence by providing state-of-the-art services for high-quality, internationally recognized research, thus contributing to enhance the positive impact and relevance of science on society.

 The main assets of the research centre are two advanced light sources, the electron storage ring Elettra and the free-electron laser (FEL) FERMI, continuously (H24) operated supplying light of the selected "colour" and quality to more than 30 experimental stations. These facilities enable the international community of researchers from academy and industry to characterize structure and function of matter with sensitivity down to molecular and atomic levels, to pattern and nanofabricate new structures and devices, and to develop new processes. Every year scientists and engineers from more than 50 different countries compete by submitting proposals to access and use time on these stations. These are selected by peer-reviewed by panels of international experts on the basis of scientific merit and potential impact, and the winners are granted valuable access time as a contribution to their research. Because of its central location in Europe, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste is increasingly attracting users from Central and Eastern European countries, where the demand for synchrotron radiation is in continuous growth, and is part of the primary network for science and technology of the Central European Initiative (CEI). But our outreach is far larger and reaches many more Countries in the world through long-term relations with the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) of UNESCO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The access by researchers from developing countries has tripled over the last few years, and the Indian research community is one of the largest users. Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste has been the coordinator of the EU-supported networks involving synchrotron and free electron lasers in the European area, in the last decade. Such networks promote transnational access, joint research activities and collaborations among the laboratories to improve the overall service offered to European users.

Official Webpage

News, information, and educational materials about world's synchrotron and free electron laser light source facilities.

http://www.lightsources.org/cms/

The idea of an international synchrotron light source in the Middle East was first proposed in 1997 by Herman Winick of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (Stanford University, USA) and Gustaf-Adolf Voss of the German Synchrotron (Deutsches Elktronen Synchrotron) during two seminars organized in 1997 in Italy and in 1998 in Sweden by Tord Ekelof with the CERN-based Middle East Scientific Co-operation group headed by Sergio Fubini. Germany had just decided to decommission its facility, BESSY 1, since a newer one was being built in Berlin. At the request of Sergio Fubini and Herwig Schopper, the German government agreed to donate the components to SESAME, provided the dismantling was taken care of by the latter. The plan was brought to the attention of Federico Mayor, then Director-General of UNESCO, who called a meeting at the Organization's Headquaters in Paris in July 1999 of delegates from the Middle East and other regions. The outcome of the meeting was the launching of the project and the setting-up of an International Interim Council under the Chairmanship of Herwig Schopper. Jordan, which has been selected to host the center, is providing the land as well as funds for the construction of the building. The groundbreaking ceremony was held in January 2003 and construction work began the following July.

http://www.sesame.org.jo

As one of the pioneering synchrotron facilities in the world, SSRL has served the scientific community for over 35 years by providing outstanding user support and important contributions to science and instrumentation. SSRL is primarily supported by the DOE Offices of Basic Energy Sciences and Biological and Environmental Research, with additional support from the NIH National Center for Research Resources, Biomedical Technology Program, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

http://ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/

Diamond Light Source is a synchrotron facility located in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Its purpose is to produce intense beams of light whose special characterstics are useful in many areas of scientific research. In particular it can be used to investigate the structure and properties of a wide range of materials (proteins, for example).

http://www.diamond.ac.uk/

The ESRF is an international research institute for cutting-edge science with photons: Discovery of the structure and dynamics of our complex world, down to the single atom. Located in Grenoble, France, it is supported and shared by 19 countries.

http://www.esrf.eu/

SRC is a national research facility where scientists study a diverse array of research problems, including: superconductors; low-dimensional solids; quantum confinement; geology and environmental science; microanalysis of cells and tissues as part of disease research such as brain cancer and Alzheimer's disease; and cutting-edge exploration of nanotechnology.

http://www.src.wisc.edu/

SPring-8 is a large synchrotron radiation facility which delivers the most powerful synchrotron radiation currently available. Consisting of narrow, powerful beams of electromagnetic radiation, synchrotron radiation is produced when electron beams, accelerated to nearly the speed of light, are forced to travel in a curved path by a magnetic field. The research conducted at SPring-8, located in Harima Science Park City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, includes nanotechnology, biotechnology and industrial applications. The name "SPring-8" is derived from "Super Photon ring-8 GeV" (8 GeV,or 8 giga electron volts, being the power output of the ring).

http://www.spring8.or.jp/

The Hamburger Synchrotronstrahlungslabor (HASYLAB) at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, a Research Centre of the Helmholtz Association, in Hamburg (Germany). The research at HASYLAB is focused on photon science.

http://hasylab.desy.de/

The first Taiwan synchrotron light source situated at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) has been operational for many years. However, in order to cope with the immense competition in the international scientific arena, and the rapid development of world synchrotron light sources, insufficient brightness of the present Taiwan Light Source (TLS) in hard x-ray region, near congestion of all the TLS beam ports, the increasing demand for even brighter synchrotron x-ray source for top-notch research as strongly expressed in the users meeting in the past several years, and also at the crucial moment of the government's grand plan of promoting genomic medicine, biology and nano-technology in the country, the former SRRC Board in its Forty-First Meeting in February 2001, suggested to study the feasibility of building another synchrotron light source with higher electron energy. In July 2004, the Board decided to recommend to the government the construction of Taiwan Photon Source (TPS) and its multidisciplinary experimental facilities. A feasibility study report on the construction of the Taiwan Photon Source (TPS) was completed indicating NSRRC's technical capability to build at its present site in seven years a 3~3.3 GeV electron energy, 518 meter circumference, low-emittance synchrotron storage ring which will offer one of the world's brightest synchrotron x-ray sources, provide cutting-edge experimental facilities and novel multidisciplinary scientific research opportunities, enhance world-class academic research, as well as create Taiwan's scientific research marvels in the twenty-first century.

http://www.nsrrc.org.tw/

APS which is funded by the Office of Science, Office of Basics Energy Sciences in U.S. Department of Energy, is one of the most technologically complex machines in the world providing the brightest x-ray beams in the Hestern hemisphere to more than 5000 scientists.

http://www.aps.anl.gov/

The MAX IV Laboratory consists today of three existing storage rings -- MAX I, MAX II, and MAX III. A new facility, the MAX IV, is being constructed to the northeast of Lund. MAX-lab is also hosting a highly efficient facility for high- througput, nanovolume characterization and crystallization of biological macromolecules.

https://www.maxlab.lu.se

Most of the division's work is based upon the use of radiation emitted from and electron storage ring such as the one at our local synchrotron radiation laboratory, MAX-lab, but we also use other surface science techniques such as low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunnelling microscope (STM). The website pages describe some of the work done at this department and provide useful information for those who want to visit or cotact it.

http://www.sljus.lu.se/

Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility is a third-generation synchrotron radiation light source, and would be an invaluable tool for Chinese scientific research and industrial community.. Up to now, SSRF is the biggest scientific platform for science research and technology development in China, and hundreds of scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and industries in domestic and even overseas can do research, experiments and R&D at SSRF.

http://ssrf.sinap.ac.cn/english/

As part of the BEPC (Beijing Electron-Positron Collider) project the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) was constructed almost in parallel with BEPC and has been open to users since 1991. Currently, there are a total of 9 beamlines and 11 experimental stations in operation for at BSRF. The accumulated machine time for synchrotron radiation is about two and a half months per year. BSRF is one of the 11 divisions of the Institute of Hight Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, meanwhile it is administrated by BEPC National Laboratory and advised by its scientific committee.

http://english.bsrf.ihep.cas.cn/