Science and Technology of Future Light Sources

Many of the important challenges facing humanity, including developing alternative sources of energy and improving health, are being addressed by advances that demand the improved understanding and control of matter. While the visualization, exploration, and manipulation of macroscopic matter have long been technological goals, scientific developments in the twentieth century have focused attention on understanding matter on the atomic scale through the underlying framework of quantum mechanics. Of special interest is matter that consists of natural or artificial nanoscale building blocks defined either by atomic structural arrangements or by electron or spin formations created by collective correlation effects The essence of the challenge to the scientific community has been expressed in five grand challenges for directing matter and energy recently formulated by the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee [1]. These challenges focus on increasing our understanding of, and ultimately control of, matter at the level of atoms, electrons. and spins, as illustrated in Figure 1.1, and serve the entire range of science from advanced materials to life sciences. Meeting these challenges will require new tools that extend our reach into regions of higher spatial, temporal, and energy resolution. X-rays with energies above 10 keV offer capabilities extending beyond the nanoworld shown in Figure 1.1 due to their ability to penetrate into optically opaque or thick objects. This opens the door to combining atomic level information from scattering studies with 3D information on longer length scales from real space imaging with a resolution approaching 1 nm. The investigation of multiple length scales is important in hierarchical structures, providing knowledge about function of living organisms, the atomistic origin of materials failure, the optimization of industrial synthesis, or the working of devices. Since the fundamental interaction that holds matter together is of electromagnetic origin, it is intuitively clear that electromagnetic radiation is the critical tool in the study of material properties. On the level of atoms, electrons, and spins, x-rays have proved especially valuable. Future advanced x-ray sources and instrumentation will extend the power of x-ray methods to reach greater spatial resolution, increased sensitivity, and unexplored temporal domains. The purpose of this document is threefold: (1) summarize scientific opportunities that are beyond the reach of today's x-ray sources and instrumentation; (2) summarize the requirements for advanced x-ray sources and instrumentation needed to realize these scientific opportunities, as well as potential methods of achieving them; and (3) outline the R&D required to establish the technical feasibility of these advanced x-ray sources and instrumentation

NSLS-II Preliminary Design Report

Following the CD0 approval of the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) during August 2005, Brookhaven National Laboratory prepared a conceptual design for a worldclass user facility for scientific research using synchrotron radiation. DOE SC review of the preliminary baseline in December 2006 led to the subsequent CD1 approval (approval of alternative selection and cost range). This report is the documentation of the preliminary design work for the NSLS-II facility. The preliminary design of the Accelerator Systems (Part 1) was developed mostly based of the Conceptual Design Report, except for the Booster design, which was changed from in-storage-ring tunnel configuration to in external- tunnel configuration. The design of beamlines (Part 2) is based on designs developed by engineering firms in accordance with the specification provided by the Project. The conventional facility design (Part 3) is the Title 1 preliminary design by the AE firm that met the NSLS-II requirements. Last and very important, Part 4 documents the ES&H design and considerations related to this preliminary design. The NSLS-II performance goals are motivated by the recognition that major advances in many important technology problems will require scientific breakthroughs in developing new materials with advanced properties. Achieving this will require the development of new tools that will enable the characterization of the atomic and electronic structure, chemical composition, and magnetic properties of materials, at nanoscale resolution. These tools must be nondestructive, to image and characterize buried structures and interfaces, and they must operate in a wide range of temperatures and harsh environments. The NSLS-II facility will provide ultra high brightness and flux and exceptional beam stability. It will also provide advanced insertion devices, optics, detectors, and robotics, and a suite of scientific instruments designed to maximize the scientific output of the facility. Together these will enable the study of material properties and functions with a spatial resolution of {approx}1 nm, an energy resolution of {approx}0.1 meV, and the ultra high sensitivity required to perform spectroscopy on a single atom. In order to meet this need, NSLS-II has been designed to provide world-leading brightness and flux and exceptional beam stability. The brightness is defined as the number of photons emitted per second, per photon energy bandwidth, per solid angle, and per unit source size. Brightness is important because it determines how efficiently an intense flux of photons can be refocused to a small spot size and a small divergence. It scales as the ring current and the number of total periods of the undulator field (both of which contribute linearly to the total flux), as well as eing nversely proportional to the horizontal and vertical emittances (the product of beam size and divergence) of the electron beam. Raising the current in the storage ring to obtain even brighter beams is ultimately limited by beam-driven, collective instabilities in the accelerator. Thus, to maximize the brightness, the horizontal and vertical emittances must be made as small as possible. With the concept of using damping wigglers, low-field bending magnets, and a large number of lattice cells to achieve ultra small emittance, the performance of NSLS-II will be nearly at the ultimate limit of storage ring light sources, set by the intrinsic properties of the synchrotron radiation process. The facility will produce x-rays more than 10,000 times brighter than those produced at NSLS today. The facility, with various insertion devices, including three-pole-wigglers and low-field dipole radiations, has the capability of covering a broad range of radiation spectra, from hard x-ray to far infra-red. The superlative character and combination of capabilities will have broad impact on a wide range of disciplines and scientific initiatives in the coming decades, including new studies of small crystals in structural biology, a wide range of nanometer-resolution probes for nanoscience, coherent imaging of the structure and dynamics of disordered materials, greatly increased applicability of inelastic x-ray scattering, and properties of materials under extreme conditions. Commissioned in 1982, the existing National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) provides essential scientific tools for 2,300 scientists per year from more than 400 academic, industrial, and government institutions. Their myriad research programs produce about 800 publications per year, with more than 130 appearing in premier journals. It was designed in the 1970s and is now in its third decade of service. It has been continually upgraded over the years, with the brightness increasing fully five orders of magnitude. However, it has reached the theoretical limits of performance given its small circumference and small periodicity, and only a small number of insertion devices are possible