In order to use the NSLS-II, researchers have to submit a peer-reviewed proposal.[5] In the first five months of 2023, NSLS-II served over 1,200 researchers from academic, industrial, and government laboratories worldwide.[6]
NSLS-II currently has 29 beamlines (experimental stations) open for operations.[7] When the facility is complete, NSLS-II is expected to "be capable of supporting some 58 beamlines in total."[8]
The beamlines at NSLS-II are grouped into five science programs: hard x-ray scattering & spectroscopy, imaging & microscopy, structural biology, soft x-ray scattering & spectroscopy, and complex scattering. These programs group beamlines together that offer similar types of research techniques for studying the behavior and structure of matter.
NSLS-II is a medium energy (3.0 GeV) electron storage ring designed to deliver photons with high average spectral brightness exceeding 1021 ph/s in the 2 – 10 keV energy range and a flux density exceeding 1015 ph/s in all spectral ranges. This performance requires the storage ring to support a very high-current electron beam (up to 500 mA) with a very small horizontal (down to 0.5 nm-rad) and vertical (8 pm-rad) emittance. The electron beam is stable in its position (<10% of its size), angle (<10% of its divergence), dimensions (<10%), and intensity (±0.5% variation).
The NSLS-II storage ring lattice consists of 30 double-bend achromat (DBA) cells that can accommodate at least 58 beamlines for user experiments, distributed by type of source as follows:
15 low-beta ID straights for undulators or superconducting wigglers
12 high-beta ID straights for either undulators or damping wigglers
31 BM ports providing broadband sources covering the IR, VUV, and soft x-ray ranges. Any of these ports can alternatively be replaced by a 3PW port covering the hard x-ray range.
4 BM ports on large gap (90 mm) dipoles for very far-IR
Continuing the tradition established by the NSLS, NSLS-II radiation sources span a very wide spectral range, from the far infrared (down to 0.1 eV) to the very hard x-ray region (>300 keV). This is achieved by a combination of bending magnets, three-pole wigglers, and insertion device (ID) sources.[9]
Construction of NSLS-II began in 2009 and was completed on-time and under budget in 2014. NSLS-II saw first light in October 2014. The facility cost $912,000,000 to build, and the project received the DOE's Secretary's Award of Excellence. Torcon Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, was the general contractor selected by the DOE for the project.[10]
Media related to National Synchrotron Light Source II at Wikimedia Commons
