The Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California is a synchrotron light source. Built from 1987 to 1993, it currently employs 210 scientists and staff. Part of the building in which it is housed was completed in 1942 for a 4.67 m (184 in) cyclotron, designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. (designer of the Coit Tower in San Francisco) and built by Ernest O. Lawrence. Today, the expanded building houses the ALS, a U.S. Department of Energy national user facility that attracts scientists from around the world.
The ALS is a national user facility that generates intense light for scientific and technological research. It is one of the world's brightest sources of ultraviolet and soft x-ray beams, and is the world's first third-generation synchrotron light source in its energy range. The facility welcomes over 2000 researchers every year from universities, industries, and government laboratories around the world. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
The ALS has over forty beamlines which simultaneously perform a wide range of science. Any qualified scientist can propose to use the ALS beamlines. Proposals are peer-reviewed and top-ranked proposals are allocated beam time. The ALS does not charge for beam time if the user's research is nonproprietary (results are published in open literature).
The Advanced Light Source's current director is Roger Falcone.
Read more about Advanced Light Source: History
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