National Synchrotron Light Source - History

History

Ground was broken for the NSLS on September 28, 1978. The VUV ring began operations in late 1982 and the X-ray ring was commissioned in 1984. In 1986, a second phase of construction expanded the NSLS by 52,000 square feet (4,800 m2), which added offices, laboratories and room for new experimental equipment.

During the construction of the NSLS, two scientists, Renate Chasman and George Kenneth Green, invented a special periodic arrangement of magnetic elements (a magnetic lattice) to provide optimized bending and focusing of electrons. The design was called the Chasman–Green lattice, and it became the basis of design for every synchrotron storage ring. Storage rings are characterized by the number of straight sections and bend sections in their design. The bend sections produce more light than the straight sections due to the change in angular momentum of the electrons. Chasman and Green accounted for this in their design by adding insertion devices, known as wigglers and undulators, in the straight sections of the storage ring. These insertion devices produce the brightest light among the sections of the ring and thus, beamlines are typically built downstream from them.