Advanced Light Source

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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 185 scientists and staff. Part of the building in which it is housed was completed in 1943 for a 4.67 m (184 in) cyclotron built by Ernest Lawrence.

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) is a national user facility that generates intense light for scientific and technological research. As one of the world's brightest sources of ultraviolet and soft x-ray beams--and the world's first third-generation synchrotron light source in its energy range--the ALS makes previously impossible studies possible. 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 beamtime. The ALS does not charge for beamtime if the user's research is nonproprietary (results are published in open literature).