Upgrading the Advanced Photon Source: Researchers Perspectives

Scheduled to start in June, 2022, this APS video explains the cutting edge science which will result from the upcoming APS Upgrade. Mark Rivers, GSECARS Co-Director, featured at 1:22.

Since its construction 25 years ago, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) has enabled numerous pivotal discoveries in science and engineering in many different fields, from materials science and protein biology to chemistry and nanotechnology, to name a few.

Working like a giant X-ray microscope, the APS produces extremely bright and focused X-rays that peer through dense materials to illuminate the structure and chemistry of matter at the molecular and atomic levels. This capability allows scientists from industry, academia, and government to seek answers to some of the world’s most complicated scientific questions.

Now, in its 25th year of service, the APS is getting an upgrade. This upgrade will increase the brightness up to 500 times over what is currently available and support research that allows scientists to map the position, identity and dynamics of the key atoms in a sample.

“The upgraded APS will enable science at a completely new scale, enabling discoveries across a wide range of research from microelectronics to polymers to quantum,” said Paul Kearns, Director, Argonne National Laboratory. “It’s an exciting time as Argonne is building two powerful facilities for the world’s scientific community. Together, the upgraded APS and our Aurora exascale computing system will provide powerful new capabilities to accelerate science and technology for U.S. prosperity and security.”