World's Brightest X-Ray Facility Opens After $815M Upgrade

The world's brightest X-ray facility just opened its doors to scientists, and the discoveries it enables could touch nearly every part of our lives.

The Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory completed an $815 million upgrade this month, transforming a 30-year-old research facility into the most powerful synchrotron X-ray source on Earth. The Department of Energy gave its final stamp of approval in late September after reviewing the massive project.

The new machine generates X-ray beams up to 500 times brighter than its predecessor. That means scientists can now see details in materials and biological structures that were simply invisible before.

The upgrade took more than a decade to plan and execute. Engineers completely replaced the original electron storage ring with 1,321 powerful electromagnets, a compact vacuum system, and miles of connecting cables.

The facility shut down for a full year starting in April 2023 while crews removed the old ring and installed the new one. During that time, teams also built nine brand new experiment stations and enhanced 15 existing ones, each equipped with custom-made lenses, mirrors, and detectors.

Scientists have already been putting the upgraded facility through its paces for over a year. They're exploring how to create more durable materials for airplane turbines, develop longer-lasting batteries for laptops and phones, and advance the microelectronics that power our connected world.

More than 5,500 researchers visit the facility each year from across the country and around the globe. Their work has already contributed to three Nobel prizes in chemistry and countless advances in materials science, manufacturing, and biology.

The Ripple Effect

The project team delivered something rare in major scientific infrastructure: they finished ahead of schedule and on budget. Hundreds of employees and contractors worked together to ensure safe completion while achieving every scientific capability originally envisioned.

Two of the new beamlines sit in a specially constructed Long Beamline Building, positioned far from the storage ring to enable tremendous focusing abilities. This setup allows researchers to zoom in on samples with unprecedented precision.

The data collected here doesn't stay locked in laboratories. Research from the facility has led to real-world improvements in fuel efficiency, drug development, and manufacturing processes that benefit millions of people.

Laboratory Director Paul Kearns calls the upgraded facility "a keystone for the future of science at Argonne." With 30 more years of operation ahead, the potential for discovery stretches as far as human curiosity itself.