02/04/2020
Alba synchrotron: 10 years at the service of the society
Alba synchrotron: 10 years at the service of the society
On 22nd March 2010, Barcelona Synchrotron Park’s iconic science facility ALBA was inaugurated by Spanish President Zapatero and Catalan President Montilla.
In 10 years, ALBA has allowed numerous advances in a huge range of both basic and applied scientific fields, such as biomedicine, materials science, nanotechnology or archaeology.
Since 2010, the number of users has reach more than 5,000, almost half of them international. In total, ALBA has provided synchrotron light for research groups belonging to 1,850 institutions from 45 different countries and for more than 50 private national and international companies. The result has been more than 1,500 experiments performed that have been reflected in around 1,100 scientific publications.
Currently, the ALBA Synchrotron and its 220 staff members has 8 beamlines and 5 more are under construction, all equipped with different techniques for analyzing matter at an atomic and molecular level thanks to the high quality of the synchrotron light produced.
Since the beginning, 37,722 hours of light have been generated: over the same period, the electrons that run at the speed of light inside the accelerator in order to produce the light would travel 272,000 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun!
For the coming ten years, a great update of the accelerators and beamlines is planned, called ALBA II. Its main goal is reducing the size of the electron beam, increasing the brightness of the synchrotron light, its coherence and, consequently, its powerful to reveal inner details of matter.
Congratulations!
For more information, Alba’s press release here
In 10 years, ALBA has allowed numerous advances in a huge range of both basic and applied scientific fields, such as biomedicine, materials science, nanotechnology or archaeology.
Since 2010, the number of users has reach more than 5,000, almost half of them international. In total, ALBA has provided synchrotron light for research groups belonging to 1,850 institutions from 45 different countries and for more than 50 private national and international companies. The result has been more than 1,500 experiments performed that have been reflected in around 1,100 scientific publications.
Currently, the ALBA Synchrotron and its 220 staff members has 8 beamlines and 5 more are under construction, all equipped with different techniques for analyzing matter at an atomic and molecular level thanks to the high quality of the synchrotron light produced.
Since the beginning, 37,722 hours of light have been generated: over the same period, the electrons that run at the speed of light inside the accelerator in order to produce the light would travel 272,000 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun!
For the coming ten years, a great update of the accelerators and beamlines is planned, called ALBA II. Its main goal is reducing the size of the electron beam, increasing the brightness of the synchrotron light, its coherence and, consequently, its powerful to reveal inner details of matter.
Congratulations!
For more information, Alba’s press release here
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