One of the world’s most widely used scientific research facilities, the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) is host each year to 2,100 researchers from more than 400 universities, laboratories, and companies. Research conducted at the NSLS has yielded advances in biology, physics, chemistry, geophysics, medicine, and materials science.
Synchrotron light is produced by electrons when they are forced to move in a curved path at nearly the speed of light. At the NSLS, beams of light in the x-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths are produced by two synchrotrons for use in experiments.
Since the intensity of synchrotron light can be 10,000 times greater than conventional beams generated in a laboratory, scientists can use these beams to gain information about the electronic and atomic structures of materials, analyze very small samples, or study surfaces at the atomic level.
Researchers at the NSLS use an array of sophisticated imaging techniques to get highly detailed “pictures” of a wide variety of materials, from biological molecules to semiconductor devices.
In conjunction with the Lab’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials, the NSLS provides researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to probe the unique properties of matter at an extremely small scale -- the nanoscale. Nanoparticles, particles with dimensions on the order of billionths of a meter, could have revolutionary impacts, from more efficient energy generation and data storage to improved methods for diagnosing and treating disease.
Scientists have used the NSLS to study: