OVERVIEW & BACKGROUND

The ALS will be upgraded with a MBA lattice design that will provide a soft x-ray source that is orders of magnitudes brighter — an up to 100-1000 times increase in brightness — and will provide a significantly higher fraction of coherent light in the soft x-ray region than is currently available at the ALS. In addition, the project scope includes two new beamlines (FLEXON and Tender) and two upgraded beamlines (COSMIC-U and MAESTRO-U) to take advantage of the new source properties.

In June 2016, DOE’s Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) released the recommendations of the BES Facility Upgrade Prioritization Subcommittee, whose report deemed the ALS-U project “absolutely central” to contribute to world leading science and “ready to initiate construction”—the highest possible ratings in the prioritization process. In September 2016 DOE initiated the ALS-U project by approving its “mission need” and assigning it critical decision CD-0, the first milestone in making ALS-U a reality. In September 2018 DOE approved the critical decision CD-1 which establishes the conceptual design and the cost range of the project. In December 2020, critical decision CD-3a authorized release of funds for construction of the accumulator ring. The project is expecting approval of the preliminary design and the baseline scope, cost and schedule in April 2021.

As part of the ALS-U scope, the project plans to order five Built-to-Specification monochromator units in late 2022. LBNL will provide the VIA-VLS specifications and as needed, the specifications for the pre-mirror and gratings. The subcontractor will be responsible for designing and carrying out the fabrication and testing of the VIA-VLS. The optics, pre-mirror and gratings, are not in scope. The Subcontractor shall use dummies for testing.