Three Years in 13 Seconds
The landscape at Brookhaven has been changing with the addition of the 1/2 mile ring for the new National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). Our first light source (the original NSLS) uses electrons accelerated to nearly the speed of light to produce x-rays 10,000 times brighter than the ones your doctor uses to check out a broken bone. Instead of seeing fractures, NSLS’s beams reveal details of materials at the scale of molecules!
Soon, NSLS-II will produce x-rays 10,000 times brighter than NSLS. Scientists will be able to use this powerful tool to examine the nanoscale structure of proteins or figure out how tiny insects digest food or watch what happens to individual atoms as batteries charge in real time. We’re getting pretty excited about seeing this new experiment powerhouse fire up. When it does, it’ll be the brightest synchrotron light source in the world!
