A first-of-its-kind x-ray instrument for frontier research with high-brightness x-rays is now in operation at Argonne National Laboratory. The new device utilizes a unique superconducting technology that speeds electrons on a path much like that of a rollercoaster.
The insertion device (ID), called a Helical Superconducting Undulator (HSCU), was designed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. The device has three primary advantages over other types of IDs for producing high-brightness x-rays: (1) it generates a stronger magnetic field than other IDs; (2) it allows researchers to select a single energy from the x-ray beam without using any x-ray optics; and (3) it produces an x-ray beam with circular polarization. Argonne developed the helical undulator with $2 million in funding from the DOE Office of Science.
>Read more on the Advanced Photon Source website
Image: Matthew Kasa and Susan Bettenhausen of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) Accelerator Division Magnetic Devices Group put the finishing touches on installation of the Helical Superconducting Undulator in Sector 7 of the APS storage ring.