At the end of the 1990’s, the MAX-lab management realized that it was necessary to start planning for a possible next step in the development of the laboratory. Although MAX II, one of the first 3rd generation light sources in the world and the flagship of the laboratory, had just recently come into operation, the long lead times made it necessary to start exploring possible further developments already at that stage. This is the saga of MAX IV Laboratory, the world’s first Multi-Bend Achromat (MBA) Synchrotron Radiation Light Source. MBAs strongly focus and guide electrons around the storage ring, creating an ultra-low emittance beam and therefore ultra-bright X-ray radiation.
Read more in this Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research – section A (NIM-A) publication
Image: Prof. Ingolf Lindau, Director of MAX-lab 1991–97, shows the facility to the king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav, at the inauguration of MAX II, 15 September 1995
Credit: MAX IV