Communication with APS Users, 5/3/2010
J. Murray Gibson, Associate Laboratory Director for Photon Sciences at Argonne National Laboratory

On Thursday April 22, 2010, Bill Brinkman, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science signed formal authorization for Conceptual Design 0 (CD-0) for the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade (APS-U). The signing signals that the DOE has approved the mission need of the APS Upgrade project, marking the formal beginning of the project and authorizing detailed conceptual design. The CD-0 approval was announced by Pedro Montano, Director of DOE Scientific User Facilities Division, on behalf of Harriet Kung, DOE Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences, on May 3, 2010 at the opening of the annual APS Users Meeting at Argonne National Laboratory.

The APS Upgrade will make revolutionary improvements in performance needed to address our nation’s future sustainable energy and health research needs. The Upgrade will also add new x-ray capabilities and improve existing x-ray facilities by factors of 10 to 100, nearly doubling the number of experiments that can be carried out in a year, and increasing by 50% the number of users the facility can accommodate.

The scientific vision that drove Upgrade planning is the need to image real materials under real conditions in real time, with resolution far better than available today. The Upgrade will allow the Advanced Photon Source to meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s scientists. The staff of the APS seek continued dialog with our user community and Scientific Advisory Committee as we engage in the conceptual design process. We encourage user participation. Learn more about the CD-R and join the discussion!