General information

ALBA Synchrotron is a Research Infrastructure based on a 3 GeV 3rd generation synchrotron facility, supporting national and international scientific communities, both academic and industrial. Presently has 14 operating beamlines and capability for another dozen. Available techniques are dedicated to advanced matter characterization in life science and material science. It is managed by the Consortium for the Construction, Equipping and Exploitation of the Synchrotron Light Source (CELLS) which is owned 50% by the Spanish Government and 50% by regional Catalan Government.

The ALBA Synchrotron has started its upgrade project towards the fourth generation, ALBA II, which is in the design and prototyping phase.

The core of ALBA is a complex of electron accelerators that reach an energy of 3 GeV and emit synchrotron light, covering a wide range of photon energies, from soft X-rays of a few eV to hard X-rays of 70 keV.

It has fourteen beamlines which receive synchrotron light to visualize the atomic and molecular structure of materials and study its properties. Every year more than 2,500 life sciences and materials science researchers use their advanced technologies, detectors and data infrastructures to make progress in understanding phenomena and developing devices and technologies for an innovative, sustainable, clean and smart economy and a more efficient health system.

The ALBA Synchrotron has started its upgrade project towards the fourth generation, ALBA II, which is in the design and prototyping phase.

Managed by the Consortium for the Construction, Equipping and Exploitation of the Synchrotron Light Source (CELLS), it is funded in equal parts by the Spanish and the Catalonian Administration, in particular by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the Department of Research and Universities. It belongs to the Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructures (ICTS) network, that groups large facilities, resources, equipment and services, unique in their kind, which are dedicated to cutting-edge and technological research and development of the highest quality, as well as to promote the transmission, exchange and preservation of knowledge, technology transfer and innovation.