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ALBA SYNCHROTRON: 10 YEARS AT THE SERVICE OF THE SOCIETY AND ITS CHALLENGES

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On 22nd March 2010, ALBA was inaugurated becoming one of the most important scientific infrastructures of Spain. Since then, its synchrotron light has been a great ally for numerous advances in a huge range of scientific fields, such as biomedicine, materials science, nanotechnology or archaeology. The ALBA Synchrotron represents a formidable return of knowledge, development and well-being for society.

Cerdanyola del Vallès, 23rd March 2020   10 years have passed since the inauguration of ALBA, the Spanish synchrotron light source. In March 2010, it was celebrated the launch of an unprecedented scientific project whose aim was becoming an essential tool for science and technology. Ten year later, ALBA has far exceeded its initial expectations, also being an international reference among worldwide light sources. It is currently under a continuous growth process by installing new equipment and updating its instrumentation to meet both present and future scientific challenges. In particular, ALBA is helping in the fight against COVID-19 to advance in the knowledge of the virus and in the development of vaccines and treatments.

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Facts and figures of these past 10 years

The number of synchrotron light users in Spain has reach, from the initial 200 at the time of the project approval, to more than 5,000 users, almost half of them international; as well as more than 50 private national and international companies. In total, ALBA has provided synchrotron light for research groups belonging to 1,850 institutions from 45 different countries. The result has been more than 1,500 experiments performed that have been reflected in around 1,100 scientific publications.

Currently, the ALBA Synchrotron has 8 beamlines and 5 more are under construction, all equipped with different techniques for analyzing matter at an atomic and molecular level thanks to the high quality of the synchrotron light produced. Since the beginning, 37,722 hours of light have been generated. In this time, the electrons inside the accelerators would travel 2.7 million times the distance from Earth to the Sun!


A future with an increasing commitment

After its first ten years, the ALBA Synchrotron continues growing. A state-of-the-art facility like ALBA is constantly being updated to stay on the cutting edge of science and technology. A part from building more beamlines, ALBA will host new complementary laboratories, such as the new advanced electron microscopy platform in collaboration with other research centres. Moreover, during 2020, ALBA chairs LEAPS, the association which includes all synchrotrons facilities and free electron lasers from Europe. Finally, it is planned a great update of the accelerators and beamlines, called ALBA II, for the following ten years. Its main goal is reducing the size of the electron beam, increasing the brightness of the synchrotron light, its coherence and, consequently, its powerful to reveal inner details of matter.

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But... what is a synchrotron light source used for?

ALBA beamlines offer multiple techniques based on the interaction of the synchrotron light with the samples studied. Its analysis capabilities cover the most cutting-edge fields of science, from the physical and chemical study of surfaces and advanced materials, including their electronic and magnetic properties, to the analysis of polymers and materials with biological interest for applications in medicine or environmental science. The examples of the experiments carried out in ALBA these past years are very wide and varied: studies of new materials for batteries and electronic devices, analysis of drugs against diseases such as malaria, hepatitis C, cancer or Alzheimer, the design of catalysts or the study for the conservation of Romanesque paintings. Other experiments will establish the bases for our near future in research areas such as spintronics or alternative energy sources.

It is worth mentioning the last recently approved project for a new beamline, specially designed to carry out investigations not foreseen at all in the ALBA Synchrotron's initial plan. This beamline in collaboration with the European Space Agency aims to characterize the mirror modules that set up the X-rays optics of the advanced astrophysics telescope ATHENA. This telescope will be sent into space in 2031 and will detect high-energy X-rays from, for example, black holes or galaxy clusters. In this way, ALBA also participates in the development of space technology.

However, above all ALBA helps to solve the present challenges. Today, a new and global defiance is changing our habits and reconsidering our priorities. An express call for proposals has been opened by ALBA to help fight SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the current outbreak of COVID-19. Synchrotron light techniques are useful, for example, to understand the molecular structure of coronaviruses and their infection mechanisms. ALBA offers its instrumentation, knowledge and highly specialized professionals at the service of the entire scientific community to contribute in solve this challenge.
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 A bit of history

ALBA was inaugurated in 2010 but its history begins some years earlier. After a feasibility study carried out in 1992 by a team that included, among others, Ramon Pascual, current honorary president of ALBA; Joan Bordas, first ALBA’s director, and Salvador Ferrer, former scientific director of ALBA and current management advisor; in March 1993, the Catalan Government included the project in its second Research Plan and appointed a promoter commission and an international advisor committee, that positively evaluated the project. Two years later, in March too, the Spanish and Catalan Governments signed a first collaboration agreement. After a long period to achieve political agreements, suitable financial conditions and the consensus of the scientific and industrial communities, the project was agreed by the two administrations in March 2002. March appeared to be a good month for ALBA, since it was on March 2003 when the constitution of the Consortium for the Construction, Equipment and Exploitation of the Synchrotron Light Laboratory (CELLS) was approved for the construction of the ALBA Synchrotron in Cerdanyola del Vallès, jointly financed by the Catalan and Spanish administrations.

The construction involved an investment of 200 million euros and began in 2006, after some years devoted to the design and the training of a team of experts, from around the world but also Catalan and Spanish professionals who had worked in other synchrotrons. In 2010, civil construction was finalized and the installation of the accelerators was successfully completed. Six months later, the first seven beamlines were also finished. In 2011 (again in March and eight years after the approval of the project), the ALBA team met the success producing the first beams of the desired synchrotron light.

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The huge work culminated in 2012, this time in May, when the first official users were received at the BOREAS beamline. At the end of the year, the seven beamlines were in operation and Caterina Biscari became director of the ALBA Synchrotron. In 2016, the eighth beamline began to provide service and it is planned that before 2023 the 5 ones currently under construction will also do so.

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