Testing the compact light source: a miniature synchrotron for the home lab

Abstract

The Compact Light Source (CLS) is a new type of x-ray source, a miniature synchrotron light source, which has been developed at Lyncean Technologies, Inc. The CLS is a near-monochromatic, tunable, homelab-size x-ray source with up to three beamlines that can be used like the x-ray beamlines at the synchrotrons--but it is about 200 times smaller than a synchrotron light source. The compact size is achieved using a laser undulator and a miniature electron-beam storage ring. The photon flux on a sample will be comparable to the flux of highly productive synchrotron beamlines. This presentation will first introduce the basic principles of the Compact Light Source and show how it can bring the quality, tunability and flux of a synchrotron beam line into an x-ray scientist’s local laboratory. At Lyncean Technologies, Inc. we have recently completed the construction of a production prototype source with funding from theNIGMS Protein Structure Initiative. The presentation will show details of the electron storage ring, laser system and x-ray optics and conclude with results of our initial testing of the prototype CLS and x-ray optics. m10.o02