Building long beamlines at ALBA will change significantly the appearance of ALBA and marks most prominently the start of the upgrade process ending with the new ALBA II facility. As the most visible hallmark of ALBA II, the long beamlines will not only fully be utilizing the properties of the new low emittance ring but also literally picture the transformation of the facility to a multimodal research complex with increased imaging and microscopic capabilities.
The addition of the new parcel in combination with the fact that three of the four long beamlines will be underground and may host multiple end stations with relaxed space-constrains, provides unique opportunities which may bring ALBA a distinct role within the European synchrotron light family. Some of these features are:
- The opportunity to build large end stations.
- Embedding the instrument into a larger characterization and preparation suite (combining with additional institutes built on top of the end station).
- Separated security area allowing specific access and protection of the experimental area.
- The ability to provide extreme environments like clean-room, under pressure facilities, bio safety level 3 or higher, or any other containment allowing to handle chemical hazardous or radioactive materials.
- Possibility to combine the X-ray facility with large scale treatment facilities like proton accelerators, other radiation facilities or even prototyping production facilities.
ALBA is offering to the community the opportunity of building-up partnerships in a unique environment, participating in its strategy and design. ALBA II funding, still in negotiation, will cover the basic structures and part of the instrumentation and facilities.
