The Back Story on 'First Light'
November 24, 2014
The crowd cheered at “first light” on October 23, 2014, when NSLS-II delivered x-rays to beamline CSX. As this was a genuine first light, it was the first time the CSX beamline systems had seen x-rays. So when the shutter was opened, the intensity of the first light caused a small burst of gas, spoiling the vacuum sufficiently to trigger the equipment protection system to close all the valves and dump the beam in the storage ring. Minutes later, operators got the beam back on and, with the vacuum recovered in the beamline, delivered “second light” to CSX, captured as this rainbow image.
2014-5376 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
