General Lab Information

generic header

Beamline Development

Building Instruments for the Future

As one of the newest, most advanced synchrotron light sources in the world, NSLS-II enables visiting researchers – also called users – to study materials with nanoscale resolution and exquisite sensitivity by providing cutting-edge capabilities. To offer these highly specialized tools, NSLS-II designs, develops, and builds beamlines, a combination of light transport lines and experimental stations, in close collaboration with scientific user communities. Each beamline at NSLS-II offers unique features, capabilities, and research techniques that allow users to uncover the atomic structure, compositional make-up, and electronic behavior of materials – often in real-time, operating conditions.

beamlinedevelopment timeline

Developing Beamline Capabilities as a Team

NSLS-II was designed to include an accelerator complex that provides space for up to 60 beamlines. Currently, NSLS-II operates 29 beamlines that are organized according to the research capabilities they offer and staff expertise. Interdisciplinary teams of experts designed and constructed these 29 cutting-edge beamlines through multiple beamline development projects throughout the past decade. More information about the completed and ongoing projects can be found below.

Ongoing Beamline Projects

HEX Beamline

The High Energy Engineering X-ray Scattering (HEX) beamline, which is funded by New York State, will provide the ability for unprecedented micro-mapping of materials for energy and engineering applications. It will be driven by a superconducting wiggler source, which will generate the highest energy x-rays at NSLS-II. This beamline is expected to be operational in late 2023.

NEXT-II Project

The NSLS-II Experimental Tools II (NEXT-II) Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences, will deliver another set of cutting-edge beamlines to NSLS-II. These three beamlines, ARI, CDI, and SXN, are scheduled to be operational between 2025 and 2027.

NEXT-III Project

In 2022, the Department of Energy granted CD-0 approval to the NSLS-II Experimental Tools III (NEXT-III) Project to build 8-12 new beamlines and supporting infrastructure over the next 10 to 12 years. This project is planned to be executed in phases, with 2-3 beamlines being launched every 1-2 years. See the list of beamline proposals (PDF) being considered. If you have a new beamline idea not on this list, please fill out this template (PDF) and send it to wklee@bnl.gov.

Finished Projects

NSLS-II Project Beamlines

As part of the initial NSLS-II project, the first seven beamlines were developed and were funded by DOE-BES. The project beamlines consisted of the CHX, CSX (during the project called CSX-1), HXN, IOS (during the project called CSX-2), IXS, SRX, and XPD (during the project called XPD-1) beamlines. These beamlines started operations in 2015.

NSLS-II Experimental Tools (NEXT) Project

The NEXT project delivered five more beamlines, funded by DOE-BES, to the facility. The project included the following set of beamlines: ESM, ISR, ISS, SIX, and SMI. These beamlines started operations between 2016 and 2018.

Partner Beamlines

Through close collaboration with external groups, five partner beamlines have been developed. Specifically, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has constructed three beamlines: SST1, SST2, and BMM. The New York Structural Biology Consortium (NYSBC) has developed the NYX beamline, and Case Western Reserve University received an NSF grant to construct the XFP beamline. These beamlines started operations between 2016 and 2018.

Advanced Beamlines for Biological Investigations with X-rays (ABBIX)

NSLS-II developed three beamlines through an inter-agency agreement between DOE and the National Institute for Health (NIH). The beamlines constructed through this combined NIH and DOE funding were: AMX, FMX, and LiX. These beamlines started operations in 2016.

Beamlines Developed by NSLS-II (BDN)

By using funding allocated through the NSLS-II operations budget (DOE-BES), NSLS-II developed an additional six beamlines: CMS, FIS, MET, QAS, TES, and XFM. These six new beamlines repurposed existing beamline equipment, which was transferred from the initial NSLS. This project also funded the completion of the PDF beamline (called XPD-2 during the NSLS-II Project) and the FXI beamline (started as part of the NEXT project). All BDN beamlines started operations between 2017 and 2018.