ALBA is a 3rd generation Synchrotron Light facility located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, (Barcelona), managed by the Consortium CELLS. It is a complex of electron accelerators to produce synchrotron light, which allows the visualization of the atomic structure of matter as well as the study of its properties.
ALBA currently has seven operational state-of-the-art phase-I beamlines, comprising soft and hard X-rays, which are devoted mainly to biosciences, condensed matter (magnetic and electronic properties, nanoscience) and materials science.
This large scientific infrastructure provides more than 5.000 hours of beam time per year and is available for the academic and the industrial sector, serving more than 1.000 researchers every year.

One of the main goals of ALBA synchrotron is to provide services and advice to the scientific and industrial community by offering proprietary access to the different laboratories and techniques available in the facility as well as the in-house technology developments related with our wide expertise in the field of synchrotron radiation. For this purpose, the following services are offered:

Synchrotron light laboratories:

The Synchrotron light provides several advantages compared with conventional techniques such as higher brilliance or intensity (faster measurements), higher spatial resolution, lower detection/quantification limits or allowing sophisticate sample environment(s). ALBA has many synchrotron light laboratories (named beamlines) fully operational and accessible for scientific and industrial customers through proprietary access. The beamlines provide light ranging from infrared to X-ray and are covering a wide range of scientific and industrial applications:

• Chemistry: Catalysis, Plastics, Polymers, Pigments, Adhesives, Textiles
• Advanced materials: Magnetic, Superconductors, Ceramics, Multilayers
• Nanotechnology: Nanoparticles, Nanoelectronics, Semiconductors
• Automotive and aerospace: Coating, Motor oil, Corrosion, Plastics
• Energy: batteries, solar cells, combustion, fuel cells, oil and gas.
• Magnetic (nano)materials
• Health and Health care: Cosmetics, Biotomography
• Pharmaceutical: Structural Biology, Drug discovery, Excipient phase, Polymorphs
• Food and agriculture: Food ingredients, Toxins, Plants
• Environmental science: Soils, Pollutants
• Cultural heritage, Paleontology, Archeology: Ancient materials, Painting, Pottery

ALBA offers state of the art techniques in:

• Powder diffraction: high resolution and high-speed
• Powder microdiffraction (including high-pressure)
• Macromolecular crystallography
• Small and wide angle scattering
• X-ray absorption
• Photoemission (microscopy and near ambient pressure)
• Magnetic dichroism
• Soft X-ray reflectivity and scattering
• Full-field soft X-ray microscopy

All these different beamlines and techniques and the in-house expertise are available for the industrial and scientific community to enhance their research and development activities. The services may include mail-in, pre and post experiment support, data treatment, experimental reports, advice on synchrotron techniques, etc.

For more information on the beamlines, techniques and applications areas please, see the following link: https://www.cells.es/en/beamlines

Specialized laboratories:

For the proper operation of the ALBA facility and the maintenance and upgrading of the equipment, ALBA has highly specialized support laboratories and highly qualified personnel in the field of synchrotron radiation technologies. These laboratories are also available to the scientific and industrial community, and include:

• Magnetic measurements laboratory: accurate magnetic measurements (100 ppm) of high magnetic fields (1 to 2 T) of big structures (up 2 m long).
• Radiofrequency laboratory: test and calibration of all the RF subsystems: LLRF calibration, waveguide components tests, amplifiers acceptance tests, high power cavity conditioning, etc.
• Vacuum laboratory: clean room to perform vacuum systems assemblies, tests, vacuum systems operation, maintenance and design of new vacuum equipment.
• Optics and metrology laboratory: metrology of large optical surfaces (up to 1.5 m long) with arbitrary figure with sub-nanometer accuracy (lambda/1000).
• Electronics laboratory: semiconductor characterization, low level measurement, impedance characterization, high voltage probing, high accuracy timing signals bellow picoseconds measurement or high speed digital bus design.

Collaborations:

In addition to the access to our different beamlines and specialized laboratories, ALBA is willing to provide advice and support services in its areas of expertise, within the synchrotron radiation technology, and enhance the competitiveness and technological development of the academic and industrial sectors.

Licensing and technological developments:

ALBA is continuously developing new technological solutions to guarantee an optimal synchrotron light and the best operation of the facility. These developments may be available and transferred for commercial exploitation to the industrial and scientific community and may help to improve their innovation and to open new markets, increasing their product portfolio.

See our technology offers here: https://www.cells.es/en/industry/technology-transfer.

Depending on the customer needs, there are different ways of working with us, ranging from a point service to extended collaborations. For more information about the different possibilities under those services, please contact our Industrial Liaison Office: industrialoffice@cells.es