The site of Condensed Matter Community is the Synchrotron Radiation Center: Home of Aladdin (SRC), a now-decommissioned advanced light source or electron storage ring, popularly referred to as a particle accelerator. The SRC was the successor to the Tantalus light source which operated from the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s. The full history of the Tantalus and Aladdin electron storage rings is relayed in The Official Write-up History of the Synchrotron Radiation Center, graciously provided by the University of Wisconsin Madison Archives. Therein the story of how the SRC came to be through years of evolving funding sources is detailed. Both facilities were built on the same land in separate structures, overlooking Lake Kegonsa in rural Stoughton, Wisconsin and were used to harness synchrotron radiation for a wide variety of experiments.
The following images were collected from the University of Wisconsin Madison Archives, employees of the Synchrotron Radiation Center, and taken on-site.
The Tantalus electron storage ring:
Precision instrumentation needed to be fabricated and documented for various aspects of the light source (Photos: University of Madison Wisconsin Archives):
Below is a hand-drawn aerial view of the Aladdin storage ring at the SRC. Highly energized electrons traveled clockwise around the ring in an enclosed vacuum. Powerful electromagnets allowed the beam to change course and turn around the corners of the ring. In doing so, photons in the form of synchrotron radiation shed from the main energy beam. The antennae-like extensions that branch off of the ring are user chambers, individual platforms for experimentation, each designed for a specific purpose. There the synchrotron radiation was harnessed and manipulated:
The beamline was like a high-tech campfire, an energy source around which gathered researchers from all over the globe. Outside of the main facility, a small village of mobile offices grew to accommodate its visitors: