The Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is undergoing a major upgrade (ALS-U) to produce brighter, more coherent X-ray beams, enabling nanoscale and in situ observations of quantum materials and their defects, advancing research in superconductivity, topological insulators, and correlated electron systems.

Spin-resolved ARPES at the ALS will benefit from the upgrade, enabling control and measurement of electron spin in complex crystals like InxTaS2 with higher energy resolution and detection capabilities.

ALS-U will shrink ARPES beam focus to below 25 nanometers, with potential to reach below 10 nanometers in the future, enabling nanoscale resolution and single-defect sensitivity.

Coherent light from the upgraded source provides a fingerprint-like level of detail through speckle patterns, allowing detection of disorder or anomalies that incoherent light could not reveal.

Improved spatial and temporal resolution will accelerate understanding of catalytic reactions and battery material changes, informing better energy technologies.

Enhanced capabilities aim to resolve nanoscale quantum coherence, shed light on decoherence in qubits, and accelerate discoveries in superconductivity, spintronics, and quantum materials relevant to neuromorphic computing.

By aligning wave phases, the upgrade will reveal more information about samples and enable more precise characterization of material properties.

Spin-resolved ARPES advances are highlighted as essential for neuromorphic computing and spintronics, aiding design of energy-efficient, brain-like hardware.

FLEXON and XPCS will enable observation of correlated electron dynamics at nanometer scales and nanosecond timescales, supporting neuromorphic computing research with potential impacts on quantum computing and AI.

Coherent scattering with FLEXON and XPCS will study nanosecond-scale fluctuations of correlated electrons, informing how quantum materials can emulate brain-like processing.

Upgrades will enhance applications across quantum computing, microelectronics, energy storage, catalysis, biology, and drug development by enabling deeper atom-level insights.

Biological sciences will gain improved X-ray crystallography and SAXS capabilities, plus a new crystallography sample production facility to study molecular structures relevant to health and therapeutics.