Research at SRC

The science conducted at SRC is enabled by an electron storage ring, nicknamed Aladdin, and spans a diverse array of research genres, including:

• Superconductors
• Low-dimensional solids
• Quantum confinement
• Geology and environmental science
• Bioscience (e.g., microanalysis of cells and tissues as part of disease research such as brain cancer and Alzheimer's disease)
• Cutting-edge exploration of nanotechnology

Of particular interest is a world-class, one-of-a-kind, infrared beamline, called the InfraRed ENvironmental Imaging Beamline (IRENI), which has many applications for bioscience and chemical analysis as it allows simultaneous spatial and temporal multidimensional chemical imaging [Learn more about IRENI and Bioscience at SRC].

Researchers are welcomed to SRC from around the world. Those interested apply for time at the facility, are selected in a review process, and are granted what’s known as “beam time”, or time on a research station on the Aladdin ring. Unique to SRC, beam time is issued in a three-week block of time—called a “quantum” at SRC—on one of the 28 “beamlines”.

The Aladdin storage ring, which is 292 feet in circumference, is "lit" 24 hours a day, five days a week. The facility is located in a rural location surrounded mainly by farms, 15 miles south of the main University of Wisconsin—Madison campus. There is a dormitory-style guesthouse about a mile away where visiting researchers can rent rooms.

Visiting researchers—called “Users”— come to SRC with their own funding support for travel, experimental equipment, lodging, etc.

To read a sampling of the science done at SRC, see summaries of highlights from research of the past few years.