Design progress of als-u, the soft x-ray diffraction limited upgrade of the advanced light source∗

The ALS-U project to upgrade the Advanced Light Source to a multi bend achromat lattice received CD-1 approval in 2018 marking the end of its conceptual design phase. The ALS-U design promises to deliver diffraction limited performance in the soft x-ray range by lowering the horizontal emittance to about 70 pm rad resulting in two orders of magnitude brightness increase for soft x-rays compared to the current ALS. The design utilizes a nine bend achromat lattice, with reverse bending magnets and on-axis swap-out injection utilizing an accumulator ring. This paper presents recent design progress of the accelerator, as well as new results of the R&D program.