ALBA (synchrotron)

ALBA (meaning "Sunrise" in Catalan and in Spanish) is a 3 GeV, third-generation synchrotron light source facility located in the Barcelona Synchrotron Park in Cerdanyola del Vallès near Barcelona, in Catalonia (Spain). It was constructed and is operated by CELLS (sp: Consorcio para la Construcción, Equipamiento y Explotación del Laboratorio de Luz de Sincrotrón, the Consortium for the Exploitation of the Synchrotron Light Laboratory), and co-financed by the Spanish central administration and regional Catalan Government.

After nearly ten years of planning and design work by the Spanish scientific community, the project was approved in 2002 by the Spanish and the regional Catalan governments. After scientific workshops and meetings with prospective users, the facility was redesigned in 2004, and in 2006 construction started.