From Brittany to California: at the heart of a particle accelerator

Four months ago, Alexandre left Sigmaphi and France to join the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California as intern and as part of his engineering studies. An exciting project awaited him: contributing to the Upgrade of the Advanced Light Source (ALS-U), a synchrotron Light Source located in the famous laboratory.

🎯The goal? Modernize this cutting-edge infrastructure to produce an even brighter X-ray beam than the current version of the ALS. A major advancement for wide varieties of reseach fields.

Alexandre joined the Removal & Installation (R&I) team, which intervenes during shutdown phases of the installation. During these precious windows, the team removes, installs, and adjusts equipment: magnets, cables, cooling systems, structures… Each intervention brings the project a little closer to its new era.

🔧 What makes the experience even more remarkable is seeing magnets designed and manufactured at Sigmaphi installed in the tunnel at LBNL. Quadrupoles, dipoles, and soon a septa system magnet – a key for beam injection – testify to Sigmaphi’s expertise in particle accelerators.

Working at the interface between engineering, science, and innovation, in such a prestigious setting as the Berkeley Lab, is a unique experience – and a great source of pride to see a part of French expertise contributing to global science.