Our History

The origins of LSU’s synchrotron facility trace to a convergence of federal ambition and Louisiana political will in the late 1980s. The Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD, rebranded in 2026 as Louisiana Light Source) was established by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) at LSU with the expressed purpose of developing X-ray lithography techniques for manufacturing microcircuits. The initiative was championed in Congress by Senator J. Bennett Johnston Jr. of Louisiana, and the center was ultimately named in honor of his father. The initial $25-million DOE investment funded the construction of the facility, with ongoing operations covered by state funds through LSU, making CAMD the only state-funded synchrotron facility in the United States.

The machine at the heart of CAMD was itself a milestone in accelerator history. The Brobeck Division of Maxwell Laboratories Inc. was contracted to build the electron storage ring—a turnkey project and the first storage ring to be built commercially in the United States. The magnetic lattice was based on a design developed by Chasman and Green, similar to the VUV ring at Brookhaven’s NSLS, and planned to operate at 1.2 GeV with straight sections accommodating up to three insertion devices for higher-energy and higher-intensity radiation. The contract called for 200 mA of circulating current at 1.2 GeV before the machine was turned over to LSU. Vacuum conditioning under LSU direction subsequently pushed operation above 300 mA at 1.3 GeV.

CAMD became operational as a second-generation synchrotron source in 1992. From the outset, the scientific scope extended well beyond the original lithography mandate. Basic science research programs spanned physics, chemistry, materials science, geology, environmental science, medical research, and archeology, with techniques including photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, and tomography.

Over the following decades, CAMD steadily expanded its beamline infrastructure. By 2010, 15 beamlines served users across a spectral range from the far infrared to X-rays of approximately 40 keV, with 11 receiving radiation from bending magnets and four from a 7 T wavelength shifter. A superconducting multipole wiggler, funded by a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (NSF MRI) grant, was added around 2012, substantially extending the facility’s hard X-ray reach.

With an annual operating budget of just over $3 million, CAMD continued to attract major external grants—including a $500,000 Keck Foundation award in 2014 to LSU Chemistry Professor Les Butler for developing new X-ray imaging methods—sustaining the center’s research momentum even through periods of state budget pressure.

The collaborative model CAMD adopted continues to distinguish Louisiana Light Source from larger national user facilities. Rather than operating as a traditional user facility, CAMD concentrated on developing strong, long-term collaborative efforts with external researchers, drawing eminent scientists from Germany, Japan, Brazil, and from across the United States. Early industrial partners included ExxonMobil, Sasol, and Albemarle, and several startup companies emerged from synchrotron-related research at LSU.

Today, Louisiana Light Source remains a rare regional asset: a fully operational second-generation synchrotron light source, state-owned and university-operated, providing the U.S. Gulf South with unique, experimental capabilities in spectroscopy, structural biology, materials characterization, and environmental science.