Overview of the Accelerator Test Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory

The Accelerator Test Facility is a DOE Office of Science National User Facility supported by the DOE’s Accelerator Stewardship Program, which has operated for 25 years at BNL. It provides capabilities to users free of charge for research into fundamental accelerator science and for the development of accelerator technologies to support both scientific and industrial applications. Over the years, the ATF has been used to demonstrate a range of novel accelerator physics and technology and has contributed to a number of developments of specific relevance to the materials science community. For instance, key demonstrations were carried out at the ATF which set the stage for the construction of free electron laser facilities such as the Linac Coherent Light Sources at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. One recent development at the ATF has been the addition of an Ultrafast Electron Diffraction facility which aims to explore how this device can contribute to our detailed understanding of materials. We are currently accepting user proposals to develop this accelerator capability further as well as proposals for the materials science community to use the device. The results of the latter experiments are crucial to assess and guide the development of UED capabilities. https://www.bnl.gov/atf