A super-bright storage ring alternative to an energy recovery linac

One of the promised characteristics of an energy recovery linac (ERL) as a synchrotron light source is the very low emittance of the electron beam. A difficulty with ERLs is that, as yet, no one has demonstrated a gun that delivers average currents comparable to what has been demonstrated in storage rings, i.e., 0.1–1 A, with the required emittance and for the long periods of time necessary for a user facility. As an alternative to an ERL, one might consider a super-bright storage ring with short lifetime, requiring fast top-up. We present a possible replacement ring for the Advanced Photon Source with 0.5-micron normalized emittance at 7 GeV, along with a discussion of design challenges and operating considerations.