Road to diffraction limited storage rings - an overview of fourth-generation synchrotron light sources

A revolution is ongoing within the synchrotron light source community since the last decade. Almost all major facilities are undergoing or planning a major upgrade to build new storage rings based on multi-bend-achromat (MBA) lattices, which would increase the photon beam brightness by two to three orders of magnitude. This talk will give an overview of the accelerator physics aspects of development in this area, with coverage of the enabling technologies, beam dynamics challenges, lattice design strategies, and design optimization techniques. Special emphasis is given to the hybrid 6-bend achromat (H6BA) lattice, which was recently proposed for diffraction limited storage ring light sources. Lattice options for Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) based on H6BA will be shown as an illustration of its amazing features.