[en] The Advanced Light Source (ALS), now under construction at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, will be a national user facility for the production of high-brightness and partially coherent soft x-ray and ultraviolet synchrotron radiation. The ALS is based on a low-emittance electron storage ring optimized for operation at 1.5 GeV with insertion devices in 10 long straight sections and 24 premier bend-magnet ports. High-brightness photon beams, from less than 10 eV to more than 2 keV, will be produced by undulators, thereby providing many research opportunities in materials and surface science, biology, atomic physics and chemistry. Wigglers and bend magnets will provide high-flux, broad-band radiation at energies to 10 keV. 6 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs