The MAX IV linac serves two purposes: it’s a continuous top-up injector to both storage rings, but it also accelerates and compresses electron bunches for the short-pulse facility. The linac consists of two electron guns (a photo-rf gun for SPF pulses and a thermionic rf gun for storage ring injection), two bunch compressors, and 39 S-band accelerating structures along with their power stations (modulators, klystrons, SLED cavities). Two vertical transfer lines connect the linac with the two storage rings.
| Nominal Energy | 3.0 GeV |
| No. of accelerating structures | 39 |
| Overall length | ~300 m |
| Nominal bunch length (FWHM) | 100 fs |
| Normalized emittance (RMS) | < 10 mm mrad |