11th Annual BNL Accelerator Test Facility Program Committee and Users' Meeting

The Seventh Annual Users' Meeting of the Canadian Light Source was a great success, as the world's newest synchrotron welcomed close to 400 researchers and students from across Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australia to the University of Saskatchewan on November 17–21, 2004. The plenary session of the Users' Meeting, held November 20, was preceded by five workshops: “XAFS Analysis Using Ifeffit, Athena and Artemis,” “SR Applications in Environmental Science,” “Medical Imaging,” “Protein Crystallography,” and “Applications of Elliptically Polarized Synchrotron Radiation.” Meetings of the Beamline Advisory Committee and beamline teams were held on November 21.

After welcoming remarks by Dr. Alan Anderson, Chair of the CLS User Advisory Committee, the meeting opened with a briefing by CLS Executive Director William Thomlinson regarding the accomplishments made by the CLS over the preceding year.     

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high pressure

Abstract

The difficulties of the adaptation of high pressure to x-ray absorption are presented. The advantages of the energy-dispersive geometry are discussed as well as the future improvements expected with the new synchrotron radiation sources.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for High Pressure Crystallography’, Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

Radiometry with synchrotron radiation at the PTB laboratory at Bessy ii

A workshop on Engineering Applications of Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation took place on September 13–14, 2004, at the ESRF in Grenoble, France. The workshop brought together around 100 leading scientists and engineers who discussed the application of synchrotron X-ray and neutron central facilities for engineering problems. The event was organized by the FaME38 materials engineering facility at ILL-ESRF. FaME38 is jointly funded by the UK research council EPSRC and ILL-ESRF and provides support to enable materials engineers to make the best use of the advanced synchrotron X-ray and neutron scientific facilities at ILL-ESRF.

The programme included formal presentations, a poster session, informal workgroup sessions and an opportunity to meet staff at the ILL-ESRF materials science beamlines. The formal presentations were structured into three sessions entitled Progress, Complementarity, and Applications chaired by Giovanni Bruno (ILL), Thomas Buslaps (ESRF), and Darren Hughes (FaME38).     

Meeting Report: Soft-X-ray Photon-in and Photon-out Spectroscopy: New Frontier

Immediately before Johann Wolfgang von Goethe died in 1832, he asked for “more light, open the (window) shutters!” The desire for “more light, open the (beam) shutters!” accompanied me from 1962 on during all my professional life, although the first opening of our beam shutter at the 6 GeV-Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg in 1965 ended in a catastrophe: instead of flooding us with synchrotron light, we were flooding the accelerator completely with air. This was long before 1987, when Synchrotron Radiation News came to life, but a personal view on the development of synchrotron radiation, which the editors of SRN asked me to give, cannot avoid looking back into history, where it all came from.     

High-pressure x-ray diffraction station at the beijing synchrotron radiation facility

Abstract

In the second phase construction of further insertion devices, beamlines and experimental stations at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, a dedicated high-pressure x-ray diffraction station will be constructed. We outline the synchrotron radiation source, beamline optics and high-pressure x-ray diffraction apparatus. This facility is planned to operate for users in 1994.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for High Pressure Crystallography’, Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

National school on Neutron and X‐ray scattering alumni presentations

The 4th joint Stanford–Berkeley summer school on synchrotron radiation and its applications in physical science was held June 12–17, 2005, at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). The Stanford–Berkeley summer school is jointly organized by Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). Since 2001, Anders Nilsson (Stanford/SSRL) and Dave Attwood (UC Berkeley) have been the organizers of this annual weeklong summer school, which alternates each year between Stanford and Berkeley. The summer school provides lecture programs on synchrotron radiation and its broad range of scientific applications in the physical science as well as visits to the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory and the Advanced Light Source (ALS), where the students also have the opportunity to experience a beam line.     

Ultrafast X-ray science at the advanced light source

On May 19, 2004, 250 guests from all over the world joined the DESY research center to celebrate 40 years of research with synchrotron radiation at DESY in Hamburg. “The first measurements with the light beam from the DESY ring accelerator started in 1964. DESY was one of the seed laboratories in which the worldwide success story of research with synchrotron radiation began,” Albrecht Wagner, chairman of the DESY Board of Directors, explained in his welcoming address. “Today, more than 1,900 scientists from 31 countries come to DESY every year to carry out experiments with synchrotron radiation.”

Forty years ago, synchrotron radiation at DESY started from scratch. At the beginning of the 1960s, the radiation generated by the electrons in the bending magnets of their new 6 GeV electron synchrotron was regarded by DESY particle physicists as an unwanted, disruptive effect.     

Single crystal x-ray diffraction with a synchrotron source in a mdac at low temperature

Abstract

A new diamond anvil cell and a helium flow cryostat have been developed for x-ray diffraction on single crystals at low temperatures and high pressures using the white radiation of a synchrotron beam. This novel instrument especially enables continuous change of sample temperature and pressure without any adjustment of alignment. A minimum temperature of 46 K has been reached.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for High Pressure Crystallography’, Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

Growing Partnership Asia-Oceania: Initiative by AOFSRR

No matter the location, it is particularly important to achieve sustainable and efficient access to a synchrotron radiation (SR) facility in order for there to be rapid progress in science and technology. Asia-Oceania is now a vibrant and thriving area in terms of making feasible a broad expansion of access to SR facility services and laying the foundation for more competitive industrial science and future economic growth to which SR science can contribute. Recently, SR facilities have started to pop up, one after another, in the Asia-Oceania region. To enhance global cooperation for SR research in this region, the AOFSRR (Asia-Oceania Forum for Synchrotron Radiation Research) was established by Australia, China, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan in 2006. The objective of the AOFSRR is to organize a general framework of collaboration for the development of science and technology of mutual benefit to advancing the research goals and promoting comprehensive cooperation in synchrotron radiation research in the Asia-Oceania region.     

A large volume pressure cell for high temperatures

Abstract

Studies of matter under very high pressure at synchrotron radiation sources are mostly done using pressure cells with single-crystal diamond anvils. In some cases the available volume (≤ 10^?3mm³)in such cells causes problems especially at high temperature and for crystal synthesis. To ensure sufficient homogeneity of pressure and temperature, the use of cells with large sample volumes (≥ 1 mm³) is necessary.

Existing devices for such measurements are compared with a novel setup which consists of a toroidal anvil arrangement and a lightweight (50 kg) press with 250 tonnes (2.5 MN) capacity. Preliminary tests of this instrument with synchrotron radiation are reported.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for HighPressure Crystallography’. Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

Third International Synchrotron Radiation Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy Meeting

The International Synchrotron Radiation Circular Dichroism (SRCD) Spectroscopy Meeting was held at the Physikzentrum, Bad Honnef, Germany on May 17–20, 2015, as the 590^th WE-Heraeus-Seminar. It was the third in the series of SRCD Workshops, following the first one held at the Daresbury Synchrotron (UK) in 2001, and the second at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF) and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in 2009. SRCD2015 was organized by Dr. Jochen Bürck, Prof. Anne Ulrich, and Dr. Dirk Windisch (all of Institute of Biological Interfaces (IBG-2), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany) and Prof. Bonnie Ann Wallace (Birkbeck College, University of London, UK). It was aimed at both synchrotron CD beamline scientists and scientific users of the beamlines, and included participants from 14 countries. For the first time, representatives of all operational SRCD beamlines worldwide were present at the same meeting, and scientists developing two new SRCD beamlines also participated.     

Third annual ALS users’ meeting

The 20^th anniversary of Synchrotron Radiation News is a good opportunity to think back about the extraordinary development of the field during that period. From personal experience I can offer comments in two areas: ? the evolution of synchrotron radiation research facilities from the 1970s to the 1990s;

? the early history and impact of wiggler and undulator insertion devices.

     

Rietveld analysis for energy dispersive x-ray diffraction under high pressure with synchrotron radiation

Abstract

A new program has been developed for the conversion of energy-dispersive x-ray diffraction spectra obtained from powder samples at high pressure in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) into conventional pseudo angle-dispersive data. The program is compatible with a conventional Rietveld program. This allows the determination of the structural parameters of the samples investigated. Results of a synchrotron radiation study of polycrystalline SrFCl in the tetragonal phase at high pressure are presented.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for High Pressure Crystallography’, Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

Twenty-third MAX-lab User Meeting

The 23^rd Annual User Meeting for MAX-lab users was held at Scandic Star Hotel in Lund, Sweden, on November 8-10, 2010. The meeting was, as in previous years, jointly organized by MAX-lab and the MAX-lab Association for Synchrotron Radiation Users (FASM). From the start in the late 1980s these meetings have grown with the user community of MAX-lab, and with increasing interest in the development of MAX IV, the coming synchrotron radiation facility in Sweden (http://www.maxlab.lu.se/maxlab/max4/index.html.), this growth has accelerated. The last four meetings have hosted around 300 participants, with a new record number of 342 registered participants and 26 commercial exhibitors at this meeting!     

Meeting Report: Third Italian-Australian Workshop on Spectroscopy and Imaging with Synchrotron Radiation

The third Italian-Australian Workshop on Spectroscopy and Imaging with Synchrotron Radiation (IAW) was held at the Australian Synchrotron on April 14, 2007, and was the first scientific meeting held there. Previous workshops have been held in Trieste (2005) and Lorne, Victoria (2003). Indeed, when the first meeting was held, the Australian synchrotron was an idea and now it is a reality.     

Meeting Report: XANES and EXAFS Spectroscopy of Materials and Biological Samples

Twenty years ago, the era of third generation Synchrotron Radiation (SR) sources began in Grenoble, with acceptance of the “Foundation Phase Report” to build the ESRF. Thus, the success story of third generation sources is the main part of my recollections.     

Water jet cooled silicon monochromators

The First Autumn School on Engineering Material Science with Neutrons and Synchrotron Radiation took place in the conference center “Haus am Schüberg” in Ammersbek near Hamburg, Germany, from October 10 to 14, 2005.

Neutron and photon sources offer unique possibilities by complementary use of the radiations for structure analyses of advanced engineering materials. By using neutrons and photons delivered by a synchrotron radiation source, information about material microstructures can be obtained non-destructively in the near-surface region as well as in the bulk of samples and components. Compared to conventional laboratory X-rays, the spatial resolution and in-depth information achievable using synchrotron radiation and neutrons can be increased by up to several orders of magnitude. The new possibilities for microstructure analyses for advanced materials and multi-material systems meet with increasing demands from the materials engineering point of view. In materials engineering, the establishment and refinement of relationships between microstructure parameters and macroscopic properties requires information on different length and time scales, both covering several orders of magnitude.     

New techniques for new sources: A fresh look at energy-dispersive diffraction for high-pressure studies

Abstract

Energy-dispersive diffraction is the most frequently used technique for high-pressure studies with synchrotron radiation. For optimum performance it requires high-energy radiation and few existing sources are able to meet this requirement. This is also important with large volume devices which demand even higher energies in order to obtain sufficient transmission. When working with diamond-anvil cells, the main experimental difficulties arise from the very small sample sizes. The use of a conical diffraction geometry increases the diffracted intensities, improves the signal-to-noise ratio and largely overcomes the crystallite statistics problem. This technique can also be used to greatly simplify high-pressure single-crystal studies. Combining these developments with recent progress in detectors and electronics will open up the field of high-pressure kinetics, but it is only with the operation of third generation synchrotron sources such as the ESRF that the present experimental limitations will be overcome.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for High Pressure Crystallography’. Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

Single crystal diffraction under high pressure with synchrotron radiation and a diamond anvil cell

Abstract

A single crystal study on AlPO₄ was performed at 2.90 GPa with synchrotron radiation with a wavelength of only 0.54 ?. The diffracted intensity was high enough to measure even weak reflections with sufficient counting statistics. However, the search for the reflections needed to setup the orientation matrix required a lot of beamtime. A feasibility study was carried out using a proportional area counter to reduce this search time. The results demonstrate that such counters can considerably reduce the time needed for the orientation of the crystal and the data collection.

Presented at the IUCr Workshop on ‘Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation for High Pressure Crystallography’. Daresbury Laboratory 20-21 July 1991     

Optics and beamlines for high-pressure research at the european synchrotron radiation facility

Abstract

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is the first high-energy, high-brilliance synchrotron radiation source in operation today and it is ideally suited to high pressure research. White-beam and monochromatic diffraction techniques are being optimized in particular for structural studies of low-Z materials and poor scatterers generally, the best example being hydrogen single crystals at very high pressures. Most high pressure measurements are carried out on a versatile beamline equipped with a wiggler and an undulator. Focusing and image plates are used in all monochromatic angle-dispersive studies. The success of the high pressure programme has so far been achieved on a non-optimized beamline, but the next phase of the programme needs an optimized facility. A beamline is being constructed to fully exploit the intrinsic qualities of this unique source and insertion devices for high pressure studies. Its main design concepts are presented.