APS User News-at-a-Glance
Issue 47, June 4, 2008

CONTENTS

MESSAGE FROM MURRAY
--Renewing and Upgrading the Advanced Photon Source: A Real Opportunity for User Engagement

SCIENCE NEWS
1. Beamline 30-ID Open to General Users for Inelastic X-ray Scattering
2. BioCARS Beamline 14-ID Offers Picosecond Time Resolution, Ultra-bright Beam for Protein Crystallography
3. Annual Report and Science Highlights Available

USER MATTERS
4. Convenient New Option Unveiled: Remote Training
5. New Steering Committee Members Elected
6. Users Week Draws 650 Attendees, Features Three Facilities

FACILITY NEWS
7. Advanced Imaging Beamline Under Consideration, Input Invited
8. Partner User Proposals Summarized, New Proposals Invited for July 11, October 31
9. Cross-cut Review Set for November 5-6, 2008

PEOPLE NEWS
10. Thomas Gog Leads Inelastic and X-ray Nuclear Resonant Scattering (IXN) Group
11. Qun Shen Moving to NSLS-II
12. Personnel Changes in User Office

BRIEFLY NOTED
--Proposal deadline approaches--July 11
--Neutron, X-ray School application deadline June 26
--XAFS School application deadline June 16
--Info provided on proposal preparation for soft x-ray experiments at the LCLS; proposals due September 2008
--Dynamic Compression Workshop, June 23-24

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MESSAGE FROM MURRAY -- Renewing and Upgrading the Advanced Photon Source: A Real Opportunity for User Engagement

Now in its twelfth year of operation, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) annually provides almost 3500 users with brilliant x-rays that lead to more than 1000 refereed publications each year covering many areas of science and engineering. Nevertheless, the facility, like any scientific instrument, is showing its age, and we have been working for several years on renewal and upgrade plans. These plans have recently received a boost because our sponsor--the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences--has asked us for a detailed, science-driven plan for the renewal of APS to cover the next five years.

This renewal plan will encompass innovations in the beamlines and the x-ray source that are needed for major improvements in important areas of user science. We are engaging our users and staff ab initio in building this APS renewal plan, and we will use our Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and other outside experts to help us craft a plan with maximum scientific impact. A planning milestone will be a workshop to be held October 20-21 near the APS, at which the SAC will take a first complete look at the plan and give their advice. At present we continue to solicit proposals from our beamline staff, users, and accelerator and other APS staff. These proposals will be filtered by science-focused user groups, and they will also be analyzed in a matrix fashion by technique coordinators. More information, as well as details about how you can take part in the planning and communicate your perspective, can be found on the APS renewal plan web site.

The renewal of APS is the first component of a strategic plan for the APS that aims to provide our users with the best hard x-ray source in the nation, and beyond, by the year 2020. During the renewal period, we will be evaluating, with our users, the options for a major accelerator facility upgrade at APS that could give revolutionary improvements far surpassing the properties of the existing storage ring. (More information on the various upgrade options and other background information is archived at the APS Upgrade web page.) Because of the need for significant R&D to support the most innovative and revolutionary options, we envisage that the final choice for the form of any proposed upgrade may take a few years. During that time we hope to carry out R&D so that we would be in a position to have an upgraded source by the year 2020. We expect that our APS2020 plan will be a keystone of Argonne National Laboratory's strategic plan, ANL2020, which is currently being developed in partnership with the Department of Energy.

We hope that you will engage in this process, as our aim is to provide better capabilities for our user community. More details on the renewal and upgrade planning process will be kept current at the APS web site. [The call for volunteers was sent to the user community by Murray Gibson on 5/28/2008.]

SCIENCE NEWS

1. Beamline 30-ID Open to General Users for Inelastic X-ray Scattering

The new inelastic scattering beamline at 30-ID has opened to General Users (as of run 2007-1). It offers momentum-resolved inelastic x-ray scattering with high resolution (HERIX, about 1.5 meV) and with medium resolution (MERIX, 90-200 meV). Beamline 30-ID is operated by the Inelastic and X-ray Nuclear Resonant Scattering (IXN) group within X-ray Operations and Research; this group also operates beamlines at APS Sectors 3, 9.

The beamline was the first to be developed by a Collaborative Development Team, under a Memorandum of Understanding signed September 15, 2003. The CDT included members from 18 institutions. At the time, a CDT was a new kind of partner user agreement, similar to the more traditional collaborative access team during the construction and commissioning phases, but becoming an APS facility beamline during operations, open to competitive access by general and partner users.

Contact: Yuri Shvyd'ko, 630.252.2901, shvydko@aps.anl.gov

2. BioCARS Beamline 14-ID Offers Picosecond Time Resolution, Ultra-bright Beam for Protein Crystallography

On April 18, 2008, BioCARS celebrated a major upgrade of the 14-ID beamline and implementation of 100-picosecond time-resolved crystallography at BioCARS. The enhancements expand the time resolution from 5 ns to 100 ps and enable collection of X-ray diffraction images with a single ultra-bright X-ray pulse in the 24-bunch APS mode.

At the upgraded 14-ID beamline, time-resolved studies of both reversible and irreversible reactions can now be conducted with 100ps time-resolution on sub-100 µ m size crystals. Ultra-fast structural changes occurring in important biological processes such as cooperativity, signal transduction, and catalysis can therefore be examined. Such studies can now be conducted during the standard 24-bunch operating mode of the APS storage ring, providing a great opportunity for the expansion of the user community in this important and exciting scientific field.

The upgrade features the installation of several new pieces of equipment: two undulators used collinearly, a new Kirkpatrick-Baez mirror system providing 90 µm (horizontal) by 35 µm (vertical) X-ray beam size at the sample, a new monochromator, an upgraded BioCARS ultra-fast X-ray chopper capable of isolating single X-ray pulses in the 24-bunch APS mode, a new heat-load chopper, and new picosecond laser system with associated laser-beam delivery optics and synchronization electronics. More details are available online regarding the new equipment and the upgrade celebration, including a photo of the upgrade team.

BioCARS is now welcoming new user groups interested in conducting time-resolved experiments on the upgraded beamline. Proposals can be submitted through the Advanced Photon Source General User Program.

To help current and new users get the most out of the upgrade, BioCARS has also published a step-by-step tutorial on data analysis for polychromatic (Laue) crystallography.

BioCARS is operated by the Center for Advanced Radiation Sources of the University of Chicago.

3. Annual Report and Science Highlights Available

APS Science 2007, the annual report of the Advanced Photon Source, has been published. If you did not receive a printed copy or copies (and/or a CD copy or copies) and would like to, please send your request (including complete mailing address) to: apsinfo@aps.anl.gov. The report is also available as an on-line PDF file at http://www.aps.anl.gov/Science/Reports/.

In addition, the following highlights were published on the APS home page in April and May 2008.

USER MATTERS

4. Convenient New Option Unveiled: Remote Training

APS users now have a new option for training. All five core courses can now be taken remotely by accessing the remote training web site. The link is available several places on the APS web site: under the green button “WORK: Resources for Users” on the home page; on the Safety and Training page; and under the User Information tab for both new and current users.

To use the remote training capability, enter your user badge number. You will be shown a page listing the five core courses. To take a course, click on its link. You can then print a version of the course as a study guide, take the course and test, or take a challenge exam. If you elect either of the latter two options, you will need to re-enter your badge number and web password. Successful completion of the course will automatically be recorded in Argonne's Training Management System.

Contact: APS User Office, 630-252-9090 or apsuser@aps.anl.gov

5. New Steering Committee Members Elected

At the recent users meeting, users elected four new representatives to the APS Users Organization Steering Committee. We welcome Carl Correll, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science; Peter Eng, Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, The University of Chicago; Alfonso Mondragón, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology Department, Northwestern University; and David Tiede, Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory.

Many thanks for the dedication of outgoing members Simon Billinge, Millie Firestone, Barbara Golden, and David Reis. The past chair Gene Ice also leaves his ex officio role. Continuing members are Nino Campobasso, Glaxo SmithKline, Inc.; Paul Evans, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Paul Fuoss, Argonne National Laboratory; Nadia Leyarovska, Argonne National Laboratory; Laurence Lurio (chair), Northern Illinois University; Simon Mochrie, Yale University; Anne Mulichak, The University of Chicago; Linda Young, Argonne National Laboratory; and Tim Graber, past chairman, ex officio), The University of Chicago.

Contact info for steering committee:
http://aps.anl.gov/About/Committees/APS_Users_Organization/

6. Users Week Draws 650 Attendees, Features Three Facilities

Outstanding science characterized all aspects of User Week 2008 (May 4-9) at Argonne National Laboratory. More than 650 individuals spent one or more days during the week attending plenary science sessions, workshops, poster sessions, vendor exhibits, and short courses all targeted for users of the Advanced Photon Source, the Center for Nanoscale Materials, and the Electron Microscopy Center. Kicking off the week was the premier performance (a staged reading) of a new play, “Bernal's Picasso,” written by Celerino Abad-Zapatero, noted crystallographer and APS user. This play, which explores the relationship between science and art through imagined conversations with a variety of scientists and Pablo Picasso, was followed by a reception, during which users could interact with the actors, visit vendor exhibits, and relax before the scientifically invigorating week.

The early part of the week focused primarily on the Advanced Photon Source. The opening session included reports from Dr. Pat Dehmer, Deputy Director for Science Programs, DOE Office of Science, as well as updates from APS Director Murray Gibson, newly-appointed interim Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) Director Stephen Streiffer, and Electron Microscopy Center Director Dean Miller. Kicking off the APS portion of the day was a talk by Dennis Mills on the process to be used in formulating the APS upgrade strategy and plan. The afternoon session included excellent science presentations, which were followed by the presentation of the 2008 APSUO Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator award to Oleg Shpryko (University of California, San Diego). A lively poster session rounded out the day.

Beginning on Wednesday, the focus shifted to the Center for Nanoscale Materials and the Electron Microscopy Center, highlighted by an outstanding talk from Nobel laureate Rudolph Marcus, California Institute of Technology. Science sessions for both the CNM and EMC, as well as a preview of the proposed Argonne Scattering, Imaging, and Spectroscopy Institute, were followed by a well-attended poster session in the lobby of the CNM building.

Workshops on Tuesday and Thursday, a meeting banquet at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and short hands-on courses for CNM users completed the week. A full program and additional information can be found at http://www.aps.anl.gov/Users/Meeting/2008/.

FACILITY NEWS

7. Advanced Imaging Beamline Under Consideration, Input Invited

The Scientific Advisory Committee has approved a letter of intent and invited a full proposal for the development of an advanced x-ray imaging beamline. The collaborative development team (CDT) is lead by director Jon Harrison, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University (j.harrison@asu.edu), and co-directors Jianwei Miao, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles (miao@physics.ucla.edu), and Ian McNulty, X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory (mcnulty@aps.anl.gov). The collaborators welcome suggestions in the next few weeks as they prepare the final proposal during June.

The new facility aims to establish the following novel x-ray imaging capabilities not currently available in the United States: (a) a 200-m long beamline for high sensitivity, wide field x-ray phase imaging, (b) a beamline with a 20-m long experimental hutch for coherent diffraction imaging (CDI) accommodating next-generation focusing optics and high dynamic range area detectors, and (c) coherence-conditioning and focusing x-ray optics that provide well-defined wavefronts for CDI under both plane and curved-wave conditions. Scientific programs enabled by the new AXI capabilities will focus on these broad areas:

  • Real-time imaging of physiology and biological function in live insects and small animals
  • Time-resolved in-situ studies of materials processing and transient fluid dynamics
  • Nanoscale-resolution imaging of intact, thick biological specimens
  • Structure of nanoparticles, domain formation, and strain in extended materials specimens.

8. Partner User Proposals Summarized, New Proposals Invited for July 11, October 31

An important component of user access at the APS is the Partner User Program. Typically a Partner User requires access to more than 10% of the beam time on a beamline or sector for two years or more. Currently active proposals are listed with brief abstracts on the Partner User web site. For proposals of limited scope, deadlines coincide with the General User Program, with the next deadlines being July 11 and October 31, 2008. The following beamlines are open to discussions with interested users: 1-ID, 2-BM, 2-ID-D, 2-ID-E, 3-ID, 4-ID-C, 8-ID, 9-BM, 11-ID-C, 12-BM, 20-BM, and 30-ID. For assistance with Partner User Proposals, contact Susan Strasser, 630.252.5981, strasser@aps.anl.gov.

9. Cross-cut Review Set for November 5-6, 2008

A cross-cut review has been set for November 5 and 6, 2008; it will address atomic, molecular, optical, and chemical sciences. The committee will be chaired by Scientific Advisory Committee member Dr. Michelle Buchanan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The following beamlines will be participating in this review: 1-BM, 5-BM-C, 5-BM-D, 7-ID, 9-BM, 10-ID, 11-BM, 11-ID-B, 11-ID-D, 12-ID, 15-ID.

PEOPLE NEWS

10. Thomas Gog Leads Inelastic and X-ray Nuclear Resonant Scattering (IXN) Group

In September 2007, Thomas Gog assumed leadership of the X-ray Operations and Research (XOR) Inelastic X-ray and Nuclear Resonant Scattering (IXN) Group, which operates sectors 3, 9, and 30. Previously, Thomas served as the sector manager for the Complex Materials Consortium Collaborative Access Team (CMC-CAT) at sector 9, which is now part of XOR. Other senior IXN group members include Yuri Shvyd'ko, lead scientist for Sector 30, Wolfgang Sturhahn, lead scientist for sector 3 and nuclear resonant scattering; and Ercan Alp, senior scientist in sector 3. [User News regrets the tardiness of this announcement.--Ed. ]

11. Qun Shen Moving to NSLS-II

After three years of successfully leading the X-ray Microscopy and Imaging (XMI) Group, Qun Shen has decided to apply his scientific, technical, and management skills towards building a new synchrotron source. Qun accepted the position of the Director, Experimental Facilities Division at NSLS-II and will assume his new role at the end of May 2008.

During Qun's tenure at the APS, he conceived and developed a unified scientific vision for the XMI Group. Qun also led the planning effort in x-ray microscopy and coherent imaging areas and was instrumental in developing plans for the X-Ray Imaging Institute at the APS. Among his many accomplishments, Qun developed a partnership program for full-field Zernike phase-contrast x-ray microscopy at 32-ID and established a Laboratory Directed R&D program on coherent diffraction imaging at Argonne.

Barry Lai has accepted the role of Interim Group Leader for the XMI Group until a permanent replacement is found. Please welcome Barry in his new role; he can be reached at 630.252.6405 or blai@aps.anl.gov.

12. Personnel Changes in User Office

May brought significant changes to the User Office. We sadly bid farewell to office manager Lori Moore, who departed with her family for Denver, Colorado. Beverly Knott, who has capably filled several roles in the User Office, is transitioning into Lori's role. You can reach Beverly at 630.252.9090 or bevknott@aps.anl.gov.

We are also pleased to welcome Monica Green, who will run the user training center. Monica worked closely with the User Office in her previous position with the Argonne Visitor Reception Center, where she handled gate passes for many of our users. Monica is at 630.252.1783, mgreen@aps.anl.gov.

BRIEFLY NOTED

--Proposal deadline approaches--July 11

General and Partner User Proposals are invited for the 2008-3 run (October to December). Exact dates for the run have not yet been set. A researcher new to APS must register as a user and receive a badge number before submitting a proposal. The Apply for Beamtime web page has a calendar of the review dates, an overview of the program, and the proposal system login. For assistance with General User proposals, please contact Meg Vigliocco-Hagen, 630.252.9026, meg@aps.anl.gov.

--Neutron, X-ray School application deadline June 26

The tenth annual National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering will be held from September 24 to October 11 at Argonne and Oak Ridge National Labs. This school is held to educate graduate students attending U.S. universities on the utilization of major neutron and x-ray facilities in the United States. Lectures, presented by researchers from academia, industry, and national laboratories, will include basic tutorials on the principles of scattering theory and the characteristics of Neutron and Synchrotron X-ray sources, as well as seminars on the application of scattering methods to a variety of scientific subjects. As part of the school, students will conduct four short experiments, two at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source and two at Oak Ridge's Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor facilities to provide hands-on experience for using neutron and synchrotron sources. All travel and lodging expenses for each accepted applicant will be covered as part of the school. Students interested in attending should submit an application at http://www.dep.anl.gov/nx by June 26, 2008.

--XAFS School application deadline June 16

The 2008 APS XAFS School will be held August 5-8; the application deadline is June 16. The school is open to anyone interested in learning about XAFS and how to incorporate XAFS into their own research program. Significant time is spent on hands-on instruction in data processing and data analysis, but the 2008 program does not include hands-on experiments at APS spectroscopy beamlines. Experimental practice will be included in the 2009 program. The fee for the course is expected to be $350 (lodging and travel costs paid by participant). Full information is at http://xafs.org/Workshops/APS2008.

--Info provided on proposal preparation for soft x-ray experiments at the LCLS; proposals due September 2008

[Although the workshop described has already taken place, we've included this announcement for users who may wish to access information from the workshop posted on the web.--Ed.]

A workshop was held June 2 and 3 at SLAC to assist users in preparing proposals to use the atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) science end-station at the LCLS in anticipation of the first call for proposals due September 2008. The LCLS will begin user operations with the AMO instrument in August 2009. Information about the LCLS and the AMO instrument was presented at the workshop to help users prepare successful proposals. The information will be made available on the LCLS-AMO web site after the meeting. Please see the workshop announcement for more information.

Given sufficient demand, the workshop and presentations may be repeated in August. Proposal information will also be provided at the LCLS Users' Meeting, October 15-18, 2008, although by that time the first call for proposals will have closed.

For further information:

Helen O'Donnell, 650.926-3368, heleno@slac.stanford.edu
John Bozek 650.926-5091, jdbozek@slac.stanford.edu
AMO Instrument web page: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/AMO

--Dynamic compression workshop, June 23-24

On June 23 and 24, the APS will host a workshop focused on determining how national facilities such as the APS can be utilized to examine and understand the real-time response of dynamically compressed materials at the microscopic level. The organizers are Yogi Gupta (WSU), Christian Mailhiot (DOE-NNSA), and Dennis Mills (APS). To be discussed in this workshop are fundamental scientific challenges and technology needs to study condensed matter under dynamic compression, including:

  • EOS, melting, and other phase transitions
  • Deformation, fracture, and microstructures
  • Electronic structures, chemical bondings, and reactions
  • Kinetics, metastabilities, and supercooled/heated solids far from equilibrium
  • New technology developments for shock and shockless compression
  • Enabling national facilities for real-time structural studies

For more background and details, see the workshop announcement.