SESAME – Page 2 – Lightsources.org

SESAME hosts BEATS kick-off meeting

2019/03/212019/03/25

The kick-off meeting of the BEAmline for Tomography at SESAME (BEATS) project, was held in Allan, Jordan and hosted by SESAME on the 12th and 13th March 2019. BEATS is an EU funded project with the objective to design, procure, construct and commission a facility for hard X-ray full-field tomography at the SESAME synchrotron. The European grant is worth 6 million euros and will span a four-year period from beginning 2019 to end 2022 and is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement n°822535.

>Read more on the SESAME website

SESAME fully powered by renewable energy

2019/02/262019/02/28

SESAME becomes the world’s first large accelerator complex to be fully powered by renewable energy.

Today (26 February 2019), a ceremony was held to mark the official inauguration of the solar power plant of SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East).
Constructed on grounds next to JAEC (Jordan Atomic Energy Commission) that is located some 30kms from SESAME, electricity from the solar power plant will be supplied by an on-grid photovoltaic system having a total power capacity of 6.48 MW, which will amply satisfy SESAME’s needs for several years.
Thanks to this power plant SESAME is now not only the first synchrotron light facility in the region, but also the world’s first large accelerator complex to be fully powered by renewable energy. “As in the case of all accelerators, SESAME is in dire need of energy, and as the number of its users increases so will its electricity bill” said the Director of SESAME, Khaled Toukan. “Given the very high cost of electricity in Jordan, with this solar power plant the Centre becomes sustainable” he continued to say.
The power plant, which uses monocrystalline solar panels, was built by the Jordanian company Kawar Energy under the supervision of the consultancy firm Consolidated Consultants Group representing the owner, SESAME. Power from the solar power plant will be transmitted to the grid through the wheeling mechanism by JEPCO (Jordan Electric Power Company). The power that the solar power plant sends to the grid will be accounted for to the credit of SESAME.

>Read more on the SESAME website

Image: SESAME’s solar power plant.
Credit: SESAME.

Tomography beamline at SESAME is officially launched

2019/01/092019/01/17

On 1st January 2019, the European Horizon 2020 project BEAmline for Tomography at SESAME (BEATS) was launched with the objective to design, procure, construct and commission a beamline for hard X-ray full-field tomography at the SESAME synchrotron in Jordan.

The European grant is worth 6 million euros and will span a four-year period from beginning 2019 to end 2022.
Led by the ESRF, the European synchrotron (France), BEATS involves leading research facilities in the Middle East (SESAME and the Cyprus Institute), and European synchrotron radiation facilities ALBA-CELLS (Spain), DESY (Germany), the ESRF (France), Elettra (Italy), INFN (Italy), PSI (Switzerland), SESAME (Jordan) and SOLARIS (Poland). The initiative is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

Nine partner institutes will join forces to lay the groundwork for the efficient and sustainable operation of the SESAME research infrastructure. Through the development and consolidation of the scientific case for a beamline for tomography, and actions to fortify the scientific community, the partners will pay particular attention to the R&D and technology needs of the SESAME Members. Built upon the OPEN SESAME project, BEATS will address the issue of sustainability of operation by preparing medium- to long-term funding scenarios for the tomography beamline and the facility.

Bulgarian President visits SESAME

2018/12/162019/01/08

On 15 December, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, paid an official visit to SESAME. Among the 7 delegates accompanying him were the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, Ekaterina Zakharieva, and Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Jordan, Venelin Lazarov. The visit was prompted by the President’s wish to see at first hand SESAME at work.

Bulgaria is one of the 9 countries forming part of SEEIIST (South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies), an intergovernmental project designed to promote science for peace in South East Europe following the CERN model. The other countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, and in the Declaration of Intent signed by the 9 countries in 2017 SESAME is cited as an example of a similar initiative that came to fruition.

>Read more on the SESAME website

Image: The Director of SESAME, Khaled Toukan, welcoming the President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, and the Bulgarian delegation.
Credit: SESAME

SESAME becomes the first associate of LEAPS

2018/11/142018/11/19

At its first Plenary Meeting that is being held at DESY on 12-14 November, the Members of LEAPS (League of European Accelerator-Based Photon Sources) unanimously decided to grant SESAME Associate status.

SESAME thus becomes the first Associate of LEAPS.

On signing the Declaration of Association to the LEAPS Consortium with Helmut Dosch, Chair of LEAPS and Chair of the DESY Board of Directors, Rolf Heuer, President of the SESAME Council, said that “it is a great honour for SESAME to be the first Associate of LEAPS; the scientific and technical development of SESAME and visibility of the Centre will greatly benefit from this association”.

>Read more on the SESAME website

Image: Schematic overview from SESAME, find more here.

SESAME host to delegation from Helmholtz Association of German research centres

2018/11/062018/11/08

On 25th October, SESAME was host to a delegation from the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres consisting of 43 persons. It was headed by Professor Otmar Wiestler, President of the Association.
The visiting delegation was shown round SESAME’s experimental hall and was able to see at first hand two of the Phase I beamlines that are already in operation, namely the XAFS/XRF (X-ray absorption fine structure/X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopy and IR (infrared) spectromicroscopy beamlines, as well as a further two Phase I beamlines, the MS (materials science) and MX (Macromolecular crystallography) beamlines, that are under construction and are expected to come on stream in two-three years.

During the visit, Otmar Wiestler informed SESAME that five research centres of the Helmholtz Association will be taking part in construction of a soft X-ray beamline for SESAME under the leadership of DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron). This is another of SESAME’s Phase I beamlines. The five research centres – DESY, FZJ (Forschungszentrum Jülich), HZB (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin), HZDR (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf), and KIT (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) – will be constructing a complete undulator beamline with monochromator and refocussing optics and a small chamber to conduct absorption and fluorescence yield experiments. The capital value of this work would be of the order of €3.5 million.
Given that the European Union has very recently informed SESAME that it will be providing €6 million for construction of its tomography beamline, SESAME will have six of its seven Phase I beamlines in operation relatively soon.

Image: (from left to right) Rolf Heuer, President SESAME Council, Otmar Wiestler, President Helmholtz Association, Khaled Toukan, SESAME Director, Walid Zidan, SESAME Administrative Director, and Rene Röspel, Member of the Bundestag and Vice-Chairman of the Science Committee of the Bundestag.
Credit: DESY

SESAME appoints a new administrative director

2018/08/222018/08/30

SESAME, which is the first synchrotron light source in the Middle East and neighbouring countries and has now received its first users, has recently appointed Professor Walid Zidan as its new Administrative Director.

Professor Zidan, who took on this position at the beginning of this month, holds a PhD in chemical engineering from Alexandria University (Egypt), and has extensive experience in science and monitoring science and technology developments at national and international levels. He has 25 years experience in the public sector, starting from the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) in 1993, moving on to also include the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) in 2012. For the seven years from 2007 to 2014 he was Supervisor of the Egyptian System for Nuclear Material Accounting and Control of the EAEA and ENRRA. From 2012 to 2014, he was then Head of the Nuclear Safeguards and Physical Protection Department of ENRRA, and in 2014, he became Vice Chair of ENRRA, as well as Rapporteur and National Coordinator of the Supreme Committee of Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies, two positions that he held until 2017 when he was appointed Vice Dean of the Division of Regulations and Nuclear Emergencies and Head of the Nuclear Safeguards and Physical Protection Department both of ENRRA.

In science, Professor Zidan has supervised several PhD and MSc theses and published 48 scientific articles in international journals. His publications focused on improving the operational performance of fuel cycle facilities through safe and secure management, nuclear material accountancy, criticality prevention, and process systems performance improvements.

>Read more on the SESAME website

SESAME hosts its first users

2018/08/032018/08/09

Mid July, the first users arrived at SESAME to perform experiments using the Centre’s XAFS/XRF (X-ray absorption fine structure/X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopy beamline, SESAME’s first beamline to come into operation.

This was the Finnish Kirsi Lorentz and three of her colleagues at The Cyprus Institute: the Cypriot Grigoria Ioannou, the Japanese Yuko Miyauchi and the Greek/Egyptian Iosif Hafez, who together form a true international team in the spirit of SESAME.

Kirsi is the author of one of the 19 proposals from 5 of the SESAME Members (Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey) that have been recommended for a total of 95.8 hour shifts on the XAFS/XRF beamline by SESAME’s Proposal Review Committee (PRC). The PRC is an international advisory body that evaluates the scientific and technological merit of proposals from the General Users and determines their priority using criteria based on IUPAP’s Recommendations for the Use of Major Physics Users Facilities.

“This heralds in a new stage in SESAME’s march forward, and for scientists in the SESAME Members and the region it is the tangible beginning of a moment from when it becomes possible to carry out state-of-the-art research in the region” said Khaled Toukan, Director of SESAME.

“It is a unique opportunity and a real honour to be the first user of a synchrotron light facility – a research visit to remember” said Kirsi, who is examining ancient human remains from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East, adding “we are very excited with the results we obtained at the SESAME XAFS/XRF beamline, and grateful to all those who have worked so hard to bring this crucial research facility into operation in our region”.

>Read more on the SESAME website

Picture: Kirsi Lorentz, The Cyprus Institute: Kirsi Lorentz and her research team (from left to right: Yuko Miyauchi, Grigoria Ioannou, Kirsi Lorentz and Iosif Hafez) at the XAFS/XRF beamline control hutch.

SESAME light source brings second beamline into service

2018/05/012018/05/03

Allan, Jordan, 30 April 2018. At 11:21 pm local time (GMT +3) scientists at the SESAME light source brought the laboratory’s infrared (IR) spectromicroscopy beamline into service for the first time.

This beamline is a completely new beamline. It was designed and built in collaboration with the French Soleil Synchrotron. It is SESAME’s second operational beamline, and it joins an X-ray beamline that saw first light on 23 November 2017. The addition of the IR beamline will enable the application of infrared microspectroscopy and imaging in a wide range of fields, including surface and materials science (e.g. characterization of new nanomaterials for solar cell fabrication and for drug delivery mechanisms), biochemistry, archaeology, geology, cell biology, biomedical diagnostics and environmental science (e.g. air and water pollution)

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said Gihan Kamel, SESAME’s IR beamline scientist. “It’s very satisfying to see light in the beamline, and to be able to start doing research here that we previously had to travel to Europe to carry out.”

In preparation for the SESAME research programme, a number of thematic schools are being held across the region in a collaboration involving SESAME and European partners including the European Union through its Open SESAME project. One of these was held at SESAME earlier this month, covering science on the IR beamline. Students came from across the region and learned techniques ranging from sample preparation to data analysis.

“The infrared beamline has a mouth-watering research programme lined up,” said SESAME Scientific Director Giorgio Paolucci, “and it is great to see so many young people from across the region preparing to embark on careers in science.”

>Read more on the SESAME website

New Diamond SESAME Rutherford training programme underway

2018/04/102018/04/12

First four fellows welcomed to new training programme

Diamond has welcomed the first four fellows on the newly created Diamond SESAME Rutherford Fellowship Training Programme. The result of a £1.5 million grant from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Diamond will use the funding to expand its training and development support of SESAME, a unique Middle East project.

Up to 25 delegates will benefit from training in areas of science and engineering associated with the construction and operation of SESAME (Synchrotron light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) in Jordan. The Middle East’s first major international research centre, the SESAME light source involves members from Cyprus, Egypt, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey.

Andrew Harrison, CEO of Diamond, explains, “SESAME represents a unique project for the Middle East region because of the excellent opportunity to stimulate and support scientific and technical activity, training and engagement in the region. Because SESAME focuses on areas of local importance – such as water supply, energy, health and the environment – we are keen to nurture new talent and share our skills. This significant grant will enable us to build stronger links.”

Image: Fellows, Mentors and Programme Support
Credit: Diamond Light Source

First light for pioneering SESAME light source

2017/11/222018/01/17

This is of particular significance since this is the first high-energy accelerator in the Middle East.

On the 22th November et 10:50 in the morning scientists at the pioneering SESAME light source saw First Monochromatic Light through the XAFS/XRF (X-ray absorption fine structure/X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopy beamline, signalling the start of the laboratory’s experimental programme. This beamline, SESAME’s first to come on stream, delivers X-ray light that will be used to carry out research in areas ranging from solid state physics to environmental science and archaeology.

“After years of preparation, it’s great to see light on target,” said XAFS/XRF beamline scientist Messaoud Harfouche. “We have a fantastic experimental programme ahead of us, starting with an experiment to investigate heavy metals contaminating soils in the region.”

The initial research programme will be carried out at two beamlines, the XAFS/XRF beamline and the I nfrared (IR) spectromicroscopy beamline that is scheduled to join the XAFS/XRF beamline this year. Both have specific characteristics that make them appropriate for various areas of research. A third beamline, in this case devoted to materials science, will come on stream in 2018.

>Read More on the SESAME website

Image: SESAME XAFS/XRF beamline scientist, Messaoud Harfouche, points out SESAME’s first monochromatic light.
Credit: SESAME

Opening ceremony of SESAME

2017/05/162017/11/29

The SESAME light source was officially opened by His Majesty King Abdullah II on 16 May.

His Majesty was welcomed by the President of the SESAME Council, Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, and the President Elect, Professor Rolf Heuer, both former Directors General of CERN, the Director, Professor Khaled Toukan, H.R.H. Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, the Prime Minister of Jordan, H.E. Mr Hani Al-Mulki, and the Administrative Director, Professor Yasser Khalil.

The King unveiled a plaque marking the official opening of the laboratory and visited the experimental hall.

>Read More on the SESAME website

SESAME’s 800 MeV booster synchrotron is now in operation

2014/09/032018/01/17

This is of particular significance since this is the first high-energy accelerator in the Middle East.

After having successfully stored electrons from the 20 MeV Microtron in the Booster in July 2014, on 3 September 2014, the SESAME team succeeded in accelerating the electrons in the Booster to their final energy of 800 MeV.

The SESAME Injector consists of a 20 MeV Microtron and the 800 MeV Booster-Synchrotron. Electrons are produced in the Microtron where they are accelerated to 20 MeV (Million Electron Volt), and these electrons are then transferred to the Booster-Synchrotron.

SESAME’s Microtron became operational in 2012, installation of its Booster was completed in 2013, and storage in the Booster, in July 2014, of the electrons from the Microtron meant that they were then circulating several million of turns in the Booster at their initial energy of 20 MeV.

>Read More on the SESAME website