The research highlights based on the Photon Factory (PF) users’ program during fiscal 2020 (April 2020 – March 2021), is now available on the web.
The sections covered include:
Materials Science
Chemical Science
Earth & Planetary Science
Life Science
Instrumentation & Techniques
Accelerator
Access these highlights via the Photon Factory website
Image: Highlights 2020 cover
Credit: Photon Factory, KEK
The renovation is made possible by the latest technologies and will create a large-scale research facility that will meet the needs of researchers for decades to come.
Since 2001, “the UFO” has been providing reliable and excellent service: In the circular building of the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers from PSI and all over the world carry out cutting-edge research. For example, they can investigate the electronic properties of novel materials, determine the structure of medically relevant proteins, and make visible the nanostructure of a human bone.
“Internationally, the SLS has been setting standards for nearly two decades”, says Terence Garvey, SLS 2.0 accelerator project head. Now, Garvey continues, it’s time for a modernisation. In the coming years, SLS is expected to undergo an upgrade with the project title SLS 2.0. SLS will remain within the same UFO-shaped building, but will get changes in crucial areas inside. Garvey is one of the two project leaders for the upgrade, together with Philip Willmott.
Swiss Light Source (SLS)
Acoustic levitation suspends matter using acoustic radiation pressure to balance the force of gravity. It has potential applications in crystallography, spectroscopy, chemistry, and the study of organisms in microgravity. However, conventional acoustic levitation systems rely on Langevin horns, which are large and expensive pieces of equipment that are complicated to set up. TinyLev, initially developed by researchers at the University of Bristol, is a small single-axis non-resonant acoustic levitator constructed from off-the-shelf components. In work recently published in Scientific Reports, engineers at Diamond led by Dr Pete Docker used the TinyLev system to dispense and contain sample droplets in protein crystallography experiments. Their novel method facilitates efficient X-ray data acquisition in dynamic studies at room temperature.
>Read more on the Diamond Light Source website
Picture: Left: Photograph showing the TinyLev system mounted on the I24 beamline with the X-ray beam path marked with a yellow dashed arrow. Components as labelled: (A) High-magnification viewing system, (B) X-ray scatter-guard, (C) levitating drop, (D) beamstop (out of position), (E) TinyLev Transducer array, (F) backlight (retracted during data collection), (G) sample positioning stage. Right: Model of the acoustic levitation system (E) used in this work annotated with key dimensions and showing the focal point of the transducer array.
Good progress has been made on the installation of supporting infrastructure for the first of the new beamlines for the Australian Synchrotron as part of Project Br–ght.
The work is a series of complex engineering tasks that require precise planning, the expertise of applied mechanical engineering, controls engineering and supporting technicians.
Importantly, the majority of installation works could only be done during periods when the synchrotron was not operational.
Installation of the ‘frontends’ for two new beamlines, Medium Energy X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (MEX) and Biological Small Angle X-ray Scattering (BioSAX) is now complete with final commissioning tasks on schedule. Completion is expected during the coming Christmas shutdown, according to Senior Engineering Manager Brad Mountford.
The ‘frontend” is the physical conduit that carries powerful synchrotron light from the main storage ring through the shield wall that surrounds the ring.
>Read more on the Australian Synchrotron (ANSTO) website
>Discover the Project BR-GHT here
Theoretical physicist Sally Dawson, a world-leader in calculations aimed at describing the properties of the Higgs boson, and José Rodriguez, a renowned chemist exploring and developing catalysts for energy-related reactions, will each receive $1 million in funding over three years to pursue new research objectives within their respective fields. (…)
José Rodriguez (NSLS-II)
For discoveries of the atomic basis of surface catalysis for the synthesis of sustainable fuels, and for significantly advancing in-situ methods of investigation using synchrotron light sources.”
Rodriguez will devote his funding to the development and construction of new tools for performing extremely rapid, time-resolved measurements to track the reaction mechanisms of catalytic processes as they occur under variable conditions—like those encountered during real-world reactions important to energy applications. These include processes on metal-oxide catalysts frequently used in the production of clean fuels and other “green” chemicals through hydrogenation of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, or the conversion of methane to hydrogen.
“At a microscopic level, the structure of a catalyst and the chemical environment around the active sites—where chemical bonds are broken and reformed as reactants transform into new products—change as a function of time, thus determining the reaction mechanism,” said Rodriguez. “We can learn a lot about the nature of the active sites under steady-state conditions, with no variations in temperature, pressure, and reaction rate. But to really understand the details of the reaction mechanism, we need ways to track what happens under transient or variable conditions. This funding will allow us to build new instrumentation that works with existing capabilities so we can study catalysts under variable conditions—and use what we learn to improve their performance.”
Within the new NSF-funded CHEXS award, Sasha Temnykh is developing a new driving mechanisms that will add variable gap control and even better tuning of the device, both desirable qualities for a variety of experimental needs.
Undulators are critical devices for the creation of brilliant X-rays at CHESS and other lightsources around the world. With the recent CHESS-U upgrade, the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, CESR, is now outfitted with seven new insertion devices. As the beam circulates around CESR, it passes through a series of alternating magnets in the undulators, resulting in X-rays that are roughly 20 times brighter than those produced prior to the upgrade, making CHESS an even more powerful X-ray source.
Researchers at CHESS lead by Sasha Temnykh are working continuously to improve the already impressive CHESS Compact Undulator, or CCU. The CCUs are about ten times more compact, lighter, and less expensive compared to conventional insertion devices typically used at other lightsource. They also require a significant shorter fabrication time. Nine CCUs have already been constructed in industry from the Cornell-held patent, and according to KYMA, the manufacturer of the CCU, other labs are starting to show interest in the device.
>Read more on the CHESS website
Image: Sasha Temnykh is the driving force behind the Cornell Compact Undulator design and development.
The soft X-ray instrument for Small Quantum Systems (SQS) welcomed its first users at the end of 2018. Now, almost a year later, the SQS team and collaborators have completed their ambitious plan to install and commission all three experiment stations, each specifically designed for different types of experiments and samples, ranging from atoms and small molecules to large clusters, nanoparticles and biomolecules. We look at how the instrument has developed during the past year, how important collaboration has been for the success of SQS so far, and what lies ahead.
>Read more on the European XFEL website
Image: SQS scientist Rebecca Boll makes final adjustments on the AQS experiment station before the first users arrive at the end of 2018.
Credit: European XFEL
A short video by the team shows how proteins in solution can be crystallised directly onto the new sample holders themselves, then analysed using the MX beamlines at BESSY II. A patent has already been granted and a manufacturer found. Proteins are huge molecules that often have complex three-dimensional structure and morphology that can include side chains, folds, and twists. This three-dimensional shape is often the determining factor of their function in organisms. It is therefore important to understand the structure of proteins both for fundamental research in biology and for the development of new drugs. To accomplish this, proteins are first precipitated from solution as tiny crystals, then analysed using facilities such as the MX beamlines at BESSY II in order to generate a computer image of the macromolecular structure from the data.
>Read more on the BESSY II at HZB website
Image: Up to three indivudal drops may be placed onto the sample holder.
Credit: HZB
The third user experiment period at European XFEL, which ran from November 2018, was successfully completed in June 2019. The X-ray beam was available for experiments for a total of 18 weeks. Twenty-eight user experiments were carried out at all six instruments, and 599 users were welcomed to the facility.
While only two instruments were operational at the beginning of the run, a further four started operation during the period, so that all six instruments were operational by the end of the run. Many other systems also had to first be prepared so that everything worked together. This included the accelerator and electron beam system, which could distribute the beam on demand to the different light sources. Other systems that were optimized to reach the goal of parallel operation of all three beamlines included the X-ray optics and diagnostic systems in the tunnels, elements at the instruments themselves that deal with the X-ray beam and specimen delivery, detectors, and software and data storage systems.
>Read more on the European XFEL website
Picture: The MID experiment station was one of the four to begin user operation during user run 3.
Credit: European XFEL / Jan Hosan
The first experiments have now started at the instrument for High Energy Density (HED) experiments. HED is the sixth and thereby last instrument of European XFEL’s current design configuration to start user operation. With six instruments on three SASE beamlines operational, European XFEL now has the capacity to host three times as many user experiments as compared to when operation began in 2017.
HED combines hard X-ray FEL radiation and the capability to generate matter under extreme conditions of pressure, temperature or electric field. HED will be used for studies of matter occurring inside exoplanets, of new extreme-pressure phases and solid-density plasmas, and of structural phase transitions of complex solids in high magnetic fields. The HED instrument is built in close collaboration with the HiBEF consortium led by Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR).
Next operation goals involve further increasing the capabilities and experiment portfolio of the instruments, increasing the amount of beamtime available for users at the six instruments and achieving successful parallel user operation of all three SASE beamlines. Parallel user operation is expected to start later this year.
>Read more on the European XFEL website
Image: The first users at the HED instrument.
Credit: European XFEL
This group forms an educational and innovative collaborative materials research effort to bring together a diverse and talented scientific community with experience and expertise in electro-chemistry, solid-state and inorganic chemistry, and synchrotron-based techniques to character energy materials in operando conditions at CHESS.
The students have become an integral part of the team building out and commissioning new X-ray beamlines at the upgraded CHESS facility. New to them was learning good ultra-high vacuum (UHV) practices, using tools like torque wrenches to set vacuum seals, and using an RGA to find chemical contamination in optics boxes (“was really interesting!”). They have also studied the design of beamline components in each sector: apertures, safety bricks and power filters required to deliver X-rays to experimental hutches.
Melissa’s favorite activity was assembling components for Sector 4 X-ray monochromator. “It is like a puzzle to solve. There are many different plates and bolts and it is a real challenge to assemble based on the 3D CADmodel. There is a correct order to do things. It was fun to install water cooled components in the vacuum chamber,” she says.
>Read more on the CHESS website
Image: Brenda, Joesene, Melissa, and Alan Pauling (right) of CHESS proudly display their ultra-high vacuum assembly and installation in the Sector 2 cave of the new CHESS beamline. The students have worked hand-in-hand with CHESS staff to assemble, test and prepare the X-ray beampipes in three different sectors of CHESS.
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin is building an APPLE II undulator for the SESAME synchrotron light source in Jordan. The undulator will be used at the Helmholtz SESAME beamline (HESEB) that will be set up there by five Helmholtz Centres. The Helmholtz Association is investing 3.5 million euros in this project coordinated by DESY.
SESAME stands for “Synchrotron Light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East” and provides brilliant X-ray light for research purposes. The third-generation synchrotron radiation source became operational in 2017. Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, Turkey, and Cyprus are cooperating on this unique project to provide scientists from the Middle East with access to one of the most versatile tools for research.
New beamline for soft x-rays
Thus far, SESAME has four beamlines and will now receive a fifth meant to generate “soft” X-ray light in the energy range between 70 eV and 1800 eV. This X-ray light is particularly suitable for investigating surfaces and interfaces of various materials, for observing certain chemical and electronic processes, and for non-destructive analysis of cultural artefacts. The new beamline will be constructed as the Helmholtz SESAME Beamline (HESEB) by the Helmholtz Centres DESY (coordinating Centre), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) as well as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
>Read more on the Bessy II at HZB website
Image: The APPLE II UE56 double undulator generates brilliant light with variable polarization.
Credit: HZB
The work has immense global significance for biofuels production and biotechnology. This beamline marks the completion of Diamond’s original Phase III funding on time and within budget.
First users have now been welcomed by Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron light source on its new VMXm beamline. The Versatile Macromolecular Crystallography micro/nanofocus (VMXm) beamline becomes the 32nd operational beamline to open its doors to users, completing the portfolio of seven beamlines dedicated to macromolecular crystallography.
The unique VMXm beamline represents a significant landmark for Diamond. It is a specialist tuneable micro/nanofocus macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamline, with an X-ray beam size of less than 0.5 microns, allowing even the tiniest of samples to be analysed. Integrated into the ‘in vacuum’ sample environment is a scanning electron microscope, making VMXm a hybrid X-ray/cryoEM instrument for detecting and measuring data from nanocrystals. VMXm is aimed at research applications where the production of significant quantities of protein and crystals is difficult.
>Read more on the Diamond Light Source website
Image: Principal Beamline Scientist Dr Gwyndaf Evans with his team Dr Jose Trincao, Dr Anna Warren, Dr Emma Beale and Dr Adam Crawshaw. First users – Dr Ivo Tews from Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton and joint Diamond-Southampton PhD student Rachel Bolton investigating proteins involved in nutrient uptake of photosynthetic or cyanobacteria.
During the afternoon and evening hours of Friday 5 October, the DESY accelerator team and the European XFEL photon commissioning team worked together to guide the first X-ray light through the last of the facility’s initial three X-ray beamlines, SASE2, and towards the last of the currently planned European XFEL instruments, the High Energy Density (HED) and Materials Imaging and Dynamics (MID) instruments.
At about midday on Friday, the X-ray light entered the photon tunnel leading to the SASE 2 instruments. To get there, the beam had to pass through a 12 mm horizontal aperture of the shutter collimator about 264 m from the source. In order to make this possible, alignment and vacuum system experts from the DESY accelerator group worked together during the last few months to precisely align the undulator section that generates X-ray laser light from accelerated electrons. This work was based on data obtained during the initial commissioning done in May 2018.
>Read more on the European XFEL website
Image: Screenshot of the first light.
