record – Lightsources.org

X-rays shine again in the Experimental Hall

2020/01/302020/02/05

It’s a great achievement for the EBS project. Beamlines saw first EBS beam one month ahead of schedule.

30 January 2020, after reaching in the last two days stable operation conditions of the EBS storage ring at 100 mA injection current, 65% injection efficiency and stable and rapid vacuum conditioning, 26 out of 27 Insertion Device beamlines opened their front-end with 5 mA stored electron beam current.

The EBS X-ray beam – on all these beamlines, at distances from the source varying from 45 to 160 m, depending on the specific beamline – was found within fractions of millimetres from its position as measured in December 2018 before the start of the shutdown.

>Read more on the ESRF website

Record participation at user meetings of the Hamburg research light sources

2020/01/292020/02/10

More than 1300 participants from 28 countries have registered

For this year’s users’ meetings of the Hamburg X-ray light sources, more participants have registered than ever before: More than 1300 scientists from 28 countries will come to discuss research with DESY’s X-ray source PETRA III, the free-electron laser in Hamburg FLASH and the X-ray laser European XFEL for three days starting this Wednesday. The jointly organised users’ meetings of DESY and European XFEL are the largest gathering of this kind worldwide.

“The steadily increasing number of participants from Germany and abroad shows the great importance of the Hamburg research light sources for the national and international scientific community,” says DESY’s Director for Photon Science, Edgar Weckert. “Hamburg is one of the X-ray capitals of the world.” The brilliant X-ray light from the powerful particle accelerators provides detailed insights into the structure and dynamics of matter at the atomic level. It can be used, for example, to decipher the structure of biomolecules, illuminate innovative materials, film chemical reactions and simulate and study the conditions inside planets and stars.

At the European X-ray laser European XFEL, all six scientific experiment stations are in operation since June. “Our users’ experiences and expertise are crucial for shaping the future of our science and facility”, says European XFEL managing director Robert Feidenhans’l. “The annual users’ meeting, therefore, is an extremely valuable opportunity for users and scientists who work at our facilities to share their experiences of doing experiments at the instruments, and talk about ideas for further development.” In 2019, 890 scientists from 255 institutes in 28 countries participated in experiments at the facility.

> Please find here another article on the European XFEL website

Picture: The jointly organised users’ meetings are the largest gathering of this kind worldwide.
Credit: DESY, Marta Mayer

NSLS-II achieves design beam current of 500 milliamperes

2020/01/222020/01/30

Accelerator division enables new record current during studies.

The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory is a gigantic x-ray microscope that allows scientists to study the inner structure of all kinds of material and devices in real time under realistic operating conditions. The scientists using the machine are seeking answers to questions including how can we built longer lasting batteries; when life started on our planet; and what kinds of new materials can be used in quantum computers, along with many other questions in a wide variety of research fields.

The heart of the facility is a particle accelerator that circulates electrons at nearly the speed of light around the roughly half-a-mile-long ring. Steered by special magnets within the ring, the electrons generate ultrabright x-rays that enable scientists to address the broad spectrum of research at NSLS-II.

Now, the accelerator division at NSLS-II has reached a new milestone for machine performance. During recent accelerator studies, the team has been able to ramp up the machine to 500 milliamperes (mA) of current and to keep this current stable for more than six hours. Similar to a current in a river, the current in an accelerator is a measure of the number of electrons that circulate the ring at any given time. In NSLS-II’s case, a higher electron current opens the pathway to more intense x-rays for all the experiments happening at the facility.

Image: The NSLS-II accelerator division proudly gathered to celebrate their recent achievement. The screen above them shows the slow increase of the electron current in the NSLS-II storage ring and its stability.

NSRRC User, Jennifer Kung elected as a MSA Fellow

2017/11/282017/11/29

First female scientist ever awarded MSA fellowship in Asia.

NSRRC user, Jennifer Kung is among the 11 new elected fellows for 2018, announced by the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) Council at its Fall Council Meeting in Seattle, WA, USA. She is the only recipient from Taiwan, as well as the first female scientist ever awarded MSA fellowship in Asia.

Prof. Kung is an Associate Professor in Earth Science at National Cheng-Kung University. She runs “Mineral and Rock Physics Lab” to investigate the behaviors of earth materials under high pressure and high temperature using the knowledge of crystal chemistry, mineral physics to understand the interior of the Earth. The major research methods she employs include X-ray diffraction, vibrational spectroscopy and ultrasonic measurements in conjunction with high pressure facilities, like large volume high pressure apparatus or diamond anvil.

>Read More on the NSRRC website

10 out of 10

2017/10/102017/10/26

Diamond will have processed 10 petabytes of data over its 10 years of research and innovation.

Today, on the 10^th day of the 10^th month of the year, Diamond will have processed 10 petabytes of data over its 10 years of research and innovation. To put this into perspective, 10 petabytes (1 x 1016 bytes) is equivalent to over 2 million DVDs, 200 million four-draw filing cabinet filled with text, the entire memory of four human brains or 20,000 years of MP3 songs playing continuously.

Collected during experiments on over 30 beamlines and integrated facilities, in the past 10 years Diamond data has fostered breakthroughs in fields ranging from health, the environment and engineering to astrophysics and archaeology. And new beamlines, improved capabilities and growing numbers of users mean that Diamond is processing more data than ever before. In fact, Diamond’s Data Acquisition team processed almost 2 petabytes of data – a fifth of all data processed at Diamond during its working lifetime – in 2016 alone.

Record 30,000 publications for ESRF users

2017/10/022017/10/11

Working round the clock, the ESRF users have diligently collected every bit of useful data.

Every data that could help them to solve a problem or to better understand materials or living matter. They have a new record with 30,000 publications being reached in September 2017.

The users of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility have published 30,000 publications in peer-reviewed journals since the facility first opened its doors in 1994. The publications included many breakthroughs that were achieved with ESRF data, such as the discovery of the structure of the ribosome that led to a Nobel prize shared by two of our users.

These 30,000 publications reflect the scientific vibrancy of our user community. Since 1994, ESRF users from all over the world, from different cultures and disciplines, have worked together to push back the frontiers of science, unlocking the secrets of materials and living matter. All the inventive research carried out at the ESRF propagates to society and boosts the scientific cultures, the economies and the competitiveness of the ESRF member states and beyond.

>Read More