New SwissFEL soft X-ray endstation welcomes first users

Maloja is go. On Wednesday, 23rd March 2022, first user experiments began at the Maloja endstation, which enables explorations into atomic, molecular and optical physics and chemical dynamics. These user experiments mark a double first, not only for Maloja but also for the second, soft X-ray beamline of the SwissFEL, Athos.

Following two years of tireless development, Maloja is beginning to yield its scientific fruits. Developed in parallel with soft X-ray beamline Athos, Maloja is the first endstation to be up and running, and takes advantage of advanced beam parameters, namely, very short pulses, two colour pulses and pump-probe experiments. A key feature of the Maloja endstation is its modular nature, enabling straightforward exchange of chambers and tailoring to individual experimental requirements.

“Because of its flexible design, a wide variety of investigations are possible at Maloja, such as time-resolved measurements of electronic structure changes, non-linear X-ray spectroscopy or research into gas-phase atoms or nanoparticles. I’m really excited to see the diverse science that future users will turn up with,” enthuses Kirsten Schnorr, lead scientist at the Maloja endstation.

Work began on the Maloja project in 2019, with the COVID pandemic striking a few months after first hardware deliveries. With staff working night shifts to create ‘time-dimensional social distancing’, in June 2020 first light entered the Maloja endstation. This heralded the beginning of commissioning experiments and a very close collaboration between the Maloja team and accelerator groups as, step-by-step, the teams developed not only the Maloja endstation, but also a whole new branch of the SwissFEL: Athos.

Read more on the PSI website

Image: Members of Nanostructures and Ultrafast X-ray Science Group, including Daniela Rupp and Mario Sauppe (3rd and 4th from L) together with the Maloja team and Christoph Bostedt (far R) during the beamtime

Credit: Alessandro Colombo

Lightsources.org virtual symposium recording

Lightsources.org was delighted to welcome over 500 attendees to our live virtual symposium to mark the 75th Anniversary of the first direct observation of synchrotron light in a laboratory. The event, which was chaired by Sandra Ribeiro, Chair of lightsources.org and Communications Advisor for the Canadian Light Source, was held on the 28th April 2022 and you can watch the recording via the YouTube link below.

We received some lovely feedback after the live event, including this comment from Jeffrey T Collins at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

 “I have worked at the Advanced Photon Source for over 32 years and I learned many things during this event that I never knew before.  It was quite informative.  I look forward to re-watching the entire event.”

Jeffrey T Collins, Mechanical Engineering & Design Group Leader at Argonne National Laboratory

The symposium began with a historical introduction from Roland Pease, freelance science broadcaster who has been an enthusiastic support of light sources for many years.

Roland’s talk was followed by experts from the field giving talks on their perspectives of synchrotron light related achievements that have been made since the 1st laboratory observation on the 24th April 1947.

Speakers were:

• Nobel Laureate Prof. Ada Yonath (Weizmann Institute of Science)

• Prof. Sir Richard Catlow (University College London)

• Prof. Henry Chapman (DESY)

• Dr Paul Tafforeau (ESRF)

• Dr Gihan Kamel (SESAME and member of the AfLS Executive Committee).

There followed a panel discussion with special guests who all made huge contributions to the development of the field. Our special guests were:

Herman Winick – Prof. of Applied Physics (Research) Emeritus at SLAC)

Ian Munro – Initiator of synchrotron radiation research at Daresbury Laboratory ,Warrington UK in 1970

Giorgio Margaritondo – one of the pioneers in the use of synchrotron radiation and free electron lasers

Gerd Materlik – former CEO of Diamond Light Source, the UK’s synchrotron science facility

Lightsources.org is hugely grateful to all the speakers, special guests and attendees who contributed to this event and made it such a special anniversary celebration for the light source community.

If you have any feedback or memories to share, please do contact Silvana Westbury, Project Manager, at webmaster@lightsources.org

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