Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Signal Speed in Nanomagnetic Logic Chains
A time-resolved x-ray imaging technique directly observes signal propagation dynamics in nanomagnetic logic (NML) chains. The technique can assess NML reliability on fast timescales and help optimize chain engineering for this promising ultralow-power computing architecture. Read more…
A technique newly available at the ALS has enabled the discovery of a surprising key event in photosynthetic systems. A protein shifting from an “orange” light-absorbing state to a “red” photoprotective state turns out to be an unanticipated molecular priming event in photoprotection. Read more…
Footprinting Technique Gives ALS Users New Insights
The x-ray footprinting (XFP) technique developed at ALS Beamline 5.3.1 gives researchers a powerful tool for the study of macromolecular structures and dynamics of proteins and nucleic acids in solution. Read more…
Ringleader: Ken Chow
As of August, a reorganization of ALS engineering has Engineering Lead Ken Chow overseeing all engineering tasks at the ALS, which includes magnetic and vacuum systems, mechanical engineering and technology, and electrical and controls engineering. Read more…
Wolfgang Eberhardt on Light Sources: Getting the Balance Right
Wolfgang Eberhardt, an internationally respected expert on synchrotrons, is wrapping up an extended visit to the ALS. Between experiments furthering our understanding of organic solar-cell materials, he discusses the relative merits of diffraction-limited storage rings (such as the proposed ALS upgrade, ALS-U) and free-electron laser facilites. Read more and watch the video…
2015 ALS User Meeting: October 5-7
This year’s User Meeting is set for Monday, October 5, through Wednesday, October 7. The ALS Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) and meeting organizers have collected a full complement of focused workshops to accompany the plenary sessions, speakers, student poster competition, and the annual awards banquet. Online registration closes on Sept 30, but conference attendees can also register in person at the meeting.
The ALS has updated its User Experiment Safety Process. The main change that will affect users is a new requirement to complete an Experiment Safety Sheet (ESS) for each visit and for each beamline. This is a change from current procedure where an ESS can be valid for up to one year and may cover more than one beamline. Read more…
An updated version of the ALS Strategic Plan, covering 2015-19, has now been posted online. As in the 2014-18 version, Section I gives a brief synopsis on beamline and endstation projects. The science drivers behind these projects are explained in greater detail in Section II, and a very brief description of emerging plans for ALS-U are in Section III.
For the user runs from June 18 to September 21, 2015, the beam reliability [(time scheduled – time lost)/time scheduled)] was 96.9%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 42.9 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 93 minutes. On September 2, a complex problem with the SR06C QF2 magnet resulted in the loss of approximately 12 hours of scheduled beam.
Detailed information on reliability is available on the ALS reliability bulletin board, which is located in the hallway between the ALS and the control room in Building 80. Questions about beam reliability should be directed to Dave Richardson (DBRichardson@lbl.gov, x4376).
ALS in the News
