Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
ALS Director’s Update: Reflections on Our Past, Present, and Future
We are looking forward to an exciting and productive year at the ALS, with plans for new beamlines and capabilities coming online, and more users taking advantage of our technical and scientific expertise to produce a record number publications. At the ALS, we are encouraged by this year’s funding and are looking for new ways to focus on our core strengths while expanding partnerships to explore new opportunities. Read more…
Using soft x-ray ptychography, researchers at the ALS have demonstrated the highest-resolution x-ray microscopy ever achieved by imaging five-nanometer structures. The researchers used ptychographic imaging to map the chemical composition of lithium iron phosphate nanocrystals, yielding important new insights into a material of high interest for electrochemical energy storage. Read more…
Brain Receptor Structures Key to Future Therapeutics
Neurotransmitter receptor proteins are critical to learning and memory. Mutations are associated with many neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions including Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and autism. Multiple structures of two such receptors, solved by x-ray crystallography at the ALS, provide a blueprint for the development of potential therapeutics. Read more…
Unnoticed by everyone but its hardworking science writers, the ALS Communications Group published its 300th science highlight in November 2014. Group members would like to thank all the scientists that contribute papers, the beamline scientists that recommend highlights, and the selection committee that prioritizes and chooses. A full list of highlights (web version, handout, slides, and associated beamlines) can be found on the Summary Slides web page. Highlights can also be found by Research Area.
ALS Beamline Scientists Elke Arenholz and Jinghua Guo have become new APS Fellows in the Division of Materials Physics in recognition of their outstanding contributions to x-ray science. Their awards citations are as follows:
Elke Arenholz: “For developing and applying advanced soft x-ray instrumentation to achieve seminal advances in understanding magnetic materials and thin films.”
Jinghua Guo: “For pioneering soft x-ray spectroscopic studies of correlated solids, nano-scaled materials, and liquid phase systems.”
Industry@ALS: New ALS Technique Guides IBM in Next-Generation Semiconductor Development
A new measurement technique developed at the ALS is helping guide the semiconductor industry in next-generation nanopatterning techniques. NIST and IBM researchers collaborated on the technique, which allows scientists to evaluate the 3D buried features inside a film. The ALS is currently the only place in the world that has such capability. Read more…
Our Youngest Users Enter ALS-Related Videos in Crystallography Contest
It’s Back! The ALS Science Café Returns February 4
After a not-so-brief hiatus, the ALS Science Café is kicking off the new year with an exciting program featuring speakers from Cyclotron Road, Berkeley Lab’s new early-stage energy technology incubation program. Speakers Dan Riley and Jared Schwede will talk about their project, “Direct heat to electricity conversion using thermionics,” at 12 noon in the User Support Building, 15-253. All are welcome. Read more about the speakers and the Cyclotron Road project.
2015 ALS Users’ Executive Committee Update
Meet the members of the 2015 ALS Users’ Executive Committee.
From left, back row: Alessandro Sepe, Monica Blum, Scott Classen, Andreas Scholl, Chris Cappa (chair), Peter Nico, William Chueh, and Michael Makowski (student representative).
Front row: Tanja Cuk, Tyler Troy, David Shuh, and Brian Collins.
Not pictured: Artur Braun and Micky Holcomb.
For more information about the activities of the UEC and for representatives’ contact information, go to the committee’s website.
Operations Update
For the user runs from November 20, 2014, to January 18, 2015, the beam reliability [(time scheduled – time lost)/time scheduled)] was 98.9%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 100.0 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 84 minutes. There were no significant interruptions.
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
