Two Studies Reveal Details of Lithium-Battery Function
Our way of life is deeply intertwined with battery technologies that have enabled a mobile revolution. In two studies at the ALS, researchers studied lithium batteries, obtaining detailed information about the evolution of electronic and chemical states that will be indispensable for building better batteries.Read more…
Bimetallic cobalt-platinum (CoPt) nanoparticles are drawing attention in many areas of catalysis as scientists tackle the quest to reduce precious metal content while maintaining optimum catalytic reactivity. Read more…
At last month’s 20th Anniversary kick-off celebration brunch (see photos), staff and users voted on a logo and here it is–a combination of the crowd favorites. Look for this logo in ALSNews and on the Web site all year long for special event announcements and other surprises to celebrate the ALS turning 20!
Ring Leader: Steve Kevan, ALS Deputy Division Director for Science
From the early planning stages of the ALS to becoming a longtime user and advisor over the years, current ALS Deputy Division Director for Science Steve Kevan has seen the ALS through new beamlines, people, and areas of scientific research. In his new role, Kevan is focusing on career development and collaborative opportunities for scientists. Read more…
Winter 2013 Shutdown Update
The winter 2013 shutdown is well underway here at the ALS. We’ve set up a page to keep track of some of the exciting things going on around the ring. Read more about the sextupole upgrade to increase beam brightness, why cold heads are replaced in the superbend magnets, the upgrades to Sector 7, and the replacement of the klystron power supply. You can also watch some video clips of the riggers using cranes to move big equipment. Read the article.
Industry @ ALS: Crystallographic Consulting Brings Research to ALS
Drug companies often need access to light sources like the ALS to determine protein structures quickly and efficiently. Having independent experts, experienced on structural biology beamlines, who can bring samples and run them at the ALS is an excellent way to accomplish this. That is where Crystallography Consulting steps in. Read the article.
Berkeley Lab Intern Honored in Intel Science Talent Search
A New York high school student who wrote a research paper based on her work as a Berkeley Lab Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) intern this past summer has been named one of 300 semifinalists in the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search. Chloe Wang, a 16-year-old Dobbs Ferry High School student, spent six weeks in the CSD and at the ALS preparing experiments. Read more…
Top-Off Mode Performance: Calendar Year 2012 vs Historic Averages
The ALS began operating in top-off mode on February 11, 2009. After four years of top-off mode operations, we can compare our performance in the most recently completed calendar year to our overall performance in the four years we’ve been operating in top-off mode. “Reliability” is a measurement of user hours delivered over user hours scheduled. Our 2012 reliability of 96.6% is quite close to our top-off mode historic average of 96.5%. On average (in hours), how often is user beam unexpectedly interrupted? Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) gives us the answer. In 2012, a MTBF of 40.4 hours is an improvement over our top-off mode historic average of 36.9 hours. Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) is how long (in minutes) it takes to return beam to users when it is unexpectedly interrupted. The MTTR of 94 minutes in 2012 is slightly longer than our top-off mode historic average of 85 minutes.
As we move beyond four years of top-off mode operation, we continue our fault analysis of all subsystems at the ALS to improve all three of these performance metrics. Ideas from the user community are always most welcome. Contact David Richardson at DBRichardson@lbl.gov.
Events
ALS Science Café, Thursday, April 25, User Support Building, R15-253
28th Meeting of the European Crystallographic Association ECM28
August 25-29, 2013 at University of Warwick, United Kingdom
UEC Corner
Seeking Your Input on Pseudo Single-Bunch Mode
We on the UEC are very interested in hearing from users on all issues related to their research and beamtime at the ALS. One of the current topics of discussion within the UEC is the use of pseudo single-bunch mode and how it compares to two-bunch mode. Please send any thoughts on this topic or any other topic of concern to the UEC (www.alsuec.org).
Our next meeting will be in May, and we welcome all suggestions for the agenda. The 2013 User Meeting will be held October 7-9 and will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the ALS. The meeting co-chairs are Scott Classen and Peter Nico. It’s never too early to send them ideas for speakers and workshops.
For the user runs from January 7 to February 3, 2013, the beam reliability [(time scheduled – time lost)/time scheduled)] was 98.2%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 40.9 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 51 minutes. There were no significant interruptions. The extended shutdown for upgrade and maintenance began on February 3. User operations are scheduled to resume on Monday, April 8. Read more about the shutdown.
At last month’s 20th Anniversary kick-off celebration brunch (
From the early planning stages of the ALS to becoming a longtime user and advisor over the years, current ALS Deputy Division Director for Science Steve Kevan has seen the ALS through new beamlines, people, and areas of scientific research. In his new role, Kevan is focusing on career development and collaborative opportunities for scientists. 
The winter 2013 shutdown is well underway here at the ALS. We’ve set up a page to keep track of some of the exciting things going on around the ring. 
A New York high school student who wrote a research paper based on her work as a Berkeley Lab Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) intern this past summer has been named one of 300 semifinalists in the 
