Deputy Director for Science ALS Deputy Director for Science Bob Schoenlein oversees all things science-related at the ALS. See how his work keeps ALS science research running.Read the Article
Announcements
Science Café The next ALS Science Caféwill be held on Friday July 9 in Perseverance Hall. Come listen to researchers discuss their most recent work in energy and technology.
Join ALS Facebook
After several months, the Advanced Light Source Facebook fan page is thriving with over 180 fans! Become a fan! Stay up to date with news, event notices, and science highlights, and help us reach our goal of 300 fans by August 1. Also check out our twitter, YouTube and FlickR sites.
Guest House Special
Visiting Berkeley Lab? Book accommodations at the new Berkeley Lab Guest House located on site. The current special features discounted rates, no occupancy tax, and free parking; visit the Web site for more information.
An international team of scientists performing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments at ALS Beamline 7.0.1 have found that composite particles called plasmarons play a vital role in determining graphene’s properties. A plasmaron consists of a charge carrier (electron or hole) coupled with a plasmon-an electron density wave. Although plasmarons were proposed theoretically in the late 1960s, and indirect evidence of them has been found, this work is the first observation of their distinct energy bands in graphene, or indeed in any material. The discovery may hasten the day when graphene can be used for “plasmonics” to build ultrafast computers-perhaps even room-temperature quantum computers-plus a wide range of other tools and applications. Read Full Highlight
Site-Selective Ionization in Nanoclusters Affects Subsequent Fragmentation
Understanding charge-transfer processes at the atomic level of nanoscale systems is of the utmost importance for designing nanodevices based on quantum-dot structures, nanotubes, or two-dimensional graphene sheets. Researchers from Western Michigan University, Berkeley Lab, and other international research facilities investigated charge-transfer processes and subsequent ion fragmentation dynamics in nanoclusters composed of argon (Ar) shells and xenon (Xe) cores. The clusters were site-selectively ionized (i.e, ionization took place either in the xenon core or in the argon shell). Using a high-resolution photoelectron-ion coincidence technique at ALS Beamlines 10.0.1 and 11.0.2 , the researchers concluded that charge-transfer processes and fragmentation dynamics are strongly influenced by the environment of the initially ionized atoms. Read Full Highlight
Call for General User Proposals and Beam Time Requests: Deadline July 15
The User Services Office is accepting new general user proposals from scientists who wish to conduct research at the ALS in the next cycle.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE for general sciences beamlines: Cycle: January-June 2011 Deadline: July 15, 2010
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE for structural biology/biological SAXS beamlines: Cycle: September-October 2010 Deadline: July 15, 2010
NEW PROPOSALS: Complete the appropriate online form to submit a new proposal.
ACTIVE PROPOSALS and BEAM TIME REQUESTS: Proposals for general sciences beamlines are considered active for two years, or until the total shifts requested in the proposal have been used. If you have an active proposal for which you would like to request beam time during the January-June 2011 cycle, please submit a
The proposal form now includes a section on publications from previous ALS work. The publications will be pre-filled automatically from the ALS publication database by searching for the principal investigator’s name. Please make sure your publications are entered into our database before you submit a new proposal.
Core Shell Spectroscopy Conference The First North American Core Shell Spectroscopy Conference is to be held jointly with the 59th Denver X-Ray Conference from August 2-6, 2010, at the Denver Marriott Tech Center Hotel in Denver, CO.
The conference will feature a special symposium and dinner honoring Prof. Edward A. Stern’s contributions to the field of XAFS. Registration prices increase July 1. For more information, visit their Web site.
Operations Update
For the user runs from May 13 to May 30, 2010, the beam reliability [(time scheduled – time lost)/time scheduled)] was 92.7%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 40.6 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 200 minutes. On May 22, the SR gradient magnet tripped off. This was followed by a breaker failure and the related failure of a number of other power supplies. Over 17 hours of user beam time was lost to this series of faults.
More 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 Management is proposing a change in the policy that currently allows certain users to work in the ALS Users’ Machine Shop. The new policy would not allow users to work in the shop. The proposed new policy can be viewed by clicking here.
How will this change affect you and your research at the ALS? The UEC would like to hear from you. Please contact David Osborn with your comments.
The UEC members are your representatives to the ALS Management. All users are welcome to contact their UEC representatives to raise issues of concern about their own research, or to alert us to issues facing our entire community.
