Monthly Newsletter of the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
New Catalyst Boosts Selective Formation of Olefins from Syngas
Experiments at the ALS have helped to explain how a new catalyst significantly boosts the selective formation of light olefin molecules—important building blocks in the petrochemical industry—from syngas. The new process could allow for the use of alternative syngas feedstocks that save water and energy.Read more…
SINS Reveals Dopant Effects in Plasmonic Materials
Using synchrotron infrared nanospectroscopy (SINS) at the ALS, researchers have for the first time probed infrared plasmonic excitations in single nanocrystals. This allowed the pinpointing of dopant effects on an emerging class of materials with potential for molecular-sensing and energy-harvesting applications.Read more…
Improving Alloy Memory by Tuning Material Composition
Shape memory alloys can “remember” their original form and return to it repeatedly when heated. To gain structural insight into a new alloy capable of sustaining hundreds of thousands of cycles without failure, researchers performed x-ray Laue microdiffraction at ALS Beamline 12.3.2.Read more…
Validation of Novel Proteins Inspired by Nature
Designed proteins containing hydrogen-bonding modules have been validated by crystallography and SAXS. The ability to design synthetic molecules that combine the specificity of DNA-like binding with protein function opens up huge opportunities for the fields of synthetic biology and materials science.Read more…
A Cleansing Rain Falls; a Soil-Filled Mist Arises
Rain’s reputation for cleansing the air may come with a caveat after new findings, including STXM and NEXAFS data, show that raindrops play a role in generating airborne organic particles. The findings could influence how scientists model our planet’s climate and future.Read more…
SHARP: A “Killer App” for Ptychography
A joint collaboration between the Advanced Light Source (ALS), Uppsala University, and researchers at the Center for Advanced Mathematics for Energy Research Applications (CAMERA) has led to SHARP (Scalable Heterogeneous Adaptive Real-time Ptychography), which is an algorithmic framework and computer software for the fast reconstruction of images from ptychographic data used at the ALS. Read more…
Ringleader: Tom Scarvie, Operations Supervisor
Tom Scarvie oversees accelerator operations at the ALS, working with both accelerator and floor operators to make sure that the machine is running well and beamline work is done safely and according to policy. The operators strive to make sure the ALS is running reliably and at top quality all the time, which is no small feat. Scarvie also serves on the ALS Beamline Review committee and chairs the Accelerator Review Committee. Read more…
Reminder: 2016 ALS User Meeting Award Nominations Due Aug. 12
Consider preparing a nomination for a deserving colleague or group of individuals for one of the three ALS User Meeting awards. In addition to the award plaque, there will be a cash prize associated with each award. The winner of the Shirley award will deliver a talk on their work at the ALS User Meeting, October 3-5, 2016. Nominations, which are judged by the Users’ Executive Committee, will remain active for three years, with nominators being allowed to update their nomination prior to each competition. More information on the awards and nomination process is available here.
The User Office is accepting new General User Proposals (GUPs) from scientists who wish to conduct research at the ALS during the 2017-1 Jan-Jun cycle. Users are reminded that they need to have an ALSHub account to submit proposals and that creating an account may take 1-2 business days. As well, each user is now required to input his or her ORCID ID when submitting a new GUP. For more information about how to apply for beam time and proposal writing guidelines, follow the link to Apply for Beamtime in the User Guide.
DOE Office of Science Director Cherry Murray Visits the ALS
Dr. Murray converses with ALS Science Deputy Steve Kevan.Beamline scientist Ethan Crumlin describes his work.
See more pictures from Dr. Murray’s visit here. (Photos by Paul Mueller)
ALS Scientists at the American Crystallographic Association Meeting
From L to R: Christine Beavers, Simon Morton, Diane Bryant, Stacey Ortega, Jay Nix, and Corie Ralston.ALS booth, decked out in style, at the ACA meeting.
Operations Update
For the user runs from June 28 to July 25, 2016, the beam reliability [(time scheduled – time lost)/time scheduled)] was 95.9%. For this period, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was 58.2 hours, and the mean time to recovery (MTTR) was 161 minutes. Two significant failures occured during this time period: 1) the failure of a fan motor in the SRRF VVT cabinet on July 2 resulted in the loss of 7.1 hours of beam time, 2) the failure of a power supply in the Linac Sub-Harmonic Buncher Low Level Chassis on July 16 resulted in beam instability and the loss of 10.9 hours of user 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
