by Cara Laasch and Cindy Lee
Three months after the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) hosted Advanced Light Source (ALS) staff to grow longstanding partnerships and build new connections, the two facilities swapped host and visitor roles. Not wanting to lose the momentum from the first trip, event organizers Dula Parkinson and Uta Ruett filled the ALS visit program with further discussion on a series of shared interests, ranging from research areas to innovative instrumentation.
The ALS staff were excited to show their counterparts around the facility, breaking into groups to tour and discuss:
- Soft X-Ray 1 (photoemission, magnetism), ALS Leads: Eli Rotenberg & Sujoy Roy
- Soft X-Ray 2, (resonant elastic and inelastic X-ray scattering, and discussion of BL 10-1), ALS Lead: Jinghua Guo
- Hard X-Ray diffraction, ALS Lead: Simon Teat
- Chemistry, Energy, Catalysis, ALS Lead: Ethan Crumlin
- Environmental Science, ALS Lead: Hans Bechtel
- Imaging, ALS Lead: David Shapiro
- Controls, ALS lead: Damon English
- Instrumentation, Sandbox beamlines: ALS Lead: Ken Goldberg
- Tour of ALS accelerator, ALS lead: Ina Reichel
While some SSRL staff are already familiar with the ALS, this was the first visit for others. It gave all the participants the opportunity to discuss shared challenges and build new collaborations for big ideas. Plans are underway for joint workshops addressing staff training on the latest technical developments and advancing scientific initiatives. SSRL has a track record of supporting other facilities and their user communities during upgrade times, and they look forward to working with the ALS during their upcoming dark time as well.