Seminars

In synchrotron macromolecular and small molecule crystallography, SAXS, and protein footprinting experiments, the effects of radiation damage to the sample during the measurement can adversely affect the integrity of the results. The fundamental metric against which indicators of radiation damage are plotted is the dose, the energy absorbed per unit mass of the sample. The dose can be estimated from knowledge of the beam characteristics (energy, flux, size, intensity profile) and the atomic contents of the sample (and solvent composition), which allows the amount of x-ray absorption to be calculated. Once the dose has been estimated, data collection conditions can be adjusted to ensure that the results will not be compromised by radiation damage.

The program RADDOSE permitted the dose to be computed, but was not designed to take into account the rotation of the sample in the beam, since it was instigated when beams were usually larger than most crystals. The code reported the maximum dose absorbed, which was usually at the centre of the sample if a beam with a Gaussian profile was being used. This dose could be much larger than the average dose absorbed by the irradiated volume of the crystal. To address these issues, we have written software for temporally and spatially resolved modelling of absorbed dose [1], RADDOSE-3D [www.raddo.se] for particular data strategies. We also introduced and validated a new dose metric, Diffraction Weighted Dose, DWD [2], which combines information from the aggregation of dose within each volume element of the crystal up to a given time, with the way the crystal is being exposed at that moment. The resulting dose value is lower than the maximum dose experienced by localised volumes of the crystal, but DWD more realistically represents the damage state of the crystal during the experiment. However, it is still not ideal, a fact that will be discussed in this talk.

Further developments to RADDOSE-3D have been implemented to make it appropriate for estimating doses absorbed in small molecule crystallography [3] and SAXS [4] experiments, as well as by micro and nano-crystals [7] now used at synchrotrons and XFELS [6]. The code takes into account the energy carried away by photoelectrons which escape from these small crystals as well as that entering from irradiated solvent around them. Very recently we have written a GUI to allow RADDOSE-3D to be used conveniently by experimenters at synchrotron beamlines.

References: [1] O. B Zeldin, M. Gerstel & E.F. Garman (2013) Optimising the spatial distribution of dose in X-ray macromolecular crystallography. J. Synchrotron Radiation 20, 49–57 [2] O. B. Zeldin, S. Brockhauser, J. Bremridge, J. Holton & E.F. Garman (2013) Predicting the X-ray lifetime of protein crystals. PNAS 110, 20551-20556 [3] J. Christensen, P.N. Horton, C.S. Bury, J.L. Dickerson, H. Taberman, E.F. Garman*, & S.J. Coles* (2019) Radiation damage in small molecule crystallography: fact not fiction IUCrJ 6, 703–713 [4] J.C. Brooks-Bartlett, R.A. Batters, C.S. Bury, E.D. Lowe, H.M. Ginn, A. Round & E.F. Garman. (2017) Development of tools to automate quantitative analysis of radiation damage in SAXS experiments. J. Synchrotron Radiation 24, 63–72 [5] J.L. Dickerson &E.F. Garman. (2021) Doses for experiments with microbeams and microcrystals :Monte Carlo simulations in RADDOSE-3D. Protein Science. 30, 8–19 [6] J.L. Dickerson, P.T.N. McCubbin & E.F. Garman (2020) RADDOSE-XFEL : femtosecond time-resolved dose estimates for macromolecular X-ray free-electron laser experiments. J. Appl. Cryst. 53, 549–560

Elspeth Garman started her working life aged 18 as a volunteer teacher in Swaziland, Southern Africa. Following a degree in Physics at Durham University, she did a D.Phil (PhD) in Experimental Nuclear Structure Physics at Oxford University. After seven years as a Nuclear Physics Research Officer and Physics Tutor, she changed fields to protein crystallography. Her main research interests are in improving methods for structural biology, including establishing cryocooling protocols and metrics for assessing radiation damage in x-ray crystallography as well as applying proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) techniques to unambiguously identify metals in proteins. She was President of the British Crystallographic Association from 2009–2012 and Director of the Life Sciences Interface and then Systems Biology EPSRC Doctoral Training Centres at Oxford from 2009–2014, was awarded the European Crystallographic Association’s Max Perutz Prize in 2019, and is Professor of Molecular Biophysics at Oxford University.

Chemical synthesis is responsible for significant emissions of carbon dioxide worldwide. These emissions arise not only due to the energy requirements of chemical synthesis, but since hydrocarbon feedstocks can be overoxidized or used as hydrogen sources. Using renewable electricity to drive chemical synthesis may provide a route to overcoming these challenges, enabling synthetic routes which operate at benign conditions and utilize sustainable inputs. We are developing an electrosynthetic toolkit in which distributed feedstocks, including carbon dioxide, dinitrogen, water, and renewable electricity, can be converted into diverse fuels, chemicals, and materials.

In this presentation, we will first share recent advances made in our laboratory on nitrogen fixation to synthesize ammonia at ambient conditions. Specifically, our lab has investigated a continuous lithium-mediated approach to ammonia synthesis and understood the reaction network that controls selectivity. We have developed non-aqueous gas-diffusion electrodes which lead to high rates of ammonia synthesis at ambient conditions. Then, we will discuss how water can be used as a sustainable oxygen-atom source and how carbon dioxide can be used to achieve carbon chain extension. These findings will be discussed in the context of a broader range of electrosynthetic transformations which could lead to local and on-demand production of critical chemicals and materials.

Karthish Manthiram is a Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech. The Manthiram Lab is focused on the molecular engineering of electrocatalysts for the synthesis of organic molecules, including pharmaceuticals, fuels, and commodity chemicals, using renewable feedstocks. Karthish received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in 2010 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 2015. After a one-year postdoc at the California Institute of Technology, he joined MIT as an Assistant Professor in 2017. In 2021, he moved to Caltech as a Full Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Karthish’s research has been recognized with several awards, including the DOE Early Career Award, NSF CAREER Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers 35 Under 35, American Chemical Society PRF New Investigator Award, Dan Cubicciotti Award of the Electrochemical Society, and Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science. Karthish’s teaching has been recognized with the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, C. Michael Mohr Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, the MIT Chemical Engineering Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, and the MIT Teaching with Digital Technology Award. He serves on the Early Career Advisory Board for ACS Catalysis and on the Advisory Board for Trends in Chemistry.

Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPAs), see Refs. [1-2], offer an attractive technology towards production of short (few-fs) and energetic (GeV-class) electron beams. The high-quality LPA e-beam production has spurred the development of unique radiation sources, enabling compactness [3-4] (due to the high accelerating gradient in the plasma), few-fs radiation pulse lengths (from the high-current ultra-short electron bunches), and intrinsic femtosecond synchronization to the drive laser and its secondary products. More specifically, a path towards driving a free-electron laser with LPA electron beams is under investigation at multiple laboratories world-wide, including at LBNL’s BELLA Center. An overview of our efforts will be presented.

In parallel to direct compact drivers of light sources, LPAs could also play a critical role as next-generation high-brightness injector for conventional (radio-frequency based) light sources. The rapid injection and ultra-relativistic acceleration inside the plasma environment has the potential to keep the generated high-current electron beam shielded from emittance degradation effects. Therefore, LPAs are being considered to drive future light sources when coupled to conventional accelerator architecture. Basic concepts will be discussed.

Acknowledgement: this work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, and by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation under Grant ID GBMF4898.

[1]  T. Tajima and J. M. Dawson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 1979, 43, 267

[2]  E. Esarey, C. B. Schroeder, and W. P. Leemans, Rev. Modern Phys. 2009, 81, 1229

[3]  T. Gonsalves et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 2019, 122, 084801

[4]  S. K. Barber et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 2020, 116, 234108

Jeroen van Tilborg is a staff scientist and the Deputy Director for Experiments in the BELLA Center at LBNL. He joined the group in 2009, with research interests covering ultra-intense laser-matter interactions and associated particle and photon production. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2006, in collaboration with LBNL, for which the APS Division of Physics of Beams awarded him the outstanding thesis award. In 2016 he was granted a DOE Early Career Research Proposal grant, in conjunction with equipment support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, to make significant advances towards a compact free-electron laser (FEL) based on laser-plasma accelerators (LPAs).

Paul Dauenhauer received a bachelor of science in chemical engineering and chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2004, and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2008, where he was awarded a University Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. His thesis on the reactive flash volatilization of carbohydrates for millisecond reforming of biomass was supervised by Professor Lanny D. Schmidt. From 2008 to 2009, Paul worked as a senior research engineer for the Dow Chemical Company within Core R&D Reaction Engineering in Midland, MI and the Hydrocarbons & Energy Department in Freeport, TX. In 2009, he joined the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Department of Chemical Engineering as an assistant professor. He is currently the Lanny & Charlotte Schmidt Professor and MacArthur Fellow at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

Jennifer Doudna, PhD is a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley. Her groundbreaking development of CRISPR-Cas9 — a genome engineering technology that allows researchers to edit DNA — with collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier earned the two the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and forever changed the course of human and agricultural genomics research. She is also the founder and President of the Innovative Genomics Institute, the Li Ka Shing chancellor’s chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences, and a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Gladstone Institutes, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a leader in the global public debate on the responsible use of CRISPR and has co-founded and serves on the advisory panel of several companies that use the technology in unique ways. Doudna is the co-author of “A Crack in Creation,” a personal account of her research and the societal and ethical implications of gene editing.

I will discuss how coherent electromagnetic radiation at Tera-Hertz frequencies can be used to drive quantum solids periodically, leading to non-equilibrium magnetic, ferroelectric and superconducting phases. These ordering phenomena are sometimes observed at temperatures higher than the thermodynamic transition temperatures, due to induced synchronization between otherwise incoherent fluctuations.

Andrea Cavalleri is the Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter and a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. Before joining the Oxford faculty and becoming a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society, he was a Scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at LBNL. He is best known for his studies of photo-induced phase transition in strongly correlated electron systems and especially for his work aimed at amplifying functional properties of quantum materials at high temperatures. He has also been active in the general area of femtosecond x-ray science, and has worked with probes generated on tabletops, at synchrotrons and using X-Ray Free Electron Lasers. Cavalleri is a recipient of the Max Born Medal of the IoP and of the Isakson Prize of the APS.

Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D. is the incoming President and CEO of the nonprofit La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Her research explains, at the molecular level, how and why viruses are pathogenic and provides the roadmap for medical defense.  She is best known as the galvanizing force behind the Viral  Immunotherapeutic Consortium and Coronavirus Immunotherapeutic Consortium. These international efforts have united dozens of previously competing academic, industrial and government labs across five continents to understand and provide antibody therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and other viruses.  In all these endeavours, she has used molecular insight to bring together scientists and policymakers alike for scientific advancement and social change.

Dr. Saphire’s work has been recognized at the White House with the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, with young investigator awards from the International Congress of Antiviral Research, the American Society for Microbiology, and the MRC Centre for Virus Research in the United Kingdom. She has also been recognized with an Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and by the Surhain Sidhu award for the most outstanding contribution to the field of diffraction by a person within five years of the Ph.D. She has been awarded a Fulbright Global Scholar fellowship from the United States Department of State and a Mercator Fellowship from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, to develop international collaborations around human health and molecular imaging through cryoelectron microscopy and was the 2021 Scientist of the Year of the ARCS Foundation San Diego.

The evolution of local chemistry determines the performance of electrodes and electrolytes used in batteries because limitations can be tracked to slow kinetics and transport, and irreversibilities in the storage reaction. Tools that provide insight into local chemistry are critical for identifying the underpinnings of electrochemical function. This information must be resolved within architectures, from individual particles to microscale domains, to pinpoint the relationship between local phenomena and their role in macroscopic metrics and degradation. Technical developments in X-ray microscopy and mapping have built a flexible suite of tools that the desired spatial resolution and 3D capabilities with a suite of possible contrasts mechanisms, such as diffraction and spectroscopy. In this talk, we will discuss our recent research that demonstrates the diversity of length scales at which important chemical heterogenity can be induced in battery electrodes. While the focus will be on established Li-ion systems, examples of batteries based on Mg will also be discussed. we will highlight the new fundamental insight generated by the tools, including the prospects of probing time-resolved phenomena using operando measurements. These measurements avoid relaxation of components from the kinetically controlled functional state to one that is more stable under open circuit conditions. The mechanisms of transformation will be related to their impact on material and architecture properties. I will also provide a glimpse into the future by showing how emerging synchrotron techniques can enhance the impact of X-ray microscopy in fundamental battery science.

Jordi Cabana is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to his appointment at UIC, he was a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA), from 2008 until 2013. Prof. Cabana completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (Spain) in 2004, and worked in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University (USA) as a postdoctoral associate from 2005 to 2008. He is generally interested in the electrochemistry of inorganic materials, with emphasis on redox and transport properties.

Hierarchical materials – materials that include a hierarchy of bonding interactions because their basic building block are more complex than those of individual atoms – present a wide array of underexplored phase behaviors and emergent properties. Examples include many current functional materials comprised of molecules or small particle building blocks, such as glasses and polymer-based plastics in which disorder is deliberately harnessed, and also next-generation semiconductors that can be formed with far more modest protocols than conventional ones, such as those being explored for display technology and solar cells. I will review the basic similarities among and differences between these hierarchical materials’ structure and formation processes and also the emergent properties of various forms of energy transport. One current hallmark of the typical structures of hierarchical materials is that they are often trapped far from equilibrium, presenting heterogeneities that can affect their emergent properties. Studying these materials is therefore best done using a combination of reciprocal-space and direct-space approaches, and I will provide examples of resolving different types of material evolution with each.

First, I will describe our transient optical approaches to directly image the nanoscale transport dynamics of various types of quasiparticles in a wide range of hierarchical semiconducting and conducting materials. For example, by characterizing the mean squared expansion of initially localized charge carriers, bound electron-hole pairs, heat, and sound, we elucidate the impact of various material heterogeneities on electronic and thermal transport and also the interplay between heat and charge distributions. Next, many hierarchical materials we study are formed via self-assembly protocols, especially in the solution phase. I will also share recent observations of in situ X-ray scattering of self-assembly and annealing of strongly coupled nanoparticle superlattices. The strong coupling is borne out of the use of short, highly multivalent anionic chalcogenometallates used both as electrolyte anions and stabilizing ligands for the high dielectric nanoparticles, and I will describe our initial work to elucidate the specific mechanisms that drive the assembly and ordering, which could open many possibilities to create hierarchical materials with new functions deterministically from the bottom-up.

Naomi S. Ginsberg is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics at University of California, Berkeley and a Faculty Scientist in the Materials Sciences and Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Imaging Divisions at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she has been since 2010. She currently focuses on elucidating the electronic and molecular dynamics in a wide variety of soft electronic and biological materials by devising new electron and optical imaging modalities that enable characterization of fast and ultrafast processes at the nanoscale and as a function of their heterogeneities. Naomi received a B.A.Sc. degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 2007, after which she held a Glenn T. Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Her background in chemistry, physics, and engineering has previously led her to observe initiating events of photosynthesis that take place in a millionth billionth of a second and to slow, stop, and store light pulses in some of the coldest atom clouds on Earth. She is the Berkeley lead of STROBE, a multi-university NSF Science and Technology Center devoted to imaging science, a member of the Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute at Berkeley, and the recipient of a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering (2011), a DARPA Young Faculty Award (2012), an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2015), and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2016) in addition to a series of teaching awards in the physical sciences. In 2017-18 she was a Miller Professor for Basic Research in Science at UC Berkeley and was designated a Kavli Fellow. In 2019 she was the Kroto Lecturer in Chemical Physics at Florida State University. She is the recipient of the 2020 ACS Early-Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry.

Topology, a mathematical concept, recently became a hot and truly transdisciplinary topic in condensed matter physics, solid state chemistry and materials science. All 200 000 inorganic materials were recently classified into trivial and topological materials: topological insulators, Dirac, Weyl and nodal-line semimetals, and topological metals [1]. The direct connection between real space: atoms, valence electrons, bonds and orbitals, and reciprocal space: bands and Fermi surfaces allows for a simple classification of topological materials in a single particle picture. More than 25% of all inorganic compounds host topological bands, which opens also an infinitive play-ground for chemistry [1,2]. Beyond Weyl and Dirac, new fermions can be identified in compounds that have linear and quadratic 3-, 6- and 8- band crossings that are stabilized by space group symmetries [3]. Crystals of chiral topological materials CoSi, AlPt and RhSi were investigated by angle resolved photoemission and show giant unusual helicoid Fermi arcs with topological charges (Chern numbers) of ±2 [4]. In agreement with the chiral crystal structure two different chiral surface states are observed. A qunatized circular photogalvanic effect is theoretically possible in Weyl semimetals. However, in the multifold fermions with opposite chiralities where Weyl points can stay at different energies, a net topological charge can be generated. This net topological charge can lead to a quantized signal in the circular polarized light-induced injection current, if trivial bands are not to dominant at E_F [5]. However, chirality is also of interest for chemists [6], especially because of the excellent catalystic performance of the new chiral Fermions AlPt and PdGa [7]. The open question is the interplay between Berry curvature, chirality, orbital moment and surface states.

1. Bradlyn et al., Nature 547  298, (2017), Vergniory, et al., Nature 566 480 (2019), Xu et al. Nature 586 (2020) 702.
2. Nitesh Kumar, Satya N. Guin, Kaustuv Manna, Chandra Shekhar, and Claudia Felser, doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.0c00732
3. Bradlyn, et al., Science 353, aaf5037A (2016)
4. Sanchez et al., Nature 567 (2019) 500, Schröter et al., Nature Physics 15 (2019) 759, Schröter Science 369 (2020) 179, Sessi et al, Nature Communications 11 (2020) 3507, Yao et al., Nature Communications 11 (2020) 2033
5. Dylan Rees, et al., Science Advances 6 (2020) eaba0509, Congcong Le, Yang Zhang, Claudia Felser, Yan Sun, Physical Review B 102 (2020) 121111(R), Zhuoliang Ni, et al., npj Quantum Materials volume 5 (2020) 96, Zhuoliang Ni, et al.,, Nature Communications 12 (2021) 154
6. Yan, et al., Nature Com. 6 (2015) 10167, Guowei Li and Claudia Felser, APL 116 (2020) 070501.
7. Qun Yang, et al., Advanced Materials 32 (2020) 1908518, Guowei Li, to be published

Claudia Felser studied chemistry and physics at the University of Cologne (Germany, completing there both her diploma in solid state chemistry (1989) and her doctorate in physical chemistry (1994). After postdoctoral fellowships at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart (Germany) and the CNRS in Nantes (France), she joined the University of Mainz (Germany) in 1996 becoming a full professor there in 2003. She is currently Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden (Germany). Her research foci are the design and discovery of novel inorganic compounds, in particular, Heusler compounds for multiple applications and new topological quantum materials. In 2011 and again in 2017, she received an ERC Advanced grant. Felser was honored as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Magnetics Society, she received the Alexander M. Cruickshank Lecturer Award of the Gordon Research Conference, a SUR-grant Award from IBM and the Tsungmin Tu Research Prize from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, the highest academic honor granted to foreign researchers in Taiwan. In 2019, Claudia Felser was awarded the APS James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials together with Bernevig (Princeton) and Dai (Hongkong). She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Institute of Physics, London. In 2018, she became a member of the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, and acatech, the German National Academy of Science and Engineering. In 2020, she became an international member of the National Academy of Engineering, and in 2021, she became an international member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Photoemission spectroscopy is a powerful and well-established experimental technique for probing the electronic structure of matter. In this talk, I will discuss several promising new directions in this field, which stem from experimental and theoretical studies wherein photoemission experiments are carried out at higher excitation energies and in tandem with other complementary synchrotron and lab-based x-ray techniques. I will focus specifically on the recent studies of novel engineered quantum materials and heterostructures, which aim at gaining a clear understanding of the depth-dependent nanoscale evolution of materials’ electronic properties at the surface, in the bulk, and across the buried interfaces by using multiple modalities of hard and soft x-ray photoemission both separately and in concert with each other.

Alexander Gray is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Temple University. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California Davis, and then did his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Prof. Gray’s group’s research activities focus on the development of novel depth- and time-resolved x-ray spectroscopic and scattering techniques for studying rich electronic behaviors in quantum solids and interfaces. He has been awarded a Young Investigator Program award by the Department of Defense, and the Early Career Award by the Department of Energy.

Dr. Pantaleo Raimondi has been the ESRF’s Accelerator & Source Director and is now a professor at SLAC.  He obtained his PhD in 1986 at the Bari University, Italy and received the Gersh Budker Prize of the European Physical Society in 2017 for his invention of the Hybrid Multi Bend Achromat (HMBA) lattice which has become the design basis of 4th generation synchrotron sources. He led the ESRF-Extremely brilliant source (EBS) project to successful completion in 2020. Dr. Raimondi has a long and rich experience in research and development at accelerators including SLAC, CERN, ENEA and INFN where he gained a deep knowledge of accelerator design and commissioning, from the development of RF power systems, microtrons and linacs to the operation, design and realization of circular and linear colliders. Dr. Raimondi is also the recipient of two IPAC awards and contributed to over 300 publications over the span of his career.

I will show a brief overview of the Sirius source connected to the IDs for delivering highly coherent X-rays and an overview of the beamlines that are somehow developing techniques related to use of coherence. I will then present the science areas that we are planning to tackle and the local infrastructure that have been developed.

Helio Tolentino has been a researcher at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), one of the national labs of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, SP, Brazil, since 2014.  He has also served as Head of the Heterogeneous and Hierarchical Matter Division (DMH) of the LNLS since 2020. Since 2015, he has coordinated the project and construction of the Carnaúba (X-ray nanoprobe) beamline for the new Brazilian synchrotron light source, Sirius. Its main research interests are in the physics and chemistry of condensed matter systems, with emphasis in heterogeneous and hierarchical materials for energy and photonics, and in the development of synchrotron radiation instrumentation for the study of several materials at the nanoscale.

New 4th generation light sources offer a larger coherent fraction of the beam compared to their predecessors. X-ray microscopy based on ptychography is one of the methods which should benefit most from this increase. In this talk I will briefly introduce the method itself, describe its requirements / limitations, present exemplary science cases and finally explore how the method scales (how to see more, better and in a shorter time) while discussing how these additional coherent photons can be used at the latest generation of light sources.

Maik Kahnt is a beamline scientist (previously postdoc) at the NanoMAX beamline (MAX IV, Lund, Sweden). Before coming to Sweden in 2019 he worked in the “X-Ray Nanoscience and X-Ray Optics” group at PETRA III (DESY) on X-ray microscopy methods, X-ray optics characterization and development of algorithms for coherent imaging techniques. In Sweden he continues his work on 3D X-ray microscopy and ptychographic methods to characterize both the sample and the properties of the probing beam. His main research interest is the development and improvement of the methods used to answer the users specific questions and advance the users science cases.

Three dimensional magnetic systems promise significant opportunities for applications, for example providing higher density devices and new functionality associated with complex topology and greater degrees of freedom [1,2]. For the experimental realisation of these new properties, appropriate characterisation techniques are required to determine both the three-dimensional magnetic structure, and its response to external excitations. In this talk, I will describe how we have made use of coherent X-rays to characterize the three-dimensional structure of magnetic systems at the nanoscale.

In particular, we have developed X-ray magnetic nanotomography [3] to access the three-dimensional magnetic configuration at the nanoscale. In a first demonstration, we have determined the complex three-dimensional magnetic structure within the bulk of a micrometre-sized soft magnetic pillar and observed a magnetic configuration that consists of vortices and antivortices, as well as Bloch point singularities [3].

In addition to the static magnetic structure, the dynamic response of the 3D magnetic configuration to excitations is key to our understanding of both fundamental physics, and applications. With our recent development of X-ray magnetic laminography [4,5], it is now possible to determine the magnetisation dynamics of a three-dimensional magnetic system [5] with spatial and temporal resolutions of 50 nm and 70 ps, respectively.

A final challenge concerns the identification of nanoscale topological objects within the complex reconstructed magnetic configurations. To address this, we have recently implemented calculations of the magnetic vorticity [6,7], that make possible the location and identification of 3D magnetic solitons, leading to the first observation of magnetic vortex rings [7].

These new experimental capabilities of X-ray magnetic imaging open the door to the elucidation of complex three-dimensional magnetic structures, and their dynamic behaviour. In the coming years, 3D magnetic imaging will benefit significantly from advances in synchrotron radiation, with associated increases in coherent flux leading to higher spatial resolutions, as well as higher throughput for in situ measurements.

 

[1] Fernández-Pacheco et al., “Three-dimensional nanomagnetism” Nat. Comm. 8, 15756 (2017)

[2] Donnelly and V. Scagnoli, “Imaging three-dimensional magnetic systems with X-rays” J. Phys. D: Cond. Matt. (2019).

[3] Donnelly et al., “Three-dimensional magnetization structures revealed with X-ray vector nanotomography” Nature 547, 328 (2017).

[4] Donnelly et al., “Time-resolved imaging of three-dimensional nanoscale magnetization dynamics”, Nature Nanotechnology 15, 356 (2020).

[5] Witte, et al., “From 2D STXM to 3D Imaging: Soft X-ray Laminography of Thin Specimens”, Nano Lett. 20, 1305 (2020).

[6] Cooper, “Propagating magnetic vortex rings in ferromagnets.” PRL. 82, 1554 (1999).

[7] Donnelly et al., “Experimental observation of vortex rings in a bulk magnet” Nat. Phys. 17, 316 (2021)

With the development of next-generation coherent X-ray Free Electron Laser (X-FEL) sources, we are entering a new regime to study fluctuations at ‘fast’ timescales in quantum materials. In this talk, we will define what ‘fast’ is and we will discuss recent results on the measurement of fluctuations in complex magnetic materials, the so-called ‘skyrmion’ crystal. These results demonstrate that the tools we have been developing can now be used to understand stochastic processes near phase transitions in many types of materials, offering access to understanding the interactions within solids. These studies, which are based on using ultrafast pulses together with newly developed modes from the X-FEL at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, also provide a roadmap for future studies using coherence in the area of quantum materials.

Joshua Turner is a staff scientist at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, a joint institute between Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, as well as at the Linac Coherent Light Source, an x-ray free electron (XFEL) which is based at SLAC. He is a leader in ultra-fast x-ray studies, which he has applied to an array of scientific fields, from chemistry and materials physics to the study of plasmas found in large planets and hot astrophysical objects. His most recent focus is on an innovative technology which utilizes new modes of the XFEL and can be used to study subtle fluctuations in materials using short, coherent x-ray pulses. This will advance the frontier in quantum materials through the observation of novel types of order found in exotic systems such as topological magnets, unconventional superconductors, and strongly spin-orbit coupled Mott insulators. He has published over 100 scientific articles.

Optimisation of battery performance (e.g., rate and lifetime) requires that we understand how battery materials function under operating conditions.  This talk will describe the development and application of new approaches to understand both traditional lithium ion chemistry and beyond “Li-ion” technologies – including redox flow batteries.

The Grey group studies the nature of solid state materials by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray and Neutron scattering, electron microscopy and computational calculations. The materials we investigate have applications in supercapacitors, fuel cells, and batteries.

Our current research projects are described here and a full list of publications is available here. We currently have 49 group members including 3 Master students, 22 PhD students (11 students being co-supervised) and 21 Post-Doctoral researchers all listed here. The group is very dynamic and also very international with almost 20 nationalities represented.

Dr. Michal Bajdich started his career in 2009 as the Postdoctoral Fellow, Materials Theory Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he worked on quantum Monte Carlo methods for accurate electronic structure calculations and general supercomputing applications. In 2011, he moved to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to be part of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis—center with the goal of creating solar fuels—  where his is involved to present day. Since 2013, Dr. Bajdich has been a part of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. Dr. Bajdich is interested in the application of ab-initio computational methods for understanding and discovery of electrocatalysis, with special focus on earth-abundant metal-oxides and related materials. He also works on the development of theoretical models for electrochemistry and XAS spectroscopy. Recently, he started applying catalysis informatics and machine learning tools to catalysts discovery. He is an author of more than 60 publications, 2 book chapters, and his work received more than +4000 citations. He is a co-founder of Catalysis-hub.org and a member of AICHE programming committee, and many of other professional societies. Dr. Bajdich has received his Ph.D. in Physics in 2007 from North Carolina State University, USA. He earned his master’s degree in Physics, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia.

The existing performance limitations of Li-ion batteries can be tracked to slow kinetics and irreversibilities in the chemical changes undergone by the electrode materials.Tools that provide insight into the onset and propagation of these transitions are critical for identifying the underpinnings of electrochemical function.This information must be generated at the nanoscale because reaction kinetics and irreversibilities at the level of individual particles determine macroscopic metrics and trigger architecture degradation, respectively.Synchrotron-based X-ray microscopy currently combines nanoscale spatial resolution with a suite of possible contrasts mechanisms, such as diffraction and spectroscopy.In this talk, I will discuss recent research geared toward the chemical imaging of electrochemical reactions in battery electrodes, focusing on single particles. While the focus will be on established Li-ion systems, examples of batteries based on Mg will also be discussed. I will highlight the new fundamental insight generated by the tools, including time-resolved phenomena using operando measurements. These measurements avoid relaxation of components from the kinetically controlled functional state to one that is more stable under open circuit conditions. The mechanisms of transformation will be related to their impact on material and architecture properties. I will also provide a glimpse into the future by showing how emerging synchrotron techniques can enhance the impact of X-ray microscopy in fundamental battery science.

Jordi Cabana is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to his appointment at UIC, he was a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA), from 2008 until 2013. Prof. Cabana completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (Spain) in 2004, and worked in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University (USA) as a postdoctoral associate. He is generally interested in the electrochemistry of inorganic materials, with emphasis on redox and transport properties.

Claudia Felser1, Kaustuv Manna1, Enke Lui1 and Yan Sun1 1Max Planck Institute Chemical Physics of Solids, Dresden, Germany (e-mail: felser@cpfs.mpg.de) Topology a mathematical concept became recently a hot topic in condensed matter physics and materials science. One important criteria for the identification of the topological material is in the language of chemistry the inert pair effect of the s-electrons in heavy elements and the symmetry of the crystal structure [1]. Beside of Weyl and Dirac new fermions can be identified compounds via linear and quadratic 3-, 6- and 8- band crossings stabilized by space group symmetries [2]. In magnetic materials the Berry curvature and the classical AHE helps to identify interesting candidates. Magnetic Heusler compounds were already identified as Weyl semimetals such as Co2YZ [3,4], in Mn3Sn [5,6,7] and Co3Sn2S2 [8-10]. The Anomalous Hall angle helps to identify even materials in which a QAHE should be possible in thin films. Besides this k-space Berry curvature, Heusler compounds with non-collinear magnetic structures also possess real-space topological states in the form of magnetic antiskyrmions, which have not yet been observed in other materials [11]. [1] Bradlyn et al., Nature 547 298, (2017) arXiv:1703.02050 [2] Bradlyn, et al., Science 353, aaf5037A (2016). [3] Kübler and Felser, Europhys. Lett. 114, 47005 (2016) [4] I. Belopolski, et al., Science in print (2019), arXiv:1712.09992 [5] Kübler and Felser, EPL 108 (2014) 67001 (2014) [6] Nayak, et al., Science Advances 2 e1501870 (2016) [7] Nakatsuji, Kiyohara and Higo, Nature 527 212 (2015) [8] Liu, et al. Nature Physics 14, 1125 (2018) [9] D. F. Liu, et al., Science in print (2019) [10] N. Morali, et al., Science in print (2019) arXiv:1903.00509 [11] Nayak, et al., Nature 548, 561 (2017)

Claudia Felser studied chemistry and physics at the University of Cologne (Germany, completing there both her diploma in solid state chemistry (1989) and her doctorate in physical chemistry (1994). After postdoctoral fellowships at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart (Germany) and the CNRS in Nantes (France), she joined the University of Mainz (Germany) in 1996 becoming a full professor there in 2003. She is currently Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden (Germany). Her research foci are the design and discovery of novel inorganic compounds, in particular, Heusler compounds for multiple applications and new topological quantum materials. In 2011 and again in 2017, she received an ERC Advanced grant. Felser was honored as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Magnetics Society, she received the Alexander M. Cruickshank Lecturer Award of the Gordon Research Conference, a SUR-grant Award from IBM and the Tsungmin Tu Research Prize from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan, the highest academic honor granted to foreign researchers in Taiwan. In 2019, Claudia Felser was awarded the APS James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials together with Bernevig (Princeton) and Dai (Hongkong). She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Institute of Physics, London. In 2018, she became a member of the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, and acatech, the German National Academy of Science and Engineering.

The physics of ordered and correlated systems allows for fundamental improvement of energy consumption, going beyond what is possible with conventional materials. One such example is the class of materials with polar distortion such as a (anti)ferroelectric, where thermodynamics dictate that charge can be switched with much lower energy compared to conventional dielectrics. In these materials the internal order leads to a state of negative capacitance, which results in a boost of internal electric fields and charge. This boost could be exploited for reducing energy dissipation in electronics. In this talk, I shall discuss our current understanding of negative capacitance derived from experimental demonstration of steady state negative capacitance, which allows one to access an otherwise forbidden part of the energy landscape in ferroelectric materials. The discovery of HfO2 based ferroelectrics has enabled the integration of ferroelectric materials onto Si in a process compatible way. This makes it possible to achieve negative capacitance transistors. I shall discuss some of our most recent transistor work. To be used in most advanced transistors, ferroelectric materials will need to scaled down below 20A in thickness. Some results on such extremely thin FE materials will also be presented.

S. Salahuddin is the TSMC Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California Berkeley. His work has focused mostly on conceptualization and exploration of novel device physics for low power electronic and spintronic devices. Salahuddin has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers (PECASE). Salahuddin also received a number of other awards including the NSF CAREER award, the IEEE Nanotechnology Early Career Award, the Young Investigator Awards from (AFOSR) and (ARO), and the IEEE George E Smith Award. Salahuddin is a co-director of the Berkeley Device Modeling Center (BDMC) and Berkeley Center for Negative Capacitance Transistors (BCNCT). Salahuddin is also a co-director of ASCENT, one of the six centers of the JUMP initiative sponsored by SRC/DARPA. He served on the editorial board of IEEE Electron Devices Letters (2013-16) and was the chair of the IEEE Electron Devices Society committee on Nanotechnology (2014-16). Salahuddin is a Fellow of the IEEE and the APS.

Marine picocyanobacteria are key players in both open ocean and coastal waters. These organisms are numerically dominant and responsible for up to a quarter of marine primary production, and it is important to understand the factors, both abiotic and biotic, that affect their abundance and activity. Here we present insights into the dynamics of a coastal Synechococcus population on the U.S. Northeast Shelf. This population has been monitored with high resolution, automated flow cytometry since 2003, and the resulting 16-year time series has provided novel understanding into the environmental and biological controls on this population. These dynamics, however, result from a diverse Synechococcus assemblage, comprised of multiple, distinct strains that differ in their ecophysiologies and relative abundances. We explore these field observations with laboratory investigations of cultured isolates, and in particular focus on interactions with heterotrophic protist grazers and associated bacteria. We have begun to explore the latter with synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (sFTIR) spectromicroscopy at the ALS, enabling us to gather valuable chemical information about cellular components.

Kristen Hunter-Cevera is currently a Hibbitt Early Career Fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She is interested in microbial ecology and specifically how environmental variables, species interactions and underlying diversity structure affect microbial community dynamics, activity and stability. Her research focuses on the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus as a model to explore these questions with a combination of field observations, laboratory culture experiments and modeling. She received a B.S. in biology and mathematics in 2008, and an M.B.A. in 2009 from West Virginia University. She earned a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 2014 with a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, and is currently a Simons Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution.

Photoemission spectroscopy is a powerful and well-established experimental technique for probing the electronic structure of matter. In this talk, I will discuss several promising new directions in this field, which stem from experimental and theoretical studies wherein photoemission experiments are carried out at higher excitation energies and in tandem with other complementary synchrotron and lab-based x-ray techniques. I will focus specifically on the recent studies of novel engineered quantum materials and heterostructures, which aim at gaining a clear understanding of the depth-dependent nanoscale evolution of materials’ electronic properties at the surface, in the bulk, and across the buried interfaces by using multiple modalities of hard and soft x-ray photoemission both separately and in concert with each other.

Alexander Gray is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Temple University. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California Davis, and then did his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Prof. Gray’s group’s research activities focus on the development of novel depth- and time-resolved x-ray spectroscopic and scattering techniques for studying rich electronic behaviors in quantum solids and interfaces. He has been awarded a Young Investigator Program award by the Department of Defense, and the Early Career Award by the Department of Energy.

We investigate the crosstalk between biochemical and physical cues in the skeleton. We identified mechanisms by which growth factors and transcription factors cooperate to direct skeletal cell differentiation, and then showed that these pathways also specify key physical properties of the extracellular matrix and bone quality across multiple length scales. We apply our expertise in the study of TGFβ signaling to investigate the interaction between physical and biochemical signals in the control of skeletal cell differentiation and the role of these pathways in skeletal development and disease using in vitro and in vivo models. Using tools and approaches from molecular biology, as well as from materials science and engineering, we recently identified new mechanisms by which bone-embedded cells dynamically remodel their extracellular matrix, and showed the essential role of this process in bone fragility and joint disease. Understanding these physical and biological mechanisms gives new insight into osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, and suggest strategies to maintain musculoskeletal health in aging.

Tamara Alliston, PhD, is a Professor in the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery where she leads the Laboratory of Skeletal Mechanobiology. With a focus on TGFβ signaling, her laboratory investigates the interaction between physical and biochemical signals in the control of skeletal cell differentiation and the role of these pathways in skeletal development and disease. Supported by the NIH, NSF, and DOD, her group employs approaches from molecular and cell biology, materials science, and engineering to identify mechanisms of skeletal disease in order to advance the development of new therapeutic strategies. She is Director of the UCSF NIH P30 Skeletal Biology and Biomechanics Core, a standing member of the NIH Skeletal Biology Structure and Regeneration (SBSR) study section, and an Editorial Board member for the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and Bone. She has successfully organized a number of research conferences, such as the AAOS/ORS Workshop on Joint Crosstalk. She is the Chair of the 2020 Gordon Research Conference on Musculoskeletal Biology and Bioengineering. Dr. Alliston’s honors include a Hulda Irene Duggan Arthritis Investigator Award, the ASBMR Harold M. Frost Young Investigator Award, the AIMM-ASBMR John Haddad Young Investigator Award, and the ORS Women’s Leadership Award.

The existing performance limitations of Li-ion batteries can be tracked to slow kinetics and irreversibilities in the chemical changes undergone by the electrode materials.Tools that provide insight into the onset and propagation of these transitions are critical for identifying the underpinnings of electrochemical function.This information must be generated at the nanoscale because reaction kinetics and irreversibilities at the level of individual particles determine macroscopic metrics and trigger architecture degradation, respectively.Synchrotron-based X-ray microscopy currently combines nanoscale spatial resolution with a suite of possible contrasts mechanisms, such as diffraction and spectroscopy.In this talk, I will discuss recent research geared toward the chemical imaging of electrochemical reactions in battery electrodes, focusing on single particles. While the focus will be on established Li-ion systems, examples of batteries based on Mg will also be discussed. I will highlight the new fundamental insight generated by the tools, including time-resolved phenomena using operando measurements. These measurements avoid relaxation of components from the kinetically controlled functional state to one that is more stable under open circuit conditions. The mechanisms of transformation will be related to their impact on material and architecture properties. I will also provide a glimpse into the future by showing how emerging synchrotron techniques can enhance the impact of X-ray microscopy in fundamental battery science.

Jordi Cabana is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to his appointment at UIC, he was a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (USA), from 2008 until 2013. Prof. Cabana completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (Spain) in 2004, and worked in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University (USA) as a postdoctoral associate. He is generally interested in the electrochemistry of inorganic materials, with emphasis on redox and transport properties.

Describing materials based on their underlying topology has caused a paradigm shift in condensed matter physics in how we understand emergent phenomena. Controlling and engineering these exotic orders is key for next-generation electronics and topological quantum computers. In this talk, I will discuss how the interplay of real and reciprocal space topological order can provide tunable topological phases in a class of multiferroics called the hexagonal manganites[1,2]. Using first-principles calculations and Landau theory, I will describe how the multiferroic orders in these compounds give rise to tunable topological defects and nodal-line semimetals[3,4]. Finally I will discuss how the ultrafast control of topological phases can be achieved by the targeted probing of symmetry-breaking phonons[5].

References

[1] S.M. Griffin, M. Lilienblum, K.T. Delaney, Y. Kumagai, M. Fiebig and N.A. Spaldin.Phys. Rev. X 2 (4), 041022 (2012)
[2] F.T. Huang, X. Wang, S.M. Griffin, Y. Kumagai, O. Gindele, M.-W. Chu, Y. Horibe, N.A. Spaldin, S.-W. Cheong.Phys. Rev. Lett., 113 (26), 267602 (2014)
[3] Q.N. Meier, M. Lilienblum, S.M. Griffin, K. Conder, E. Pomjakushina, Z. Yan, E. Bourret, D. Meier, F. Lichtenberg, E.K.H. Salje, N.A. Spaldin, M. Fiebig and A. Cano. Phys. Rev. X, 7, 041014 (2017)
[4] S.F. Weber, S.M. Griffin and J.B. Neaton. arXiv:1902.10085 (2019)
[5] S.M. Griffin. To appear in J. Cond. Mat. Phys. (2019)

Griffin received her PhD from ETH Zürich in 2014. From 2015-18 she was an SNF postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab, becoming staff scientist in Materials Science Division and the Molecular Foundry in 2018. Griffin received the Swiss Physical Society Award for General Physics in 2017 and a Berkeley Lab Early Career LDRD in 2018. Griffin’s current research focuses on developing materials-specific theories, with input from ab initio calculations, to understand quantum materials including topological, multiferroic and superconducting phenomena. Applications of her work often lie at the boundary of high-energy physics and condensed matter physics. Griffin is also actively involved in promoting science in Africa, and since 2010 has lectured throughout the continent as part of the African School on Electronic Structure: Theory and Applications (ASESMA) and is a member of the executive committee for the upcoming APS US/Africa Initiative on Electronic Structure.

The Advanced Photon Source Upgrade (APS-U) project will increase the brightness of the current APS source by more than two orders of magnitude. The APS-U project includes the construction of new feature beamlines as well as enhancing existing ones with a significant improvement in brightness and coherent flux. The performance of these beamlines relies on the successful design and manufacture of state-of-the-art X-ray optics that preserve the beam wavefront and coherence. In this presentation, an overview will be given on optics simulation and characterization tools developed at the APS with their applications on beamline design and optics R&D activities.

The optical design of all APS-U feature beamlines follows an integrated approach, which combines different levels of simulations including analytical formulas, numerical ray-tracing or wavefront propagation, and mutual coherence propagation. Detailed design considerations will be presented for APS-U feature beamlines.

The APS optics group has been developing advanced coherence characterization and wavefront sensing techniques based on grating interferometry and speckle tracking. These techniques support many R&D activities at the APS and for the APS upgrade project, including the development of wavefront-preserving, adaptive and corrective optics.

Xianbo Shi is a physicist in the optics group at the Advanced Photon Source. He has many years of experience working in Synchrotron science and instrumentation. Xianbo received his Ph.D in Physical Chemistry at the City University of New York in 2010 on the study of supercritical fluids using VUV spectroscopy. His past research includes optical design of the x-ray powder diffraction beamline at NSLS-II (BNL, postdoc, 2010-2012) and design of high-luminosity X-ray emission spectrometers for ultra-fast X-ray emission spectroscopy (ESRF, junior scientist, 2012-2013). Currently, his research focuses on X-ray optics modeling and simulation, especially on the beamline optical design for the APS upgrade project. Xianbo is also an export on beam coherence and wavefront measurement techniques. His work on beamline optics simulation and characterization has been supporting a broad range of optics R&D activities at the APS and for the APS upgrade project.

Our group uses structural analyses as the foundation for engineering biology. Two different biological processes, the control of photoprotection by a modular carotenoid binding protein and spatial compartmentalization of bacterial metabolism will be used to as illustrations.

Photoprotective mechanisms play a crucial role in the ecophysiology of cyanobacteria which inhabit a range of environments where stresses like extreme temperature fluctuations, salinity and drought exacerbate the threat of photodamage. The soluble Orange Carotenoid Protein (OCP) and the Fluorescence Recovery Protein (FRP) function together as the on/off switch for photoprotection in cyanobacteria. The OCP is structurally modular, consisting of a sensor and an effector domain. The OCP is the only known photoactive protein that uses a carotenoid as the photoreceptor. By dissecting out the intramolecular structural determinants for light perception (e.g. pigment-protein interactions) and the intermolecular interactions that govern energy flow from the antenna in response to interaction with the OCP, we are learning mechanistic principles that can be used, for example, to develop light regulated switches for optogenetic applications.

Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) such as carboxysomes illustrate biological modularity at another scale, that of a multienzyme-containing proteinaceous organelle. Because carboxysomes and other BMCs function to organize reactions that require special conditions for optimization, including the sequestration of substrates, cofactors, or toxic intermediates and the protection of oxygen sensitive enzymes, they have received considerable attention as templates for synthetic nanoreactors in bioengineering. There are two central challenges to building bespoke protein-based nanoreactors (Apps for programming bacterial cells): the design and assembly of multi-enzyme cores and engineering of the shell proteins to serve as a selectively permeable barrier, the interface between the cytosol and the encapsulated reactions. Examples of progress in the bioengineering of BMC-based architectures for metabolic engineering and, more broadly, for the development of biomaterials will be discussed.

Cheryl Kerfeld is the Hannah Distinguished Professor of Structural Bioengineering at the MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab with appointments in the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division and the Molecular Biophysics and Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division at Berkeley National Laboratory. The Kerfeld Group (www.kerfeldlab.org) is focused on structural synthetic biology. Specifically, we are experts in the structure, function and engineering of modular carotenoid-binding proteins that mediate cyanobacterial photoprotection and in self-assembling metabolic modules in bacteria, with the goal of repurposing these protein-based architectures into nanodevices and biomaterials for applications including catalysis, bioremediation, biomining, therapeutics.

Multifunctional quantum materials are important for realizing critical phenomena, manifesting novel switching behavior, and producing robust interface physics. The multifunctionality of topological two-dimensional (2D) materials is exemplified by WTe₂ which is a type-II Weyl semimetal with non-saturating magnetoresistance in its bulk, transforming into a superconductor under hydrostatic pressure, or transforming into a quantum spin hall insulator (QSHI) in its monolayer limit, which can then be tuned to a superconductor with electrostatic gating. In many of these transformations, the tuning of the carrier density and crystal structure has been shown to play an important role. I will discuss our progress in producing two non-monotonic changes in electronic structure of WTe₂ upon in-situ surface manipulation, realizing an interface field effect as a pathway for tuning behavior of 2D materials.

Inna Vishik received a B.S. in Physics from Stanford University in 2006, concurrent with a M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. She received a PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University in September 2013, under the supervision of Zhi-Xun Shen. She pursued postdoctoral research in the group of Nuh Gedik as a Pappalardo Fellow 2013-2016. Since summer 2016, she has been an assistant professor in the department of physics at University of California Davis.

Her research focuses on emergent electronic phenomena in quantum materials. Her lab develops and performs both angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and ultrafast optics experiments to ascertain electronic structure and dynamics related to these phenomena. She uses these measurements to gain insight into phase transitions and many-body interactions in unconventional superconductors and topological materials.

The problem of the phase transition in a spin glass, theoretically predicted over 40 years ago, is still not definitively resolved from the experimental point of view. We shall discuss a novel approach to this problem using coherent x-ray scattering and the technique of x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, where we have observed true dynamical critical behavior in the fluctuations of the spin glass order parameter in a classical spin glass. Possible similar future studies of other frustrated spin systems such as spin liquids and spin ices will be discussed.

Sunil K. Sinha is Distinguished Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego, now Emeritus Professor. He also has served as Group Leader in Neutron Scattering at Argonne National Laboratory, Group Leader of X-ray Scattering at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Senior Research Associate at Exxon Corporate Research Laboratories, and Associate Division Director at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source. He is a recipient of the Ernest O. Lawrence Award of the Department of Energy, the MRS Medal, the Arthur H. Compton Prize of the Advanced Photon Source, the Clifford Shull Prize of the NSSA, and the Roentgen Medal for X-ray Science. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the AAAS. His group’s research is concerned with studying the structure and dynamics of condensed matter using the techniques of x-ray and neutron scattering. Current research areas include novel magnetic materials, in particular magnetic films and multilayers, polymer films and interfaces in polymeric systems, and lipid membranes. Dr. Sinha received his Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University.

As one of the most prominent technologies in human history, Li-ion batteries (LIBs) have significantly reshaped our life since their initial commercialization in early 1990s, while continuous improvements in materials and chemistries of their derivative descendants might dictate our energy future.

Unlike many scientific discoveries, LIB was not born at a single “Eureka” moment. Batteries (or any electrochemical device) are a system consisting of multiple components. For such a system to function, all components must be electrochemically synchronized. The lengthy history of LIB development witnessed such painful synchronization, which proceeded simultaneously with the development of intercalation science as well as its many individual components.

This talk aims to recount the history between the discovery of Li element to the commercialization of LIB in 1990s. As taught by Winston Churchill, “The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” Such historical retrospective brings us inspiration and insight into the future, because being able to scrutinize the antique literature with contemporary hindsight offers us the advantageous angle to witness how accidental discoveries, intentional breakthroughs, and deceiving misconceptions interplayed to generate the unique chemistries and materials for such a sophisticated electrochemical device.

Kang Xu, ARL Fellow, Leader of Aqueous Electrochemistry Team, Electrochemistry Branch, SEDD. 

• >30 years on electrolytes, responsible for numerous new electrolyte materials, concepts and mechanism. 
• Best known in the field for his two comprehensive reviews published in Chemical Reviews (2004, 2014).
• Over 230 publications (Citations >20,000, h-index 73). 
• Winner of multiple awards including 2017 International Battery Association Technology Award and 2018 Electrochemical Society Research Award.

The real-space observation of chemistry and magnetic structure using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) methods or synchrotron-based x-ray microscopy continues to have a tremendous impact on our understanding of nanoscale materials. However, although STM provides high spatial resolution, it typically lacks direct chemical contrast as well as the ability to quantify magnetic moments. On the other hand, x-ray microscopy can provide chemical as well as magnetic sensitivity, but the spatial resolution is inferior. In order to overcome these limitations, various groups have developed a new technique that combines synchrotron radiation with the high spatial resolution of STM [1-3]. The goal is to combine the spin sensitivity and chemical contrast of synchrotron x-rays with the locality of STM.

Recently, substantial progress was made on Argonne’s synchrotron x-ray scanning tunneling microscopy (SX-STM) project. In particular, we demonstrated the power of SX-STM for elemental characterization and topography of individual Ni and Co nano-islands with single atom height sensitivity [5], tested new probe tip concepts based on carbon nanotubes [6] and multilayer tips [7], and demonstrated x-ray imaging of nanoscale magnetic domains by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) contrast [7]. Further substantial advances are expected using the new low temperature (LT) SX-STM system, which has been developed over the last 3 years.

To fully exploit the special capabilities of the new microscope, XTIP, a dedicated beamline for the SX-STM technique has recently been inaugurated at the Advanced Photon Source. To meet the scientific objective of the nanoscience and nanomagnetism communities most effectively, the XTIP beamline offers full polarization over the 450-1800 eV energy range. The dedicated XTIP beamline will provide researchers access to a one-of-a-kind instrument. Among the potential breakthroughs are “designer” materials created from controlled assemblies of atoms and molecules, and the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics.

This work was performed at the Advanced Photon Source and the Center for Nanoscale Materials, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

References

[1] A. Saito et al.: J. Synch. Rad. 13, 216 (2006).

[2] T. Okuda et al.: Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 105503 (2009).

[3] V. Rose, et al.: in Scanning Probe Microscopy of Functional Materials: Nanoscale Imaging and Spectroscopy, Springer, New York, 405-432 (2011).

[4] N. Shirato et al.: Nano Letters 14, 6499 (2014).

[5] H. Kersell et al.: Appl. Phys. Lett. 111, 103102 (2017).

[6] H. Yan et al.: J. Nanomaterials 2015, 492657 (2015).

[7] M. Cummings et al.: J. Appl. Phys. 121, 015305 (2017).

[8] A. DiLullo et al.: J. Synch. Rad. 23, 574 (2016).

Volker Rose is a physicist with Argonne National Laboratory as well as an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio University. He holds an advanced degree in physics and a doctoral degree from RWTH Aachen, Germany. Currently, his research focuses on the study of nanoscale materials by means of high-resolution x-ray microscopy techniques. He has published more than 70 journal articles and book chapters as well as given more than 70 invited talks at international conferences and higher institutions around the world. Volker’s work has been covered by media outlets including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Discover Magazine, Voice of America, and many more. Some of his research achievements and honors include a prestigious R&D 100 Award, a Department of Energy Early Career Research Program Award as well as a Pinnacle of Education Award by Chicago University.

The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is a national scientific user facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). As part of its mission of scientific discovery an innovation in the environmental and biological sciences, EMSL looks to extend its integrated suite of capabilities through collaboration with other national user facilities such as the ALS. As we study the rhizosphere and other biosystems across multiple scales, the bright, tunable energy x-rays and high-resolution instruments of ALS allow for great scientific opportunities. Structural and chemical imaging bio/geochemical systems seem to be a sweet spot for collaboration. After a short introduction to key EMSL strategic science areas, I will present two projects where ALS capabilities provided unique insight.

In the first example, x-ray fluorescence spectromicroscopy and microtomography at the ALS were used to visualize and better understand phosphorous uptake in poplar trees. Endophyte-promoted phosphorous uptake was seen inside poplar roots, where the fixated phosphorous appeared to be in the form of an organic phosphate. Analysis of the tomography data showing increased root mass for the plants inoculated with the endophytes supported the picture of increased nutrient uptake in those plants. These results along with in-house proteomics characterization point to the biological relevance of the symbiosis between endophytes and the host plant.

In the second example, scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) combined with x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) helped us investigate soil mineral – soil organic matter (SOM) interactions in an alkaline soil from Washington state. Ca mineral–organic matter bridges were found to play a critical role in the stabilization/degradation of SOM and mineral. Micro- and nanoscale characterization of the chemical state of both Ca from the mineral and C from the organic matter was crucial for understanding such stabilization mechanisms as well as soil nutrient dynamics.

Tamas Varga is a materials scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, specifically at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology. His past work includes research on the synthesis and characterization of low and negative thermal expansion materials (GA Tech, Ph.D. Thesis, 2000-2005), thermochemistry of negative thermal expansion materials and polymer-derived ceramics (UC Davis, postdoc, 2005-2007), high-pressure synthesis and characterization of complex magnetic oxides, superconductors, and multiferroics (Argonne National Laboratory, postdoc, 2007-2009), and more recently the synthesis and characterization of novel multiferroic thin films (PNNL, 2010-2015). Currently, his research focuses on the application of x-ray imaging and spectroscopy methods to studies of biological, geological, and other materials and problems. He has published over 100 journal articles, 1 book chapter as well as given a number of invited talks at conferences and research institutions in the US. Varga has also been active in scientific editing, conference chairing, different proposal review panels in the materials science and synchrotron science areas, and mentoring the younger generation in science.

Near-field infrared nano-spectroscopy is a fusion of tip-based scanning probe techniques and Fourier transform spectroscopy that enables real space mapping of functional materials. Originally developed for use with narrow band infrared lasers, recent efforts have brought this method together with accelerator-based sources to yield significant advantages including broadband imaging. Crucially, the spatial resolution of a point scan is 20 × 20 nm² – thus beating the diffraction limit. Line scans can be carried out as well. The recent extension into the far infrared is enabling a number of new initiatives including (i) infrared nano-spectroscopy of ferroelastic domain walls in the hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca₃Ti₂O₇¹ and (ii) near-field infrared spectroscopy of single layer MnPS₃² – both of which will be discussed in this presentation. I will argue that uncovering real space spectral contrast is a transformative opportunity that will impact many areas of science.

References

¹ Infrared nano-spectroscopy of ferroelastic domain walls in hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca₃Ti₂O₇, K. A. Smith, E. A. Nowadnick, S. Fan, O. Khatib, S. L. Lim, N. C. Harms, S. Neal, J. K. Kirkland, M. C. Martin, C. J. Won, M. B. Raschke, S. -W. Cheong, C. J. Fennie, G. L. Carr, H. A. Bechtel, and J. L. Musfeldt, submitted, Nature Comm.

² Near-field infrared spectroscopy of single layer MnPS₃, S. N. Neal, H. -S. Kim, K. A. Smith, A. V. Haglund, D. G. Mandrus, H. A. Bechtel, G. L. Carr, K. Haule, D. H. Vanderbilt, and J. L. Musfeldt, submitted, Nature Comm.

Acknowledgments: Research at Tennessee is supported by the Materials Science Division, Basic Energy Sciences, U. S. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-01ER45885).

Professor Jan Musfeldt is a recognized expert in the chemistry and physics of quantum materials under external stimuli such as magnetic field, pressure, and in the limit of small size where confinement effects are apparent. Recent spectroscopic efforts include revealing the signature of ferroelastic domain walls in the hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca₃Ti₂O₇, unveiling the origin of high temperature magnetism in multiferroic (LuFeO₃)_m(LuFe₂O₄)_n superlattices, and uncovering the symmetry crossover as a function of layer thickness in the complex chalcogenide MnPS₃. During her career, Dr. Musfeldt has championed interdisciplinary education and is active in meeting and workshop organization as well as service to several different national laboratories.

With an alarming global population increase, there is a critical need for the development of multifunctional strong and tough lightweight materials for use in many societal applications. Natural systems have evolved efficient strategies, exemplified in the biological tissues of numerous animal and plant species, to synthesize and construct composites from a limited selection of available starting materials that often exhibit exceptional mechanical properties that are similar, and frequently superior to, mechanical properties exhibited by many engineering materials. Nature goes one step further, often producing materials with that display multi-functionality in order to provide organisms with a unique ecological advantage to ensure survival.

In this work, we investigate organisms that have adapted structures, which are not only strong and tough, but also demonstrate multifunctional features dependent on the underlying organic-inorganic components. We are utilizing additive manufacturing methods to help validate hypotheses based on our experimental observations as well as translate key mechanistic insights to scalable and manufacturable engineered products. Furthermore, we discuss strategies for synthesis of these bio-composites, by studying for example, the heavily crystallized radular teeth the chitons, a group of elongated mollusks that graze on hard substrates for algae.

From the investigation of synthesis-structure-property relationships in these unique organisms, we are now developing and fabricating cost-effective and environmentally friendly multifunctional engineering composites and biologically inspired nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage.

Prof. David Kisailus is the Associate Vice Chancellor of Research Facilities, the Winston Chung Endowed Chair of Energy Innovation and Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Program and the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California at Riverside. Dr. Kisailus, a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and a UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage, received his Ph.D. in Materials from the University of California at Santa Barbara, 2002; M.S. in Materials Science (University of Florida) and B.S. in Chemical Engineering (Drexel University). Dr. Kisailus was a post-doctoral researcher in Molecular Biology at UCSB and a Research Scientist at HRL Laboratories working on synthesis of materials for fuel cells and batteries. His “Biomimetic and Nanostructured Materials Laboratory” investigates fundamental synthesis – structure – property relationships in biological composites, with unique mechanical, thermal and optical properties, in order to develop multifunctional light-weight, tough and impact resistant materials as well as develop / utilize solution-based processes to synthesize nanoscale materials for energy-based applications. The ultimate goal is to be able to leverage lessons from Nature to develop next generation materials for energy conversion and storage as well as for environmental applications.

Crystalline biominerals cost energy but provide the diverse organism making them with scaffolding, shielding, locomotion, mastication, gravity and magnetic field sensing, etc. How these crystals are formed reveals how living organisms harness the laws of physics and chemistry for their evolutionary advantage, but also because it can teach us new synthesis strategies for materials with targeted properties. Recent synchrotron spectromicroscopy methods reveal one formation mechanism and one toughening mechanism:

1. Crystallization by particle attachment in diverse marine organisms, and its implications for changing ocean chemistry.
2. Slight mis-orientation of nanocrystals in human enamel makes our teeth endure decades of mastication without breaking.

Pupa Gilbert got her doctoral degree in Physics in 1987 in Rome, Italy. She was a staff scientist at the Italian CNR and the EPFL before coming to the US as a professor of physics at UW-Madison in 1999. She is a physicist with a burning passion for biology and materials science, and she studies natural biominerals, their structure, and formation mechanisms with the synchrotron spectromicroscopy methods she developed, and for which she won the 2018 Shirley award for outstanding scientific achievement at the ALS.

The boundary between the Earth’s metal core and oxide mantle plays an important role in thermal, mechanical and chemical evolution of planet. The thermodynamics of core and mantle materials at high pressure and temperature conditions govern which elements tend to be oxidized in the mantle and which tend to be reduced, forming the core. In this talk, I will show how synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction methods can be used to help determine phase stability and measure thermoelastic properties of metals, oxides, and carbonates at the extreme conditions relevant to the interior of the planet. The goal is to extend the electrochemical series to extreme conditions of planetary interiors.

Professor Kavner’s love for geosciences developed during summers spent camping, hiking, and canoeing throughout the northeast. She studied materials science and engineering at Northwestern University (B.S. 1989) and at UC Berkeley (M.S.E 1993). At that point she discovered the great materials science problems posed by Earth science, and switched fields, to Geophysics at UC Berkeley (Ph.D. 1997). She has been collecting data at various synchrotron sources since encountering her first empty hutch in 1995. After postdoctoral stints at Princeton and Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, she has been a faculty member at UCLA since 2002.

It is important to acquire detailed molecular information on hydrogen bonding, which determines the properties of liquid water and the outcome of many biochemical processes. Quantum chemical calculations and x-ray spectroscopy form naturally complementary techniques for investigation of hydrogen bonding and the influence on the electronic structure. Different levels of theoretical analysis will be discussed in the presentation. The work benefits greatly from experiments at Beamline 8.0.1 at ALS, where x-ray emission measurements of liquid water and aqueous solutions have been performed and have been analysed in terms of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and spectrum simulations.

https://als.lbl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/actrep2005.pdf

https://als.lbl.gov/exploring-structure-aqueous-solutions-salsa/

The recent development of ultrahigh-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) has, in combination with quantum mechanical simulations, allowed us to analyze highly excited vibrational quanta in liquid water, giving a clue as to how hydrogen bonding influences the long-range region of O-H potentials in the liquid. In addition, we have shown that high-level quantum chemical calculations can be used for modeling RIXS of valence-excited species and simulating excited state dynamics, which allows us to assist in the interpretation of time-resolved x-ray spectra to determine the pathways of photo-induced processes.

Michael Odelius is a professor in theoretical chemical physics at Stockholm University. He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Stockholm University in 1994 working on simulations on nuclear spin relaxation, measured with radio waves. His interest has now turned to the other end of the electromagnetic spectrum, and he is working on simulations of X-ray spectra and of ultra-fast chemical processes. He was a post-doctoral researcher in the group of Michele Parrinello the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart and in the group of Jürg Hutter at the University of Zurich. Combining ab initio molecular dynamics and multi-configurational quantum chemical calculations, he studies the interplay between electronic structure, inter-molecular interactions and dynamics in hydrogen bonded liquids and in photo-induced processes.

The extreme surface sensitivity of two-dimensional (2D) materials provides an unprecedented opportunity to engineer the physical properties of these materials via changes to their surroundings, including substrate, adsorbates, defects, etc. In addition, 2D materials can be mechanically assembled layer-by-layer to form vertical or lateral heterostructures, making it possible to create new material properties merely by the choice of the constituting 2D layers and the relative twist angle between them. In this talk, I will discuss our recent transport [1] and photoemission [2] results that shed light on the intricate relationship between controlled external perturbations, substrate, and electronic properties of 2D materials. I will show that the decoration of the 2D materials with adatoms, such as sub-lattice selective atomic hydrogenation of graphene and alkali metal doping of single layer WS2 can be utilized to tailor electronic properties and induce novel quantum phenomena in 2D landscape.

[1] Katoch et. al., Physical Review Letters 121, 136801 (2018).

[2] Katoch et. al., Nature Physics 14, 355-359 (2018).

Jyoti Katoch grew up in Chandigarh, India and received her Ph.D. in physics from University of Central Florida in 2014. She held a postdoctoral appointment at the Ohio State University from 2014-2016 and as research scientist from 2016-2018. She recently joined the physics department at the Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor in fall 2018.

In situ and operando studies in thin film technologies are crucial ingredients for elucidationg the nanostructural evolution during fabrication and operation of thin film devices, as the nanostructure governs the macroscopic properties. Hence, grazing incidence small-angle (and wide angle) X-ray scattering has developed into a vital advanced method in this field. To sketch this development, I present highlight examples from coating technologies, namely spray-coating and physical vapor deposition [1,2], both of which are heavily used in thin film technology and roll-to-roll coating. In combination with biomaterials, new routes for organic electronics become possible [3]. Challenges involved are the high data rates during the in situ experiments [4], which necessitate novel and fast approached for data analysis [5]. Finally, as a very recent development, I will introduce the use of GISAXS in elucidating the nanostructure of flexible electronics [6].

[1] S. V. Roth: “A deep look into the spray coating process in real-time—the crucial role of x-rays”, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 28, 403003 (2016)

[2] M. Schwartzkopf and S. V. Roth: “Investigating Polymer–Metal Interfaces by Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering from Gradients to Real-Time Studies”, Nanomaterials 6, 239 (2016)

[3] W. Ohm, A. Rothkirch, P. Pandit, V. Körstgens, P. Müller- Buschbaum, R. Rojas, S. Yu, C. J. Brett, D. L. Söderberg, S. V. Roth: “Morphological properties of air-brush spray deposited enzymatic cellulose thin films”, J. Coat. Technol. Res. 15, 759 (2018)

[4] M. Schwartzkopf, A. Hinz, O. Polonskyi, T. Strunskus, F. C. Löhrer, V. Körstgens, P. Müller-Buschbaum, F. Faupel, and S. V. Roth: “Role of sputter deposition rate in tailoring nanogranular gold structures on polymer surfaces”, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 5629 (2017)

[5] G. Benecke, W. Wagermaier, C. Li, M. Schwartzkopf, G. Flucke, R. Hoerth, I. Zizak, M. Burghammer, E. Metwalli, P. Müller-Buschbaum, M. Trebbin, S. Förster, O. Paris, S. V. Roth, and P. Fratzl: “A customizable software for fast reduction and analysis of large X-ray scattering data sets: applications of the new DPDAK package to small-angle X-ray scattering and grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering”, J. Appl. Cryst. 47, 1797 (2014)

Dr. Stephan Volkher Roth is adjunct professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and beamline manager of the Micro- and Nanofocus-X-ray scattering beamline P03 including the surface science labs attached at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany. He studied physics in Bonn, and obtained his PhD at Technische Universität München (TUM), Munich, Germany, in 2001 (Prof. Dr. Petry) in neutron scattering. After his Postdoc at ESRF in Grenoble, France, he moved to DESY, Hamburg in 2004, where he became staff scientist in 2006. His research interests are sustainable biomaterials, nanoparticle formation, hybrid nanostructures, and metal-polymer nanostructures. He focuses on the investigation of coating technology for thin film fabrication using real-time X-ray methods with the aim of correlating the nanostructural evolution in thin films with their optical and electronic functionality. He has an H-index of 38 and authored and co-authored more than 220 peer-reviewed publications.

Creating, manipulating, and detecting coherent, entangled quantum states and isolating quantum systems from decoherence are at the heart of future quantum information science technologies. In this talk the new QUINTESSENCE project at the Molecular Foundry is presented. We aim to set up a quantum information instrument that opens the door for novel techniques that combine electron microscopy, surface analysis, and matter-wave interferometry. We will develop the first spin-polarized low-energy electron microscope with a helium temperature sample stage. We will construct a matter-wave interferometer with an electron biprism to directly map decoherence processes resulting from long-distance charge-surface interactions. Finally, we will develop a superconducting field-emission electron source with an ultra-low energy spread and therefore greatly increased coherence. This source has the potential to produce entangled free electron pairs with opposed spin and initial momentum, enabling research in quantum information science, Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen physics, as well as new modes of low-energy electron microscopy and decoherence mapping.
The talk will describe the current status of these experiments and present decoherence measurements in an electron biprism interferometer. Recent results also demonstrate that such a device can be used for signal transmission by a nontrivial quantum matter wave modulation that does not shift the transverse phase or position of the electron beam. This was achieved by using a Wien Filter to switch the fringe contrast between maximum and minimum. The origin of this binary encoding is a longitudinal shift between the separated matter wave packets that is longer than the longitudinal coherence length. The information is read out by a dynamic contrast analysis in a delay line detector.

Dr. Alexander Stibor studied Physics in Austria (Graz, Vienna) and in The Netherlands (Groningen). He finished his Doctorate thesis with the title: Optical Methods for Macromolecule Interferometry in 2005 at the University of Vienna, Austria, in the group of Prof. Arndt and Prof. Zeilinger. Then he moved to the University of Tübingen, Germany, to work as a postdoc (Marie Curie ER Fellowship) in the groups of Prof. Zimmermann and Prof. Fortágh on detection methods for ultracold quantum gases in magnetic microchip traps. In 2010, Dr. Stibor got the Emmy Noether Research Grant from the German Research Association (DFG) which allowed him to establish his own group Quantum Electron and Ion Interferometry at the University of Tübingen. The research focus is on matter wave experiments with electrons and ions including decoherence measurements, sensor technology and the development of novel coherent beam sources. In 2016, Dr. Stibor got the opportunity to be a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, USA, in the Atom Science group of Prof. Kasevich to create novel laser pulsed nanotip electron beam sources for quantum microscopy. Since April 2018, he has held a Physicist Project Scientist position at Berkeley Lab at the Molecular Foundry. Dr. Stibor and his colleagues (Dr. Schmid, Dr. Ogletree, and others) wrote the project proposalQUINTESSENCE which was recently funded by the DOI in the framework of the QIS initiative. Thereby, novel superconducting entangled electron beam sources and surface probing techniques by decoherence analysis are developed in connection with a new cryo-stage cooled low energy electron microscope.

As evidenced by numerous experimental and theoretical studies, application of high pressure can dramatically modify the atomic arrangement and electronic structures of both elements and compounds. However, the great majority of research has been focused on the effect of pressure on compounds with constant stoichiometries (typically those stable under ambient conditions). Recent experimental studies and theoretical predictions, using advanced search algorithms, suggest that the more stable stoichiometry at elevated pressures, and thus the chemical properties of elements, is not a priory the same as that at ambient pressure. Indeed, thermodynamically stable compounds with novel compositions were theoretically predicted and experimentally verified even in relatively simple chemical systems including: Na-Cl, C-N, Na-H Cs-N, H-N, Na-He, Xe-Fe, Ar-Ni. These materials are stable due to the formation of novel chemical bonds that are absent, or even forbidden, at ambient conditions.

By varying the stoichiometry one can design novel materials with enhanced properties (e.g. high energy density, hardness, superconductivity etc.), that are metastable at ambient conditions and synthesized at thermodynamic conditions less extreme than those required for known stoichiometries. Moreover, current outstanding questions, in geo- and planetary science (e.g. the xenon paradox) could be addressed based on the stability of surprising stoichiometries that challenge our traditional “textbook” picture. In this talk, I will present recent results and highlight the need of close synergy between experimental and theoretical efforts to understand the novel chemical properties of elements under high-pressure conditions in the challenging and complex field of variable stoichiometry under pressure. Finally, possible new routes for the synthesis of novel materials will be discussed.

This work was performed under the auspices of the U. S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

Dr. Elissaios Stavrou received his Ph.D. from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Currently he is a staff scientist in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Prior to joining LLNL in 2014, he worked as a postdoc on high-pressure phase transitions, lattice dynamics, and synthesis of novel compounds at the Max Planck Institute for solid state research and at the Geophysical Laboratory/Carnegie institution of Washington. His main research interests focus on the equation of state of energetic materials and the synthesis of novel compounds under extreme thermodynamic conditions.

Fluctuations, Brownian motion or thermal noise is where materials store thermal energy. Fluctuations are what keeps materials in equilibrium or allows them to change in response to external changing conditions. X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) is a technique that uses the coherence properties of x-rays to give detailed information about structural fluctuations and their dynamics at nanometer length scales, both in equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems. After discussing the basis of the technique, this talk will discuss three aspects of XPCS. First, some of the interesting results obtained to date; second, the current status and limitations of XPCS; and finally, the exciting new capabilities opened up by new sources such as the APS Upgrade and x-ray free-electron lasers.

Mark Sutton is a Professor Emeritus at McGill University. He has more than 35 years of experience using synchrotrons. He has been involved with the design and construction of Beamline X20 at the National Synchrotron Light Source and Sector 8 at the Advanced Photon Source. His studies concentrate on equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics of systems of interest to materials science. Most recently, he has been employing the ability to perform x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy using coherent x-ray beams. This technique exploits the unique properties of the coherent radiation from undulators at third-generation synchrotron sources, as well as recent developments in x-ray optics and detector technology. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Canadian Association of Physics. He has been awarded the Compton Medal from the Advanced Photon Source and the Brockhouse Medal and the Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics from the Canadian Association of Physicists.

Cataracts, named for the lens opacity, remain the leading cause of human blindness in the world. The lens, mainly consisting of a bulk of elongated fibers, is like a liquid crystal to provide a focused imaging of our vision. However, the principle and maintenance of lens transparency throughout our life remain poorly understood. Cataract risk factors include aging, predisposed genetic factors, and radiation damage. I will talk about how lens transparency and cataractogenesis are influenced by lens architecture, fiber cell morphogenesis, and metabolism, and will discuss the molecular and cellular regulations of lens elongating fibers and different genetic variances of cytoskeleton and cell junctions that coordinately control lens development and transparency. I will also share a recent achievement of the generation of a bio-artificial lens by using a novel lensgineering technology in discovering new reagents in vitro for controlling lens formation. Finally, I will address the challenges for understanding the principles of lens transparency and optic properties and for developing nonsurgical approaches to suppress the cataract formation.

Dr. Xiaohua Gong is currently a full professor of Optometry and Vision Science, Stem Cell Center, UC Berkeley-UCSF. He performed his graduate studies in Bioengineering in UC Berkeley, USA. He is also an affiliated professor at Tsinghua Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, China. He received a BA from the school of pharmacy, Fudan University and MS from the department of biochemistry and molecular genetics at Shanghai Medical School, Fudan University, China; and PhD from the department of cell biology at The Scripps Research Institute, and a Postdoctoral fellowship in School of Medicine at UC San Diego, USA.

Dr. Gong’s research aims to study molecular and cellular mechanisms of eye development and diseases, especially cataracts and retinal degenerations, by using multidisciplinary techniques from the fields of genetics, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, and physiology. Dr. Gong has been granted five NIH research grants since 2000 and one East Bay Community Foundation grant and a NIH/NEI core grant for vision research. He has more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Gong is a permanent member of the NIH Peer Review Committee—BVS study section, a permanent member of the Biology & Medicine Panel of the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong, and an editorial board member for JBC, served as a reviewer for many academic journals including PNAS, Development, JBC, J of Cell Science, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS), Experimental Eye Research, Mechanisms of Development, etc. He is a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, a member of the American Society for Cell Biology. At UC Berkeley, Dr. Gong is a member of the graduate advisory committee in the Vision Science program, a member of thesis committee of Ph.D. candidates, a member of qualifying exam committee of Ph.D. graduate students, and a member of the admission committee for the UCSF/UCB Bioengineering graduate program.

Computing is at a momentous point, as devices approach the 10-nm dimension even as new breakthrough AI/QC architectures evolve. In this talk, I will outline the framework that combines energy/dimension scaling (Moore’s law), computer error rates (Shannon computing), and modern AI architectures. I also outline how the next room-temperature computing device can be made from quantum materials exploiting the correlated electron phenomenon.

We describe a quantum materials-centric approach to enable the compute device layer for beyond the CMOS era. I will outline a number of pathways for computing devices that utilize quantum materials. In particular, I will describe the concept device (named Magneto-electric Spin Orbit Logic) used by Intel to drive high functionality materials in magneto-electrics and topological materials. In particular, the path to computing at aJ/bit (~30X more energy efficient than advanced CMOS) with 10-20X relaxation of the interconnect requirements will be described.

In the second half, I will describe the connection between AI computing and memory, identifying the key bottlenecks for reaching 1000 TOPS/W (a 100X leap over today’s GPUs/ASICs). Quantum materials, especially next-generation ferro-electrics and magnetics, can mitigate this memory wall. I will also describe the experimental methods to scale switching voltages to 100 mV (5X below advanced CMOS) using logic and SOTMRAM. Finally, a systems approach to modern computing comprehending spin/quantum circuit (the first industrially used Spin SPICE to design spin/quantum logic devices) and stochasticity that allows a holistic compute scaling will be described.

Sasikanth Manipatruni is working on building the next room-temperature transistor with quantum materials. He was the founding research director of Intel-FEINMAN center (Functional Electronics Integration and Manufacturing) and also senior counsel to the CTO of the Intel AI group. He received his PhD from Cornell, working with Prof. Michal Lipson in silicon photonics where he demonstrated ultra-fast silicon electro-optic switches, opto-mechanical non-reciprocity, and synchronization of opto-mechnical systems. At Intel, he developed materials and devices for beyond-CMOS memory/logic and built the first industrially adopted spintronic/quantum SPICE tool. He was awarded the IEEE/ACM Under-40 Innovators Award at DAC 2017, 2016 Mahboob Khan Outstanding Liaison Award, 2016 C-SPIN Outstanding Industry Liaison, and serves on several industry panels for research selection. His work is cited ~3600 times, and he holds ~200 granted/applied patents in spin/photonics/MEMS/CAD/AI/QC. He coaches middle and high school students for USA-PHO physics Olympiads.