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Workshops & Tutorials

In addition to the always-popular science workshops presenting the latest scientific findings and technical advances, the User Meeting organizers are pleased to announce a larger emphasis on tutorials at this year’s User Meeting. The tutorials will be geared towards introducing new and seasoned users to various techniques, tools, and instrumentation.

Light Sources 101: An Introduction to the World of Experiments at the ALS |  Tutorial

Monika Blum (ALS), Fanny Rodolakis (Argonne National Laboratory), and the ALS Users’ Executive Committee
Agenda for Workshop
This special tutorial organized by the Users’ Executive Committee will provide an overview for students, early-career scientists, or those who want to expand their technique toolkit. The ALS is able to support a limited number of students who would like to attend only this tutorial. To be considered, please fill in this form ASAP.

Abstract
This tutorial is tailored for students, postdocs, and anyone who wants to learn about a new technique. It will offer a broad overview of the science one can perform at the ALS with an emphasis on the following four major topics:

  • Photoemission (XPS, PES, ARPES, AP-X/PES, etc.)
  • Spectroscopy (XAS, XES, RIXS, etc.)
  • Scattering (RSXS, RSoXS, crystallography, etc.)
  • Imaging (3D imaging, STXM, etc.)

Each topic will include a general introduction to the technique(s) followed by a more detail-oriented presentation highlighting the capabilities of some ALS beamlines: types of samples that can be studied, sample preparation and environment, relevant data type and analysis procedure, etc.
This is the place to ask all the questions you have about a particular technique and how to successfully apply it to your scientific project!

Strategies for Ambient-Pressure XPS Data Collection and Analysis   |  Tutorial

Ashley Head (Brookhaven National Laboratory) and Slavo Nemsak (ALS)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
This tutorial will provide new and seasoned APXPS users with insight and tips on how to perform successful experiments and meaningfully interpret data. The first goal of the tutorial is to give users the tools they need to develop a successful experimental plan before an APXPS beam time. Building on the basics, more complex capabilities of an APXPS endstation will be introduced, such NEXAFS and depth profiling. The second goal of the tutorial is to equip users with the knowledge of best practices in data fitting. The basics of data analysis will be covered, with the opportunity for hands-on data analysis.

Beamline Controls in Python with Xi-cam, Bluesky, and PyDM |  Tutorial

Ron Pandolfi (CAMERA), Dinesh Kumar (CAMERA), Alexander Hexemer (ALS), and Guillaume Freychet (ALS)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
With increasing interest in beamline automation and reactive, data-driven acquisition, support software to complement the LabView environment at the ALS is in development. In collaboration with CAMERA, ALS, NSLS-II, and LCLS, a Python-based controls interface will be demonstrated that combines the capabilities of Xi-cam (LBNL), Ophyd/Bluesky (BNL), and PyDM/Typhon (LCLS). This suite of open-source tools provides a graphical, scriptable, and customizable environment for user-facing controls. Xi-cam is available for download online.

Nanospectroscopies  |  Workshop + Tutorial

Elke Arenholz (ALS), Aaron Bostwick (ALS), and Hans Bechtel (ALS)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
Currently “nano” typically means “imaging”, i.e. using well-known elemental or valence or magnetic contrast provided by IR radiation and x-rays to map heterogeneity on the nanoscale. This combined tutorial/workshop, in contrast, focuses on spectroscopy with nanoscale spots, exploring in detail the very local electronic, magnetic, and atomic structures that are possibly only present in nano-phases.
The science focus of the workshop will be quantum materials and will feature different nanospectroscopies: nano-APRES, nano-x-ray absorption, and synchrotron infrared nanoscopy (SINS). Researchers (students, postdocs, PIs) from the ALS user communities will come together to explore how we can use these nanoscopies—especially the ones we are not yet familiar with—to address science questions we already are working on or plan to work on.

9th Annual SIBYLS BioSAXS Workshop  |  Workshop + Tutorial

Michal Hammel (MBIB) and Greg Hura (MBIB)
Website for Workshop

Abstract
This two-day workshop and tutorial will cover frontiers in biological SAXS and will provide participants with software tutorial sessions for biological SAXS in addition to hands-on training in experimental techniques. The latest advances in SAXS studies on biological systems will be discussed with particular focus on advances in synchrotron scattering techniques, modeling of dynamic and flexible structures, bioSAXS with membrane proteins, and integrating bioSAXS analysis within cryo-EM imaging. Updates on current developments of software for SAXS analysis pertaining to structural biology will presented.
The first day of the workshop will begin with a brief run-through on current updates. Greg Hura, a Berkeley Lab SAXS beamline scientist will introduce the future of high-throughput and size-exclusion chromatography-coupled SAXS at the SIBYLS beamline. Three keynote speakers will continue Dr. Hura’s discussion by elaborating on the basics of SAXS and fascinating integration of bioSAXS in integrative structural biology. Michal Hammel, another one of Berkeley Lab’s SAXS beamline scientists, will give a talk about integrating high-resolution models in the SAXS modeling. Other distinguished speakers from the SIBYLS user community, will contribute to the basis of the workshop over the two days by sharing complementary experimental approaches and modeling techniques. This will provide for a flux of ideas among workshop participants and inspired new perspectives for future data analysis. The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to the practical hands-on exercise with SAXS software for data processing (SCATTER), SAXS similarity maps, and modeling tools (FOXS, MultiFOXS, FoXSDock, BILBOMD, and SAXS shape calculator).

Ptycho-tomography   |  Workshop + Tutorial

Stefano Marchesini (CRD), David Shapiro (ALS), Bjoern Enders (STROBE/ALS), Pablo Enfedaque (CRD), and Huibin Chang (CRD)

Abstract
Ptychography has enabled in recent years nanometer resolution, macroscopic field of view, and the capability to retrieve chemical, orbital, electronic, or magnetic contrast by reconstruction of both the phase (refractive index) and attenuation coefficients of a sample. The ptycho-tomography reconstruction problem is in principle similar to two dimensional ptychography. In practice, nanoscale imaging and three-dimensional tomographic reconstruction can be challenging because sample drifts are almost inevitable at high resolution, the phase of the tomographic projection may be wrapped around, measurements may have outliers, a fluctuating background, or may be restricted to a limited angular range of sample rotations. Several groups, including other DOE light sources, have developed new solutions to these practical problems. This workshop will serve to strengthen collaborations among the synchrotron x-ray nano-imaging community and offer a forum to discuss practical solutions for routine user operations.

Spin and Electronic Order in Functional Materials  |  Workshop + Tutorial

Padraic Shafer (ALS), Rajesh Chopdekar (ALS), Sujoy Roy (ALS), and Elke Arenholz (ALS)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
Modern functional materials exhibit many intriguing phenomena including novel electronic and magnetic textures, the appearance of interfacial magnetic order and the ability to tailor ground states via applied fields, electrostatically controlled ion migration, or strain-engineering. Tunable functionality emerges from the delicate interplay between lattice, charge, spin, and orbital degrees of freedom, allowing for sensitive control over electronic and magnetic properties via perturbations by electric and magnetic fields, chemical pressure, temperature, or strain. Soft x-rays provide an ideal toolset to examine the electronic states of functional materials under such perturbations, with the ability to study these systems via real-space or reciprocal-space probes at a variety of length and time scales. This workshop will explore current and future research in this field while also providing a tutorial-style overview of nanospectroscopy, magnetic microscopy, ferromagnetic resonance, correlation spectroscopy, and resonant x-ray scattering capabilities at the Advanced Light Source.

Fundamental Understanding of Electrochemical and Catalytic Processes Using Synchrotron Techniques  |  Workshop + Tutorial

Xueli Zheng (Stanford University) and Ashley Head (Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
The efficiency with which renewable fuels and feedstocks are synthesized from solar, electrical, and chemical processes is limited at present by the sluggish improvements in our fundamental understanding of electrochemical and catalytic processes. Synchrotron x-rays provide a wide distribution of energy that allows for in situ/ex situ tracking of chemical processes with various depth sensitivities through spectroscopy, scattering, and imaging capabilities. Therefore, synchrotron x-ray radiation techniques, together with the theoretical studies of materials chemistry and physics, provide a great opportunity to accelerate the advancement of electrochemical and catalytic energy technologies. The goal of this workshop is to bring a close coupling of theoretical understanding and advanced synchrotron x-ray characterization to confront the material challenges shared by many research fields such as fuel cells, solar fuels, batteries, and catalytic systems. The workshop will bring together a group of scientists to exchange ideas and discuss the progress and future possibilities in photo-electrochemical and catalytic systems.

Progress and Challenges Toward In Situ/Operando Resonant Soft X-Ray Scattering  |  Workshop

Brian Collins (Washington State University) and Cheng Wang (ALS)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
The capability of resonant soft x-ray scattering (RSoXS) to reveal the details of organic nanostructures has now expanded to a multitude of applications and scientific fields. These new fields have in turn demanded improved in-situ/operando capabilities that include sample fluids, gasses, temperatures, and electric-field stimuli during measurement. Efforts to fulfill this instrumentation need are in progress at multiple facilities with initial exploratory studies underway by many groups. This workshop will highlight the progress and challenges faced toward realizing these novel capabilities as well as new science they are already enabling. Built-in discussions between research teams across the country will engender sharing of ideas and experiences to more efficiently and quickly solve problems and accelerate advances in the resulting science.

X-Ray Footprinting to Study Protein Conformations and Interactions in Solutions  |  Workshop

Corie Ralston (MBIB) and Sayan Gupta (MBIB)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
X-ray footprinting mass spectrometry (XFMS) is a method for structural elucidation of protein complexes in solution and has been applied to a diverse range of biological systems, yielding unique structural insights impossible to obtain using the more standard high-resolution structural methods of crystallography, NMR, and electron microscopy. The technique uses a high-flux-density x-ray beam for in situ hydroxyl radical labeling of proteins and mass spectrometry for data analysis. The technique was pioneered at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) over the past decade; now with the user community continuing to grow all over the US, it is imperative that XFMS continue to be developed. We have recently built a new footprinting beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron to address this national need. This workshop will cover recent advances in the XFMS method at the ALS, and its applications, which range from studying protein structures and interactions for therapeutic interests to the study of proteins and enzymes for bioenergy solutions, biosequestration, and bioremediation. In particular, we will have scientific talks on ion transport in membrane proteins, protein-ligand interactions in GPCRs, protein-antibody interactions for drug discoveries, nanoparticle-protein interactions for electron transfer processes, structural studies on photosynthetic regulatory proteins, and bacterial micro-compartment assemblies.

Fundamentals and Applications of Soft X-Ray RIXS: Opportunities in Physics and Materials  |  Workshop

Wanli Yang (ALS), Jinghua Guo (ALS), Yi-De Chuang (ALS), Per-Anders Glans-Suzuki (ALS), and Yi-Sheng Liu (ALS)
Agenda for Workshop

Abstract
The ALS has recently demonstrated a series of soft x-ray, high-efficiency resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) systems that cover full-energy-range, fast mapping of RIXS (mRIXS), various in situ capabilities through wetRIXS, and momentum-resolved qRIXS. Additionally, two high-resolution RIXS beamlines, AMBER and QERLIN, are under commission with scientific focuses on practical energy materials and fundamental quantum materials, respectively. RIXS has been a powerful technique for revealing the low-energy excitations in fundamental physics systems; however, it is only recently that RIXS has started to emerge as a unique probe for studying the chemistry of practical materials, especially electrochemical systems for energy applications. Although these high-efficiency RIXS systems open up new opportunities in both fundamental physics and practical materials studies, theoretical interpretations and potential applications are yet to be explored. This workshop plans to bring together theoreticians, spectroscopists, and material scientists to discuss the opportunities, challenges, and interpretations of soft x-ray RIXS of both energy and quantum materials.

Understanding the Self-Assembly of 1D and 2D Nanomaterials with In Situ X-Ray Scattering  |  Workshop

Chenhui Zhu (ALS), Alexandra Courtis (UC Berkeley), and Yadong Yin (UC Riverside)
Website for Workshop

Abstract
The study of 2D nanomaterials is an exciting area of materials science and engineering. Nanoscale control of individual 2D materials alongside their superstructures presents opportunities for advancing fundamental research alongside revolutionizing many real-world applications including solar cells, transistors, and photonic crystals. Precision synthesis paired with advanced characterization is required to fully exploit and discover new functionalities of 2D nanosystems and realize these potential applications. The goal of this workshop is to bring together experts from the fields of materials science and synchrotron x-ray scattering, in order to address outstanding characterization challenges in the field of synthesis and self-assembly of 2D materials.
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