Science Highlights
Persistent State-of-Charge Heterogeneity in Fully Relaxed Battery
Electrode Particles – Contacts: Johanna Nelson Weker
(SSRL) and William C. Chueh (Stanford University)
Most portable electronic devices depend on lithium ion batteries for energy
storage. The current capabilities of lithium ion batteries are insufficient for
the requirements of emerging and growing industries, like electric cars and
renewable energy storage. These industries require batteries that are
longer-lived, smaller, lighter, and cheaper. One way to improve lithium ion
batteries is to increase the charging cutoff voltage, which increases the
energy that can be stored in the battery, but it leads to shortened battery
life, called capacity fade. A team of scientists has discovered a new mechanism
for capacity fade. Read more...
A New Type of Pilus from the Human Microbiome
– Contacts: Ian A. Wilson (The Scripps Research Institute) and Koji
Nakayma (Nagasaki University)
Many bacteria, including many colonizing our own gut biomes, produce
hair-like pili structures on their surfaces. There are various types of pili
used for different purposes, like exchanging genetic information (conjugation),
movement, and adhesion. A bacterium builds pilus through oligomerization of
protein subunits. A group of scientists have determined the structure of a new
type of pilus, which they named the type V pilus. Read more...
SSRL Science in the News
SSRL Part of ‘Battery500’ - to Develop New Technology
for Electric Vehicles
Excerpted from July 29, 2016 SLAC News Feature
A newly formed Battery500 consortium, including researchers from Stanford
University and SLAC will receive up to $10 million each year for the next five
years to develop a new battery technology that could make electric vehicles go
two to three times farther and make them less expensive. Support for Battery500
is one of several federal and private sector actions announced on July 21 by
the Obama administration that aim to boost the spread and affordability of
electric vehicles in the U.S. It is part of a broader effort to fight climate
change, make clean energy widely accessible and reduce dependence on oil.
Funded by the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
the consortium will work on making smaller, lighter and cheaper batteries that
can be seamlessly adopted by battery and car manufacturers. Battery500 will
take advantage of a number of facilities, including SSRL, where synchrotron
x-ray based studies will be used to diagnose various battery materials on the
nanoscale and under operating conditions. Read more...
X-ray Studies Could Help Make LIGO Gravitational Wave Detector 10
Times More Sensitive
Excerpted from July 19, 2016 SLAC News Feature
Scientists from Stanford University and SSRL are using x-rays to study
high-performance mirror coatings that could help make the LIGO gravitational
wave observatory 10 times more sensitive to cosmic events that ripple
space-time.
| |  |
| An experimental setup used
to study mirror coating materials with the grazing-incidence x-ray
pair distribution function (GI-XPDF) technique. |
The current version of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave
Observatory, called Advanced LIGO, was the first experiment to directly observe
gravitational waves, which were predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago. In
September 2015, it detected a signal coming from two black holes, each about 30
times heavier than the sun, which merged into a single black hole 1.3 billion
years ago.
“The detection of gravitational waves will fundamentally change our
understanding of the universe in years to come,” says Riccardo Bassiri, a
physical science research associate at Stanford’s interdisciplinary
Ginzton Laboratory. ”Extremely precise mirrors are the heart of LIGO, and
their coatings determine the experiment’s sensitivity, or ability to
measure gravitational waves. So improving those coatings will make future
generations of the experiment even more powerful.”
Bassiri has teamed up with Apurva Mehta, a staff scientist at SSRL, to study
the atomic structure of coating materials and develop ideas for better
ones. Read more...
SSRL X-ray Studies Help NASA Develop Printable Electronics for Mars
Mission Scientists Create Plasma-Printed Sensors to Monitor Astronaut Health on
Long Space Trips
Excerpted from July 28, 2016 SLAC News Feature
Plans begin decades in advance for a tremendous effort such as the first
manned mission to Mars. The details are as fine – and essential –
as how astronauts will breathe and eat and track their health. To help prepare
for the endeavor, Ram Gandhiraman, a scientist with Universities Space Research
Association at NASA Ames Research Center, is creating a tool that will allow
astronauts to craft materials in space using a jet of plasma – an
energized gas of free electrons and ions. The plasma jet can spray tiny
semiconductor particles onto cheap, flexible surfaces, such as paper or cloth,
and form wearable electronic circuits. Astronauts can use these sensors to
track their health and also the environment. The sensors contain small
semiconductors tailored to detect biomolecules, such as dopamine and serotonin,
as well as gases like ammonia in the environment. The NASA team brings the
sensors to SSRL to look at the fine details of the sensors’ surfaces.
This characterization allows them to optimize the process for printing sensors
with the same quality every time.
The NASA team plans to collaborate with SSRL scientist Dennis Nordlund to
develop even more applications for the versatile plasma jet. They have already
shown the jet can be used for sterilizing equipment. Next up – NASA is
developing a way to use microbes to recycle metals needed for electronics
during long-term missions. The plasma jet is being tested to see how well it
can print electronics using the metal “bioink” produced by the
microbes. Using SSRL's x-ray spectroscopy tools, they will look at the
purity of recycled materials and pinpoint any contaminants present. The
researchers also plan to look at how the same recycling and printing process
might be used here on Earth. Read more...
Workshop Summary
SSRL Summer School on Synchrotron X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and
Imaging
The SSRL Structural Molecular Biology and Chemistry & Catalysis teams
held a summer school on synchrotron x-ray absorption spectroscopy, July 18-22,
2016. The first day of the week-long school was devoted to a series of lectures
on the theoretical, experimental and practical concepts of spectroscopy and
imaging. Leading experts in the field discussed applications of the two
techniques in various areas of scientific research. The lectures were followed
by two days of hands-on training at five experimental beam lines at SSRL, where
the participants obtained in-depth instruction on sample preparation, beam line
operational protocols and experimental data collection. During the final two
days the participants were trained in experimental data reduction and analysis.
Instructions on rational experimental design, beam time proposal writing and
methods for result reporting in peer-reviewed journals were provided. The
school received overwhelming interest and was limited in attendance to 40
participants from the US, Canada and Europe. It was enabled by funding
from NIH NIGMS, DOE BER and DOE BES.
Upcoming Events
12th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation -
August 21-24, 2016
This meeting provides a forum for scientists involved in research and
development on synchrotron and free electron laser sources to come together
with a broad community of biologists, with the ambition to make the best use of
the most advanced infrastructures in structural biology. Possible applications
range from atomic-resolution and time-resolved structures of biological
macromolecules, medium resolution images of the largest molecular complexes in
the living word, and cellular and sub-cellular structures. Registration closes
August 12. Conference website
Scientific Opportunities for Ultrafast Hard X-rays at High
Repetition Rate: An Energy Upgrade of LCLS-II – September 26-27,
2016
Looking to the future, the proposed energy upgrade of LCLS-II to 8 GeV
(LCLS-II-HE) promises to open entirely new areas of science by providing x-ray
energies extending beyond 12 keV to enable high repetition-rate studies of
atomic, electronic, and chemical dynamics at the atomic scale.
The objective of this workshop is to further develop the science case for
this proposed upgrade, and refine the technical requirements to ensure maximum
scientific impact. The results of this workshop will help guide the design and
performance capabilities of the upgraded facility; and will inform the planning
for new future scientific instrumentation. Workshop website
4th High-Power Laser Workshop – October 3-4 2016
This workshop will bring together the international science community to
discuss recent experimental results from matter in extreme conditions (MEC)
enabled by the combination of high-power laser drivers with the world-class
LCLS x-ray beam. We will discuss novel experiments in the high-pressure regime
created by nanosecond lasers and in particular discuss results obtained with
the recently commissioned 25 TW-laser. We will describe the scientific
opportunities at the MEC instrument and provide time to discuss important
physics proposals and experimental needs for cutting-edge research with the
upcoming 200 TW-laser that is expected to become available shortly after the
workshop.
The workshop will provide opportunities for presentations by students and
postdocs in discussion and poster sessions. Workshop
website
Register for SSRL/LCLS Users' Conference – October 5-7,
2016
The Annual SSRL/LCLS Users' Conference is an excellent opportunity for
our user community to participate in an event that provides a broad sampling of
multidisciplinary photon science through plenary presentations, poster talks,
workshops and satellite events. Activities planned for this event include:
Workshops: Wednesday, October 5
- High Throughput Serial MX Data Collection at Synchrotrons and
FELs
- Hybrid Methods and Dynamics in Structural Biology
- LCLS-II Instrumentation Workshops NEH 1.x & NEH 2.x
(Parallel Workshops)
- Discovering Functional Materials Faster
- LCLS Data Analysis and Interface Hands-on Analysis Tutorial
- Applying Machine Learning to LCLS Data Analysis
Plenary
Talks: Thursday, October 6
- Simon Bare, SLAC SSRL
- Mike Dunne, SLAC LCLS
- Kelly Gaffney, SLAC SSRL
- Harriet Kung, DOE BES
- Mike Lubell, CCNY/American Physical Society
- Marius Schmidt, University of Wisconsin
- Stan Williams, Hewlett Packard
Workshops: Friday, October 7
- Electrochemical Energy Materials and Fundamental Studies Using
Synchrotron X-rays
- In-Situ Catalysis with Advanced X-ray Methods
- Sample Delivery: Methods & Equipment
- SAXS for Biological Characterizations
- ScÅtter Software Tutorial
- Nonlinear X-rays - Advanced Methods and Science Applications
- Analysis of xFEL scattering data from Biomolecules and
Nanoparticles
- Timing and Synchronization of X-ray and Optical Lasers
Satellite Events: Saturday, October 8
- Young Investigators Session organized by BioXFEL
- PULSE Institute 10-Year Anniversary Symposium
The activities scheduled over this multi-day event provide opportunities to
discuss the latest user research results, current/future capabilities and new
science opportunities as well as to network with scientists in many areas as
well as vendors of light source related products and services.
We look forward to seeing you there! Users' Conference website
Announcements
Call for Award Nominations
It has been an exciting year, so please take a few minutes to reflect on
accomplishments from your group and the overall SSRL community. Recognize
outstanding achievements of your colleagues, postdocs, students (or yourself)
by submitting nominations for the following awards.
William E. and Diane M. Spicer Young Investigator Award
– Submit Nominations by August 1: The $1,000 Spicer Young Investigator
Award honors the professional and personal contributions that William E. and
Diane M. Spicer made to our community. Submit nomination packages including a
letter summarizing the scientific contributions of the candidate as well as
their CV and publications (supporting letters also encouraged).
Melvin P. Klein Scientific Development Award – Submit
Nominations by August 22 (extended from August 15): This $1,000 award honoring
Mel Klein's many contributions recognizes research accomplishments of
undergraduate/graduate students or postdoctoral fellows within three years of
receiving their Ph.D. This award provides peer recognition and helps to promote
dissemination of results based on work performed at SSRL. The nomination
package should include the candidates CV, letters of recommendation from the
advisor and colleagues, as well as an abstract written by the candidate
describing the SSRL related experiments, scientific results, and plans to
present the findings.
Farrel W. Lytle Award – Submit Nominations by August
22 (extended from August 15): The $1,000 Lytle Award was established to promote
technical or scientific accomplishments in synchrotron radiation-based science
and to foster collaboration and efficient use of beam time at SSRL. SSRL users
and staff are eligible to be nominated for the Lytle Award. Letters of
nominations should include a summary of the individual's contributions and
why they should be recognized through this award. Supporting letters are
welcome.
Send nomination packages for these awards to knotts@slac.stanford.edu by the
above mentioned deadlines. These awards will be presented at the SSRL/LCLS
Annual Users' Conference, October 5-7, 2016. The recipients of the Spicer
and Klein awards will be asked to give a presentation on his/her research
during the plenary session of the Users' Conference on October 6.
Call for User Science Posters – Submit
Poster Abstracts by September 28
The user science poster session during our Annual Users' Conference on
October 6 is a great time to share your latest advances and results as well as
network with colleagues to learn about new capabilities, technology and
research results. And, there will be refreshments! Poster abstract submission
User Research Administration
SSRL Beam Time Request Deadlines
- August 22, 2016 – X-ray/VUV (November 2016 through January 2017
beam time)
- September 15, 2016 – Macromolecular Crystallography (Mid-November
2016 through February 2017 beam time)
Proposal Deadlines
- September 1, 2016 – X-ray/VUV proposals (for beam time
eligibility beginning in late winter 2017)
- December 1, 2016 – X-ray/VUV proposals (for beam time eligibility
beginning in spring 2017)
- December 1, 2016 – Macromolecular Crystallography proposals (for beam
time eligibility beginning in March 2017)
Submit proposals and beam time requests through the user portal.
Acknowledge SSRL in Your Publications
SSRL provides technical tools for world-leading science with the
understanding that significant results are to be publicly disseminated. Please
remember to acknowledge SSRL in ALL publications resulting from use of SSRL
beam lines. This acknowledgement of SSRL is relevant even when final results
are obtained at other facilities. If SSRL is not acknowledged in your paper or
supplementary material, we are not able to include it on our list or report it
to our funding agencies. Your assistance is essential to help us to meet our
mission requirements, including assessment and reporting. More information is
available on our publications page.
The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) is a third-generation
light source producing extremely bright x-rays for basic and applied
research. SSRL attracts and supports scientists from around the world who
use its state-of-the-art capabilities to make discoveries that benefit society.
SSRL, a U.S. DOE Office of Science national user facility, is a Directorate of
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, operated by Stanford University for the
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SSRL Structural
Molecular Biology Program is supported by the DOE Office of Biological and
Environmental Research, and by the National Institutes of Health, National
Institute of General Medical Sciences. For more information about SSRL science,
operations and schedules, visit http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu.
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Questions? Comments? Contact Lisa Dunn
