Previous Editions__________________________________________________________________________SSRL Headlines Vol. 11, No. 9 March, 2011__________________________________________________________________________
Contents of this Issue:
Specifically, the committee concurs that SSRL's strategy to establish strategic
partnerships with federal agencies, national laboratories and academia as the
basis to develop new research programs is clearly an appropriate and extremely
effective one, as it leverages SSRL's truly unique and long-standing
relationship with Stanford University. The committee also agrees that the
energy-related initiatives in catalysis and nano-materials recently launched at
SLAC offer unique opportunities for partnerships-as well as a competitive
advantage for SSRL to establish itself as a leader in this important and
continuously growing area. Moreover, the committee recommends that we pursue
vigorously the establishment of a complementary and synergistic scientific
program with SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source, and suggests new research
directions, in particular materials under extreme conditions. The committee
also supports a proposed upgrade of the experimental facilities to enhance the
ongoing research programs, and makes valuable suggestions on how SSRL can
integrate multiple experimental techniques and research tools within SSRL to
address important scientific problems.
However, the committee also cautions that we need to focus on a small number of
areas, being sure to understand the impact on existing research programs as we
develop new programs. In particular, the committee recommends further
investigation of the consequences of low-alpha mode operation, especially about
how this mode will influence general users not involved in low-alpha
experiments. Finally, the committee recommends further investigation of the
costs and consequences of reduced emittance operation.
We will incorporate the SAC's valuable input into SSRL's evolving strategic
plan and will continue to work with members of the SAC in the coming months.
In parallel, we have developed a communication plan to engage the user
community in the strategic planning process. Most importantly, as major
components of the strategic plan are developed, we will circulate them to the
user community for your input and feedback. At that point it will be very
important for you to tell us if our plans align with your needs.
This is an exciting time and I look forward to planning SSRL's future together.
—Chi-Chang Kao
Our thoughts and hearts go out to our Japanese colleagues, friends and their
families as they recover from the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
It seems unimaginable that the lives of an entire nation can be changed in a
4-minute span of time, but we hear the news and see the images coming out of
Japan and know that this is true. We extend our deepest condolences and our
support to everyone who has been affected by this great tragedy.
As a research facility, SSRL can unfortunately do little to help with Japan's
biggest needs right now. But we can help in a small way by facilitating some
of the experimental needs of the temporarily displaced Photon Factory user
community. We are working with the Photon Factory Director, Prof. Soichi
Wakatsuki, to define the process. We have a number of rapid access mechanisms
available for anyone wishing to expedite the proposal to beamtime process. More
information is available on our User
Resources website.
Organic or plastic solar cells have achieved efficiencies greater than 8%,
close to the estimated 10% needed to make them economically viable. To close
the gap, researchers need to improve control of the nanostructure of the active
layer of these organic solar cells.
Recently, scientists from the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) and
SSRL studied a common active layer that contains a partly crystalline polymer
(P3HT) and a fullerene (PCBM) to better understand the ability of the two
components to mix during the manufacturing process. The researchers studied the
structure and morphology of the active layer through combined depth profiling
measurements at UCSB and x-ray diffraction at SSRL Beam Line 11-3. These
methods allowed them to determine that PCBM is mobile in disordered regions of
the P3HT polymer, and moves without disrupting the P3HT crystalline structure.
This interdiffusion of PCBM in the P3HT polymer was observed at relatively low
temperatures and was rapid at typical processing temperatures (e.g. 150°C).
These studies suggest that in P3HT - PCBM organic solar cells there is a
driving force toward a three phase mixture: pure P3HT crystallites, pure
amorphous PCBM, and a mixture of disordered P3HT and PCBM. This more complete
understanding of the mixing behavior of the components in blends may help make
organic solar cells economically viable. This work was published in the January
1, 2011, issue of Advanced Energy Materials.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
A team of scientists led by Prof. Wonwoo Nam of Ewha Womans University in South
Korea in collaboration with researchers at Stanford University and SSRL used
Beam Lines 7-3 and 9-3 to analyze the properties of a series of
metal-O2 intermediate models with cyclic ligands. They prepared
these to represent nitrogen based ligand systems in metallo-enzyme active
sites. Using x-ray absorption spectroscopy and EXAFS data, as well as DFT
calculations, they found changes in the ring size of the ligand can have
pronounced effect on the binding geometry and activation of oxygen.
The researchers conclude that small changes in a binding site structure can
result in large changes in oxygen activation. These studies provide insight
into how nature uses protein residues to tune function. This work was recently
published in articles in Nature Chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical
Society, and in Inorganic Chemistry.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight
The series, which seeks to stimulate scientific exchange within SLAC's photon
science community, focuses on recent results of photon science research at
SLAC. Speakers aim to present their work at a level of technicality accessible
to researchers across disciplines.
The lectures take place every Wednesday, starting with light refreshments at
3:00 p.m. in SLAC's Redtail Hawk conference room. We look forward to seeing you
there!
More information and details about upcoming lectures can be found on the
seminar series
webpage.
Mark your calendar for the annual SSRL/LCLS Users' Meeting and Workshops, which
will take place October 24-26, 2011. Parallel and join sessions covering
science highlights and photon science topics of interest are planned. In
addition, the conference organizers, Serena DeBeer (Cornell), Martin Nielsen
(U. Copenhagen), Josh Turner (LCLS) and Sam Webb (SSRL), seek suggestions for
workshop topics and volunteers to help organize the workshops. Please contact
any of the organizers with suggestions or to volunteer.
Also, please start to think about topics which you may want to share through
contributed talks or poster presentations, and consider nominating your
colleagues for awards which will be presented at the annual Users' Meeting. The
call for abstracts and award nominations will follow shortly.
SSRL will conduct the Summer School on Synchrotron X-ray Absorption
Spectroscopy on June 28-July 1. The goal of the four-day school is to provide
training in theory, experimental design, data acquisition strategies and data
analysis useful to both beginners and advanced students. K-edge, EXAFS and
advanced spectroscopic techniques applicable to relevant systems in the fields
of biology, environmental sciences, catalysis and material sciences will be
presented. The practical training session will focus on teaching detailed
experimental procedures at SSRL Beam Lines 11-2, 7-3, 4-1 and 2-3 and data
analysis techniques (basic and advanced). More information will be available
soon on the SSRL events webpage. We hope to see you there.
On May 24, Utrecht University Prof. Frank de Groot will present a comprehensive
lecture and hands-on analysis session on XAS charge transfer multiplets using
CTM4XAS, which is a semi-empirical program that includes important interactions
for the calculation of x-ray spectra of transition metal systems. The workshop
will feature XAS, MCD, XPS and XES data analysis with CTM4XAS. In addition,
Prof. de Groot will also discuss CTM4RIXS, an interactive tool to calculate and
visualize resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra. CTM4RIXS allows 2p3d,
3p3d, 1s2p and 1s3p RIXS spectra to be calculated.
The lecture and workshop will be held at SSRL on May 24. Space will be limited
for the workshop; online registration will soon go live on the SSRL events
webpage, so for now please save the date. In addition, Prof. de Groot will
present a SLAC lecture on May 25. This lecture will be open to everyone.
If you would like more information on CTM4XAS and CTM4RIXS or to download the
software, see the CTM4XAS website
SSRL staff scientist Apurva Mehta is careful to emphasize the plural-surfaces.
Often, many, differing surfaces exist on one sample, which means a variety of
chemical reactions can occur on one material. According to Mehta, such material
is "hierarchically heterogeneous." In other words, it displays different
behaviors depending on the size scale.
"There's a whole class of materials with structure at all different levels,"
Mehta explained, "and something happening at every level that's important." He
offered soil as an example. "Soil has large rocks, small rocks, porosities.
Depending on the size of the soil particles, contamination in groundwater
trickling through that soil moves at different rates, reacts at different
rates, and reacts with different materials." For scientists to understand what
happens in total, Mehta said, they have to know what happens at all levels, on
all surfaces. Read more in SLAC Today:
http://today.slac.stanford.edu/feature/2011/ssrl-surfaces.asp
Beam time requests for the June to July 25 macromolecular crystallography
scheduling period are due April 20. Learn more at
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/userresources/proposals.html
and submit
requests via the user portal at
https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/URAWI/Login.html.
New x-ray/VUV proposals are due June 1 for beam time starting in fall 2011.
Please note that our current experimental run ends on July 25. We plan to
resume user operations in late November or the beginning of December 2011.
Last Month, the SSRL User Portal began sending automated e-mails asking users
who are about to finish a run to fill out an online end-of-run summary. In
addition to clicking on the link in the e-mail, users can also access the
online end-of-run summary by logging onto the User Portal and selecting "End
of Run Summary" from the top navigation bar. From there users can navigate to
their SSRL or LCLS proposals and select end-of-run summaries for specific beam
lines and dates in the "Beam Time Information" section.
The end-of-run summary offers users the chance to provide feedback on their
beam time at SSRL and share suggestions on how services at the light source
can be
enhanced. The comments provided are extremely important to the User Research
Administration team. Thanks for your response!
On April 7, the National User Facility Organization (NUFO), of which the SSRL
is a member, will be holding an exhibition of user facility science on Capitol
Hill. This exhibition, to be held in the Rayburn Foyer of the Rayburn House
Office Building, will include posters from 39 national user facilities, with an
emphasis on the science being conducted at each. Each facility is expected to
have representatives to interact with visitors to the exhibition. Representing
SSRL will be Mike Toney (SSRL), Chris Kim (Chapman University) and Cathy
Knotts, who is a member of the NUFO Steering Committee. Leaders from various
government agencies, members of the U.S. Congress and their staff have been
invited to attend. For further information, visit www.nufo.org.
__________________________________________________________________________
SSRL Headlines is published electronically monthly to inform SSRL users,
sponsors and other interested people about happenings at SSRL. SSRL is a
national synchrotron user facility operated by Stanford University for the
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy
Sciences. Additional support for
the structural biology program is provided by
the DOE
Office of Biological and Environmental Research, the NIH
National Center for Research Resources and the NIH Institute for General Medical
Sciences. Additional information about
SSRL and its operation and schedules is available from the SSRL WWW
site.
__________________________________________________________________________
To leave the SSRL-HEADLINES distribution, send email as shown below:
To: LISTSERV@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU
Subject: (blank, or anything you like)
The message body should read
SIGNOFF SSRL-HEADLINES
That's all it takes. (If we have an old email address for you that is
forwarded to your current address, the system may not recognize who
should be unsubscribed. In that case please write to
ssrl-headlines-request@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu and we'll try to figure out
who you are so that you can be unsubscribed.)
If a colleague would like to subscribe to the list, he or she should send
To: LISTSERV@SSRL.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU and use the message body
SUBSCRIBE SSRL-HEADLINES
SSRL Welcome
Page | Science Highlights | Beam Lines |
User Admin | News & Events |
Safety
|
