APS Today: Archives beta

2013

May 17
Friday

In Situ Crystallographic Studies of Adsorption Processes in Porous Materials

Speaker: Phoebe K. Allan, University of Cambridge
XSD Presentation
433/C010 @ 2:00 PM
May 6
Monday

2013 APS/CNM/EMC Users Meeting

APS Conference
Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL
401/ @ 9:00 AM
May 3
Friday

Transient Absorption of Attosecond Radiation by Laser Dressed Systems

Speaker: Ken Schafer, Louisiana State University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Attosecond transient absorption (ATA) studies provide a way to push our understanding of the energy transfer between electromagnetic fields and matter to the sub femtosecond time scale. ATA is an all-optical attosecond metrology that complements methods based on the measurement of charged particles, such as attosecond streaking and electron interferometry. In this talk I will review the basics of ATA and summarize recent results in this fast growing field. I will discuss calculations from our attosecond theory group on ATA in laser-dressed atoms that highlight the extent to which attosecond dynamics can be extracted from these measurements.
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May 3
Friday

Development and Applications of X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy in the Ultra-small Angle Scattering Regime

Speaker: Dr. Fan Zhang, NIST
XSD Presentation
401/B4100 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
Partially coherent radiations generated by high-brilliance third generation synchrotron sources have allowed measurements of slow dynamics in various soft and hard material systems. We have recently developed an X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) technique in the ultra-small angle scattering regime, which fills an existing gap between the accessible Q ranges of dynamic light scattering and pinhole-based XPCS and enables studies of low-frequency equilibrium and nonequilibrium dynamics in optically opaque materials. This technique, based on the Bonse-Hart ultra-small angle X-ray scattering instrument at the Advanced Photon Source, requires modifications to the beamline configuration and instrument operations for dynamic measurements. We will review the basic features of this technique, and will discuss in details the optimizations that we made to meet the needs of signal-to-noise limited XPCS studies. We will present the data analysis approaches that we established to quantify the dynamic time scales of measured equilibrium or nonequilibrium processes. Finally, we will use a few examples to illustrate the applications of this technique in understanding of equilibrium dynamics of soft materials and nonequilibrium behavior of both soft and hard materials.
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May 2
Thursday

A Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction from Perovskite Thin Flms: Probing the Effects of Microscopic Structure on Macroscopic Properties

Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Sichel-Tissot, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Perovskite oxides are a fascinating class of materials - they exhibit a huge range of properties such as magnetic ordering, ferroelectricity, metal to insulator transitions, piezoelectricity, just to name a few. These properties are extremely sensitive to the position, bonding, and electronic state of the central atom. As a result, small strains or structural changes can have large effects on the functional properties. The perovskites present an exciting opportunity to gain insight into these phenomena by pairing structural characterization with measurements of the macroscopic properties.

In this talk, I will discuss how synchrotron x-ray diffraction can be used to study ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, and charge disproportionation in perovskite thin films. Ferroelectric domains in (Pb,Zr)TiO3 thin films were written using PFM. X-ray nanodiffraction was used to simultaneously image the domains and probe the structure. By comparing our results with PFM imaging, we find that the strain induced by the writing process is responsible for certain polarizations being less stable than others. In piezoelectric thin films, the film is macroscopically attached (clamped) to its substrate and the average piezoelectric distortion along the film-substrate interface must be zero. We observe very different results at the microscopic level. Using time-resolved x-ray microdiffraction, we find that the piezoelectric response of individual domains in BiFeO3 thin films is not zero and varies on a domain-by-domain basis. Finally, we combine electronic transport measurements with x-ray diffraction from charge disproportionation in La1/3Sr2/3FeO3 thin films. The temperature dependence of the resistivity and intensity and correlation lengths of the charge disproportionation reflections give insight into the nature of this phase transition.
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May 1
Wednesday

Double Photoionization of Aromatic Molecules

Speaker: Dr. Ralf Wehlitz, Synchrotron Radiation Center, University of Wisconsin - Madison
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
Electron correlations can be found in various fields of physics whenever we have to go beyond the independent particle model. A convenient method to study electron correlations in atoms and molecules is to measure the probability to remove TWO electrons simultaneously with a single photon (called double photoionization) from the sample. Because a single photon can interact with only one electron, the removal of two electrons is due to electron correlations. I will present our recent results on double photoionization over a broad range of photon energies for several aromatic molecules. Our goal is to find systematic trends as the molecular structure of our different samples changes. Questions that will be addressed in the talk are: How does the structure of a molecule affect the double-photoionization process? Which mechanisms contribute to double photoionization?
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Apr 29
Monday

Temperature Measurement and Stabilization Strategies for the APS

Speaker: Lester Erwin
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 2:30 PM
View Description
APS beam stability is impacted directly by temperature variations. Temperature changes cause mechanical movement in the tunnel which could be water, air, or beam related. When the temperature on the storage ring mezzanine area changes, the electronics reflect this as a false beam position change. We can regulate the temperature better, measure the mechanical change and compensate, or a do combination of both. No matter what, we need to measure the temperature or the movement very accurately. This talk will tell what is being measured and what has been analyzed so far, and how we are approaching methods to mitigate some of the temperature challenges.
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Apr 26
Friday

Insertion Device Related Beam Dynamics - Simulation and Specification

Speaker: Aimin Xiao, ASD/Accelerator Operations and Physics
ASD Seminar
401/B2100 @ 2:30 PM
Apr 26
Friday

Atomic Structural Evolution in Cu-Zr and Ni-Nb Liquids and Glasses: A measure of liquid fragility?

Speaker: Dr. Nicholas Mauro, Washington University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The glass forming ability (GFA) of metallic alloys is widely varied. Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) have been identified in a number of alloy systems but far more compositions can be formed only when their liquids are rapidly quenched. Understanding the differences between these systems remains one of the most important problems in condensed matter physics. Understanding the structural evolution of metallic liquids as they are supercooled and quenched into glasses is critically important, not only for providing insight into the nature of the glass transition, but also for understanding technical aspects of glass formation and the thermal stability of the glassy solid. In this talk, we discuss the results of high energy X-ray diffraction studies on Cu-Zr and Ni-Nb liquids and glasses. The temperature dependence of the X-ray structure factors has been measured in the glass from room temperature to above the glass transition temperature by means of stationary diffraction in a ! capillary while data in the equilibrium and supercooled liquid state were acquired using the Beamline Electrostatic Levitation technique. As will be shown, both the structure factors as well as the calculated total pair correlation functions display an anomalous evolution indicating a rapid acceleration of short-range order above the glass transition temperature. This behavior contrasts sharply with that observed in high glass forming ability metallic alloys suggesting a structural fragility metric distinguishing good glass formers from poor ones. We discuss the implications for this observation on our fundamental understanding of glass formation.
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Apr 25
Thursday

Towards a Sustainable Future: Hard X-ray Methodologies for Energy and Environmental Applications

Speaker: Olaf Borkiewicz, Miami University
XSD Presentation
401/A5000 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
The anticipated doubling of the worlds energy consumption within the next 50 drives the need for efficient and clean energy. Advanced electrical energy storage systems and nuclear energy are technologies that are crucial to achieving this goal. However, key materials challenges must be overcome before these technologies become viable:
  • For electrical energy storage systems to become practical for transportation and electrical grid application, higher capacity/power and faster recharge times are needed. Gaps in our understanding of the atomic- and molecular-scale processes that control performance and failure of these systems must be addressed by fundamental research.

  • For safe nuclear energy industry, the challenges lay in the effective disposal of the radioactive waste generated by the nuclear fuel cycle. Many solutions involve "multiple-barrier" geological depositories which use a wide range of sequestration agents. Understanding of the structural and chemical properties of these agents, and their interaction with radioactive elements, is key to the fidelity of these facilities.


In both electrical energy storage and nuclear energy, the complexity of the systems and the often metastable and/or disordered nature of the materials pose a significant characterization challenge. This challenge can be addressed through judicious selection and, where necessary, development of incisive characterization tools. We have recently designed an operando electrochemical cell, optimized for a variety of hard X-ray methodologies, and used it to probe next-generation battery materials with an unprecedented level of precision. First-of-the-kind operando pair distribution function measurements have provided a detailed understanding of high-performance electrode materials. In situ time-resolved powder X-ray diffraction data, analyzed through Rietveld refinement, combined with X-ray absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and other analyses, have been used to evaluate the use of hydroxylapatite as radionuclide sequestration agent and solid nuclear waste form.
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Apr 24
Wednesday

Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering in a Mott Insulator

Speaker: Nandan Pakhira, Department of Physics, Georgetown University
XSD Presentation
401/B4100 @ 3:00 PM
View Description
I will be talking on the recently published calculation of RIXS response in the Falicov-Kimball model. The Falicov-Kimball model is exactly solvable under single site dynamical mean field theory approximation and the RIXS response in this model can also be accurately calculated up to a local background correction. We find that on resonance the RIXS response is greatly enhanced. The response systematically evolves from a single peak structure, arising due to relaxation processes within the lower Hubbard band, to a two peak structure, arising due to relaxation processes within the upper Hubbard band as well as across the Mott gap into the lower Hubbard band, as we vary the incident photon frequency to allow excitations from the lower Hubbard band to the upper Hubbard band. The charge transfer excitations are found to disperse monotonically as we go from the center of the Brillouin zone towards the zone corner. These correlation induced features are found to be robust and survive even for large Auger lifetime broadening effects which can mask the many-body effects by smearing out spectral features. As a comparison, we also calculate the dynamic structure factor for this model, which is proportional to the nonresonant part of the response, and does not show these specific signatures.
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Apr 24
Wednesday

APS/Users Operations Monthly Meeting

APS Meeting
402/AUD @ 2:30 PM
Apr 24
Wednesday

Beamline Shutter Permitted, 130 and 150 mA Beamline Diagnostic Run (8AM - Midnight)

APS Operations
View Description
Beamlines with Shutter Permit requests filed can access additional diagnostic beam time during day and evening shifts. Two hours at 100mA, five hours at 130mA and six hours at 150mA.

For more information see:
https://icmsdocs.aps.anl.gov/docs/idcplg?IdcService=DISPLAY_URL&dDocName=APS_1436931
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Apr 23
Tuesday

Status of SRX, the NSLS-II Spectromicroscopy Beamline

Speaker: Vincent De Andrade, Brookhaven National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
438/C010 @ 3:00 PM
View Description
The Sub-micron Resolution X-ray spectroscopy beamline (SRX), whose commissioning phase will start in July 2014, is one of the seven project beamlines of NSLS-II at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Operating at energies ranging from 4.65 to 23 keV, SRX will address a wide variety of scientific applications probing heterogeneous complex systems from the meso to the nanoscale. Combined with state of the art optics, the ultralow emittance and stability of the NSLS-II source is particularly suitable for micro- and nanoprobes like SRX. The SRX main optical components consist of a horizontally focusing mirror creating a secondary source whose size is adjustable with slits, an ultra-stable horizontally deflecting monochromator and two sets of Kirkpatrick-Baez mirrors in two inline stations as focusing optics for operations requiring either high flux (microprobe) or high resolution (nanoprobe). The presentation will focus first on the beamline layout that has been optimized with FEA, ray-tracing and wave front propagation simulations using respectively Shadow and SRW. Results demonstrate that the SRX micro- and nanoprobes will provide 1013 and 1012 ph/s respectively in a sub-micron and a 50 nanometer spot, with an excellent energy resolution (close to the Darwin width of the selected crystals). In a second time, the end-station design will be described with highlights on interferometry tests performed on sample stage assemblies as well as considerations to handle high throughput fluorescence signal. One will conclude on possible early science experiments that are expected by the end of the year 2014.
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Apr 23
Tuesday

Microsecond Time-resolved XAS Measurement with the Energy Dispersive EXAFS Setup and Ultrafast (ps) X-ray Scattering on Chemical Reactions

Speaker: Qingyu Kong, Société civile Synchrotron SOLEIL
XSD Presentation
433/C010 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
The energy dispersive EXAFS (EDE) setup at ODE beamline Soleil Synchrotron as well as the recent development of microsecond (µs) time-resolved XAFS data collection and its application to film continuously the electronic and geometric structural kinetics in a thermolysis reaction will be presented. The proposal of a laser pump and XAS probe development using EDE setup will be introduced briefly. In the second part of the talk, the optical pump and X-ray probe setup and ultrafast solution scattering on small molecules studied in ID09B ESRF will be presented, the photofragmentation reaction of triruthenium dodecacarbonyl Ru3(CO)12 in cyclohexane will be used as an example to show the data analysis process and the complementary nature of ultrafast X-ray scattering and ultrafast spectroscopy in the determination of transient molecular structures and chemical reaction mechanisms.
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Apr 23
Tuesday

Fabrication of High-aspect-ratio Nano-structures for X-ray Microscopy Applications

Speaker: Ming Lu, Brookhaven National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Recent efforts of x-ray microscopy research and development are pushing the resolution of state-of-the-art x-ray microscopes toward single digit of nanometer region. Among all the x-ray focusing optics, Fresnel zone plates are superior considering their nature of two-dimensional focusing and a resolution close to diffraction limit. However, high-resolution zone plates operated at x-ray wavelengths, especially in hard x-ray region, require a high-aspect-ratio geometry for their concentric metal zones to efficiently diffract lightwave, a challenge to nanofabrication researchers. In this talk, I will discuss three different approaches for fabricating high-aspect-ratio metallic nanostructures, including methods utilizing stressless electroforming molds, double-patterning, and zone-doubling techniques. Using these techniques we demonstrated hard-x-ray zone plates with 19:1 aspect-ratio and 30 nm outermost zone width, as well as a platinum resolution test pattern featuring 17-nm-wide, 255-nm-tall gratings.
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Apr 22
Monday

Nanoscale Soft X-ray Microscopy at HZB: Current Status of the TXM and Optics Development

Speaker: Stephan Werner, Institute for Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Berlin, Germany
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) operates a full-field transmission X-ray microscope (TXM) in the soft X-ray photon energy range at the undulator beamline U41-FSGM at the BESSY II electron storage ring. Due to the optical setup the HZB-TXM permits cryo X-ray tomographic as well as spectromicroscopic applications in material and life sciences. Some examples of these applications will be shown. The spatial resolution of the full-field microscope is limited by the numerical aperture of the zone plate objective and the wavelength used for imaging. The resolving power can be improved by decreasing the outermost zone width or imaging in higher orders of diffraction. At HZB, we work in our nanotechnology lab on both approaches. Recent results on the nanofabrication of high resolution zone plate objectives will be presented. In addition, the achievable resolution of the HZB-TXM will be discussed.
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Apr 19
Friday

Requests for High Current Beamline Diagnostic Run, Shutter Permit Due

APS Operations
View Description
Any 1) BM beamline, 2) high-current approved ID beamline or 3) beamlines with specially reviewed administrative controls must request a special Shutter Permit for the April 24th high current run. As a courtesy, please consider writing a brief plan that describes the diagnostic measurements you will perform, and that can be shared with other participants. Send request and plans to Julie Cross (jox@aps.anl.gov).

For more information see:
https://icmsdocs.aps.anl.gov/docs/idcplg?IdcService=DISPLAY_URL&dDocName=APS_1436931
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Apr 19
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Apr 18
Thursday

Pushing the Limits of Powder Diffraction: Determination of the Crystal and Local Structures of Highly Complex Perovskite Materials

Speaker: Graham King, Lujan Neutron Scattering Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/B5100 @ 10:00 AM
Apr 17
Wednesday

X-ray Absorption and Phase Retrieval using Energy-resolved Measurements

Speaker: Doga Gursoy, University of Houston
XSD Presentation
431/C010 @ 3:00 PM
View Description
X-ray phase imaging has been of interest in the last couple of decades for potential applications in medical imaging and material characterization. A key aspect in phase imaging is the well known “phase problem” which involves detangling the absorption and phase effects from intensity measurements. In this talk, I will make a topical review of the phase retrieval methods and present a novel single-step method to simultaneously retrieve x-ray absorption and phase images which is valid for a broad range of imaging energies and material properties. The method relies on the availability of spectrally resolved intensity measurements, which is now possible using semiconductor x-ray photon counting detectors. I will discuss the potential and utility of the method and address the engineering challenges in x-ray detection with the currently available spectral detectors.
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Apr 17
Wednesday

Complex Systems Analysis

Speaker: Dr. Ignacio J. Martinez-Moyano, Argonne National Laboratory and The University of Chicago
AES Presentation
401/A5000 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The system dynamics approach is based on control theory applied to complex systems analysis (especially social systems) with the aim to gain understanding and insights of the multiple, interacting, causal structures that determine the behavior of such systems. In the system dynamics approach, a point of view from within of system behavior enables scientists to find high-leverage points of intervention. Mathematically, the system dynamics approach uses a system of coupled, nonlinear, first-order differential equations.

In the Decision and Information Sciences Division we use the System Dynamics Approach to tackle problems of national security, energy efficiency, and integration of social theory, among many. In this talk, I will present an overview of the system dynamics approach, will talk about different projects in which the approach has been used, and will explore the applicability of the approach to specific problems that audience members might consider important and would want to discuss during the presentation.
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Apr 17
Wednesday

Structural and Interfacial H2O/OH Species: Two Case Studies on their Roles in Host Structural Stability

Speaker: Hsiu-Wen Wang, Indiana University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 10:00 AM
Apr 16
Tuesday

Zone Plates for High Photon Energy Focusing - Lessons from the Past, Reinterpreted

Speaker: Nicolaie Moldovan, Advanced Diamond Technologies
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The presentation reviews the main achievements in zone plates fabrication for X-ray focusing, with accents on how the existent knowledge can be extended to reach the goal of 20 nm resolution at 25 keV photon energy. Several approaches will be discussed, revealing that traditional nanofabrication ways will not work, while new, combined approaches will do the job. Among the discussed methods: sequential height increases by soft x-ray exposure and electroforming, layered depositions and nanolaminates, zone doubling and resolution increase by adding higher order zones, stacking and composing zone plates by MEMS-enabled alignment, diamond Fresnel lenses, and others. Combining the positives of these approaches leads to a heavily-engineered concept of zone plates fabrication, but with good chances of success, and even a perspective for higher photon energies.
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Apr 15
Monday

Characterization of the Fluctuating Charge States in Transition Metal Oxides using Local Structure as a Probe

Speaker: A. M. Milinda Abeykoon, Brookhaven National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Abstract: It is becoming apparent that nanoscale fluctuations in the charge state are important to the physics of transition metal oxides. The temperature evolution of structural modulation associated with charge (co) and spin order (so) in La1.67Sr0.33NiO4 has been investigated using neutron powder diffraction [1]. For the first time, we report an anomalous shrinking of the “a” lattice parameter that correlates with Tco, at the temperature where long-range stacking order of charge stripes disappears. We show that this response may be explained as resulting from the energy contributed by the interlayer electrostatic interaction leading to shrinkage of c/a. In addition, we report anomalies in the temperature evolution of the refined atomic displacement parameters (ADP) and local structural parameters in the atomic pair distribution function (PDF), which show quite different temperature dependence consistent with the persistence of localized charges, presumably in the form of short range ordered stripe domains, over a broad temperature range above Tco.
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Apr 12
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Apr 10
Wednesday

Surface Octahedral Distortions and Atomic Design of Perovskite Interfaces

Speaker: Bruce A. Davidson, CNR-IOM TASC National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
431/C010 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
Progress in understanding and exploiting the properties of complex oxide heterostructures requires advances in state-of-the-art growth and characterization techniques for these materials, as atomic control of their synthesis is demonstrably inferior to that of their semiconductor counterparts. Here we report significant improvements in the atomic design of perovskite interfaces made possible by advances in in situ control of the surface by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) during growth that reveal the surface termination and characteristic octahedral distortions in the surface layer as it is being deposited. This RHEED approach applies generally to growth of polar and nonpolar perovskite unit cells when a desorption-controlled growth regime is not utilized. As an example, we demonstrate its use in the optimization of atomically-designed manganite/titante interfaces that eliminates cation intermixing and anomalous unit cell dilations that have previously been observed. Careful analysis of the crystal structure shows an unusual evolution of the octahedral distortions that include both J-T type and rotations near the interface that are not seen in bulk. These new results should be included in electronic structure calculations modeling the properties of real heterointerfaces.
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Apr 8
Monday

Coherent X-ray Diffraction Imaging of Strain on the Nanoscale

Speaker: Ross Harder, XSD-Microscopy
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
Materials often contain fundamental properties that are determined by structures on nanometer length scales. An example of this is the nanometer size pores in synthetic zeolites crystals. The shapes of the pores can define molecular sieves and the composition of the walls can be tailored to catalytic applications. Occlusions in the pores will significantly restrict the function of the material and if occurring below the surface may be difficult to detect. The x-ray diffraction Bragg peaks of crystals contain a wealth of information regarding the structure of the sample. If the x-ray beam used to study a sample is spatially and temporally coherent, the scattered x-rays in the vicinity of the Bragg peak contains local structural information on potentially nanometer length scales. Images are formed by computational inversion from reciprocal space to direct space using phase retrieval algorithms. These images contain both morphological and strain information on tens of nanometer length scales in three dimensions.

This talk will describe the technique of coherent x-ray diffraction (CXD) imaging in the Bragg geometry and show recent results from 34-ID-C, including a study of zeolites being tailored for catalysis of pollutant gases, the response of a nanocrystal to multi gigapascal pressure, and time resolved phonon modes in nanocrystals.
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Apr 5
Friday

Proposals for April 24 High Current Run Shutter Permit Due

APS Operations
View Description
Beamlines not previously approved for 130 or 150mA operations should contact Bill Ruzicka (cc: Julie Cross) if you wish to use the high current beamline diagnostic time on April 24th from 8 AM to 12 midnight.

For more information see:
https://icmsdocs.aps.anl.gov/docs/idcplg?IdcService=DISPLAY_URL&dDocName=APS_1436931
[ Hide ]
Apr 5
Friday

RF Gun Cavity Development and Conditioning at Fermilab

Speaker: Ding Sun, Texas A&M University
ASD Seminar
401/B4100 @ 1:00 PM
View Description
1.3 GHz normal conducting RF cavities with photocathodes are developed as electron gun for Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA) at Fermilab. Fabrication, tuning, and conditioning of these cavities are presented.
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Apr 5
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Apr 5
Friday

Better Understanding of Small-angle Scattering from Round-Robin Measurements

Speaker: Adrian Rennie, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, Uppsala University
APS Presentation
433/C010 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
Measuring a well-characterized sample with a number of instruments can provide different data: this allows us to understand more about the technique and identify possible problems with methods and analysis. Round spherical particles are one of the simplest model systems for small-angle scattering. A recent round-robin with polystyrene latex samples has identified a number of points that are important as regards interpretation and accuracy of derived parameters. In small-angle neutron scattering, resolution and multiple scattering can both be significant even for dilute samples and may alter the fitted polydispersity. Some issues with detector calibration and data reduction software have been identified. The comparison of neutron and X-ray data can be very helpful. The latter provides different information as the contrast is low.
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Apr 4
Thursday

Diamond X-ray Beam Position Monitors

Speaker: Dr. John Smedley, Brookhaven National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
438/C010 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
Ever wonder where your x-rays are? How many photons you have? Where they‘re going? A diamond based x-ray beam position monitor may be for YOU! Advances in CVD diamond growth have made this material an attractive option for x-ray diagnostics. Diamond is radiation hard, solar blind, and has very small leakage current (sub pA). The low Z of diamond makes it attractive for transmission diagnostics, while the high thermal conductivity makes it attractive for high flux applications. This talk will focus on recently demonstrated monitors for both white and monochromatic beams, along with a discussion of goals for future development.
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Apr 3
Wednesday

A Roadmap for Selective Deconstruction of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Advanced Biofuels and Userful Co-Products

Speaker: Maureen McCann, Purdue University
APS Colloquium
402/AUD @ 3:00 PM
Apr 3
Wednesday

Wave Propagation in Inhomogeneous Media, and Possible X-ray Applications

Speaker: Professor Nicole Moore, Elmhurst College
XSD Presentation
431/C0101 @ 3:00 PM
Apr 1
Monday

Energy Deposition in the Sector 37 Scraper

Speaker: Jeff Dooling
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
The horizontal scraper in the Sector 37 straight section of the APS storage ring has served as both a diagnostic to probe the beam edge as well as the physical aperture when stored beam is lost. Initially, the scraper was meant only to be a diagnostic. High-density, short-radiation-length material used in the device was intended to stop halo, not the full beam. Damage to this device was discovered during the April-May 2011 shutdown, and as a result, we began an effort to model and improve the scraper. Modeling with elegant provides loss distributions for several scenarios such as muting one or both rf systems in combination with firing injection kickers. The loss distributions are used as input to a MARS model of the scraper. Beam dumps from 100-mA dissipate 2600 J. Most of this energy is not deposited locally; however, depending on the geometry and physical make-up, sufficient power density exists to damage the device on beam-facing surfaces. A new scraper is planned for installation during the April-May 2013 shutdown; the new device will allow us to test the ability of different materials to withstand full-energy beam loss.
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Mar 29
Friday

Vertical Undulator Measurement of Low Vertical Emittance

Speaker: Kent Wootton, University of Melbourne
APS Seminar
401/B2100 @ 2:30 PM
View Description
In recent years, vertical emittance optimisation techniques and storage ring mechanical alignment have advanced significantly. Exploiting this, several rings (e.g. KEK-ATF, ESRF, Diamond, AS, SLS) have produced beams with vertical emittance of several pm rad, corresponding to beam sizes of several micrometres. The diffraction limit of many emittance diagnostics often frustrates measurement of such low emittance. In this talk, I will present an overview of a new vertical emittance measurement technique, exploiting a vertical undulator. A vertical undulator is an undulator that wiggles the beam up and down - out of the orbit plane of the ring. Experiments at the Australian Synchrotron demonstrate that this technique is sensitive to vertical emittance of several pm rad, and a useful new diagnostic.
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Mar 29
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Mar 27
Wednesday

APS/Users Operations Monthly Meeting

APS Meeting
402/AUD @ 2:30 PM
Mar 22
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Mar 22
Friday

Fast Ferroelectric Phase Shifters for Energy Recovery Linacs

Speaker: Sergey V. Shchelkunov
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
Fast phase shifters are described that use a novel barium strontium titanate ceramic that can rapidly change its dielectric constant as an external bias voltage is changed. These phase shifters promise to reduce by a factor of 5-10 the power requirements for the rf source needed to drive an energy recovery linac (ERL). Such phase shifters will be coupled with superconducting radiofrequency cavities so as to tune them to compensate for phase instabilities, whether beam-driven or those caused by microphonics. The most promising designs are presented, some of which were successfully cold tested and demonstrated a switching speed of 30 ns for 77 deg, corresponding to <0.5 ns per deg of rf phase. Many crucial issues (losses, phase shift values, required feedback, etc.) will be explained and discussed.
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Mar 19
Tuesday

Status of SCU Developments at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Speaker: Soren Prestemon and Diego Arbelaez, LBNL
ASD Presentation
401/B4100 @ 11:30 AM
Mar 19
Tuesday

Zone Plate Optics for Sub-15 Soft X-ray Microscopy

Speaker: Julia Reinspach, Stanford University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The development of zone plate lenses is crucial for the progress of high-resolution x-ray microscopy. Since the resolution achievable in imaging is proportional to the outermost zone width of the lens, narrow zones have to be nanofabricated. In addition, high aspect ratios are required to achieve high diffraction efficiencies, thus rendering zone plate nanofabrication challenging. At the Biomedical and X-Physics group at KTH (Stockholm, Sweden) the development and improvement of nanofabrication processes for high-resolution high-diffraction-efficiency soft x-ray optics is a key aspect. Different approaches, such as cold development, cryogenic RIE, or the concept of nickel-germanium zone plates have been investigated and applied, resulting in soft x-ray zone plates with zone widths down to 12 nm and diffraction efficiencies up to 9.6% (at λ=2.48 nm).
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Mar 18
Monday

Superconducting Undulator - From an Idea to a Real Device

Speaker: Yury Ivanyushenkov
ASD Seminar
401/E1100 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
Superconducting technology offers the possibility of creating undulators for synchrotron light sources and free electron lasers with better performance than conventional hybrid or pure permanent magnet technologies. Motivation for superconducting undulators (SCUs) will be presented together with the challenges. The first test superconducting undulator SCU0 that was recently built at the APS will be used as an example to demonstrate how the challenges could be solved. A road map to more advanced SCUs will be presented.
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Mar 18
Monday

NSLS-II Booster RF Amplifier

Speaker: Aditya Goel, Auburn University
ASD Seminar
401/B4100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Recently the NSLS-II booster system RF amplifiers were commissioned. The system is fully operational and is nearly ready to support beam operations following the ARR. The presentation will provide details on the system design, operation, and challenges faced during the commissioning process and other activities undertaken to deliver a fully working system.
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Mar 13
Wednesday

A Route to High Neel Temperatures in 4D and 5D Transition Metal Oxides

Speaker: Priya Mahadevan, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences
XSD Presentation
431/C010 @ 11:00 AM
Mar 12
Tuesday

Application Driven Beamline Instrumentation and X-ray Optics

Speaker: Markus Simon and Guido Giorgi, PI miCOS GmbH
AES Seminar
401/B3100 @ 11:00 AM
Mar 12
Tuesday

American Physical Society March Meeting

APS Conference
Baltimore, MD
Mar 11
Monday

Roaming Radical Reactions

Speaker: Arthur G. Suits, Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
An unusual decomposition mechanism of highly vibrationally excited molecules, dubbed the “roaming mechanism,” has recently been discovered and is now a very active area of investigation. In these reactions, a molecule undergoes partial dissociation to radical fragments by simple bond fission. When the fragments separate to 3-4 Å, “roaming” reorientation becomes feasible as the kinetic energy is low and the angular forces may be comparable to the radial forces. If this leads the system to access a distinct reactive domain, intramolecular abstraction may take place giving unexpected products often with with large vibrational excitation. This pathway may deviate substantially from the nominal minimum energy path, and in some cases appears to avoid the normal transition state geometry entirely. Many of the details have come to light through high-resolution ion imaging studies of formaldehyde, in concert with quasi-classical trajectory calculations from Bowman and coworkers. Many other examples of roaming dynamics have now been reported, both in experiment and theory. I will emphasize recent results documenting “roaming-mediated isomerization” which appears to be a general feature of the decomposition of nitro compounds. In addition, I will introduce new universal probes of reaction dynamics affording isomer and even conformer selectivity.
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Mar 8
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Mar 8
Friday

NSLS-II 3rd Harmonic Landau Cavity Measurement Analysis

Speaker: Muralidhar Yeddulla
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
NSLS-II storage ring has two straight sections dedicated for the installation of RF cavities to supply RF energy to the electron beam. There will be three cavities in each straight section which are all superconducting. Two of the cavities are CESR-B type fundamental harmonic cavities with an external Q of ~ 65,000. The third cavity is a third harmonic two cell passive Landau cavity. This cavity operates in the "π" mode at ~ 1.5 GHz. The Landau cavity was designed to have an internal Q > 3 X 108. However, the measured Q was only 5 X 107. Analysis of the cause of this discrepancy will be presented. Also a new scheme to improve the measurement accuracy will be presented.
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Mar 4
Monday

Fabrication, Assembly, and Cryogenic Performance of the Superconducting Undulator "SCUO"

Speaker: Quentin Hasse and Joel Fuerst
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
A superconducting undulator has been designed, built, tested, installed and operated with beam at the APS. As an engineering prototype, the device consists of a dual-core 42-pole magnet structure cooled to 4.2 K with a system of four cryocoolers. The first part of this talk describes the design, fabrication, assembly, and off-line test programs including cryogenic commissioning. Many design features such as zero-boiloff operation, thermosiphon cooling, HTS current leads, and beam chamber cooling were validated during this phase of the program. The second part of the talk covers on-line cryogenic performance including cooldown/warmup, steady state operation, cooling margin, and the impact of SR beam during machine operation. We conclude with comments on plans for future devices and the cryogenic lessons learned from the SCU0 development program.
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Mar 4
Monday

Stimulated Electronic X-ray Raman Scattering with XFEL Sources

Speaker: Dr. Nina Rohringer, Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Hamburg, Germany
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The invention of x-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) opens the pathway to transfer powerful spectroscopic techniques from the optical to the x-ray region, to ultimately study the interplay of coherent electronic and vibrational dynamics on the timescale of chemical reactions. Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) is a viable spectroscopic tool to study the valence-electronic environment of a target atom, which can be selectively addressed by the resonantly tuned x-ray beam. The cross section for this process is, however, small, so that even with powerful XFEL pulses the recording of single-shot RIXS spectra of dilute samples or molecules in the gas phase are challenging. This hampers the application of RIXS in optical pump x-ray probe experiments, which would, for example, be one method of choice to study light-induced chemical reactions. Here we demonstrate, how this bottleneck can be overcome by stimulating the RIXS process. We present results of a recent experiment o! n stimulated RIXS at the Linac Coherent Light Source XFEL in a gas sample of atomic neon, thereby amplifying the RIXS signal by 6-7 orders of magnitude. Using broadband XFEL pulses, which are characterized by a stochastic, spiky substructure of their spectrum, both “pump” and “dump” photons can be provided in a single pulse, thereby stimulating the scattering process and driving an exponential amplification of the signal. Despite the overall broad bandwidth, high-resolution RIXS spectra can be achieved by statistical analysis of a series of stochastic single-shot spectra. The energy resolution is determined by the spectral coherence of the XFEL source, and in principle allows for vibrational resolution. These findings open up a new class of experiments at XFEL sources, with a colossal increase of the RIXS signal. Results of our recent experiment will be presented, along with a perspective and theoretical feasibility study of stimulated RIXS measurements in small molecules.
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Mar 3
Sunday

TMS 2013

APS Conference
San Antonio, TX
Mar 1
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Feb 27
Wednesday

ICMS 101 Training

APS Course
401/B4100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
On February 27 at 2 p.m., the AES-IS group will hold an ICMS 101 Training session in 401/B4100. The class is intended for new employees and new or current ICMS users who are looking to refresh or enhance their ICMS knowledge.

We will discuss:
  • ICMS Overview
  • What to Contribute
  • Checking In Documents and Revision Control
  • Document Security and Metadata
  • Searching Content and using Library Folders
  • Basic Workflows

All APS personnel are welcome, but due to limited class size, please RSVP if you plan to attend by sending an email to leighton@aps.anl.gov
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Feb 26
Tuesday

Physics Requirements and Specifications for the NSLS-II Accelerator Components

Speaker: Weiming Guo
ASD Seminar
401/B2100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The top requirements for the design of a 3rd generation light source are sufficient dynamic aperture (DA) and good stability. Large dynamic aperture is needed for the acceptance of the injected beam and for the lifetime of the stored beam; a stable beam will increase the average brightness. For NSLS-II we have specified the accelerator components according to these guidelines. For the magnets we have specified tuning ranges, field quality and alignment tolerances; consequently a DA of 15mm(x) by 2.5mm(y) at the injection point and three hours of Touschek lifetime can be achieved. We determined the stability requirements for the power supplies from various physics effects. For the vacuum system we provided a stay-clear aperture such that The Touschek-scattered particles will not be blocked at dp/p=3%. For the RF system we gave tolerances on the voltage and phase stability. And for the BPMs we specified location and the needed resolution to reach the required photon beam stability of <10% of the beam size. Some particular solutions to the encountered problems will also be presented if time allows.
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Feb 25
Monday

Custom Design of Power Converters for DC and Pulsed Power Supplies

Speaker: Ben Song, Dept. of Electrical & Computer Eng., Baylor University
ASD Seminar
401/B2100 @ 9:30 AM
View Description
Dr. Song will present his recent work in developing advanced custom-designed power converters and their control for DC distribution systems and pulsed power systems. The custom design requirements will be discussed with a DC power converter used for the US Navy 7kW house-keeping power distribution systems and a capacitor charging power supply (CCPS) for high voltage pulsed power systems, respectively. In extreme cases, non-standard topologies must be employed to meet specific requirement for voltage, power, regulation, or other factors.

Firstly, for the DC power converter, advanced power converter topology is proposed, designed, analyzed, and implemented to meet the NAVY requirements. The operational principles, design details, and performances of the converter will be addressed based on control strategy, protection circuit, high frequency transformer, packaging, and thermal management under various operating conditions. Furthermore, two main key issues on the converter are focused on the minimization of the circulation current between main switches and optimal dead time for soft switching. The converter has achieved about 95% efficiency over a wide range of load conditions.

Secondly, high voltage CCPSs used for capacitor or capacitor bank charging will be customized with the specific application due to the wide range of loads and duty cycles encountered in the industry. Various custom design criteria for 10kJ/s 50kV charging power supplies will be investigated based the specification of the charging supply that depends primarily on the voltage, capacitance, charging time, repetition rate or duty cycle, and available input power sources. In addition, specially designed pulse forming networks (PFN) topology, system integration issues associated with high voltage cable, and internal fault current will also be characterized through both simulation and experimental measurements for pulse power system applications.
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Feb 22
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Conference
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Feb 21
Thursday

Reflections on Tevatron Run II Accelerator Upgrades

Speaker: Michael Syphers
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
Commissioned as a colliding beams accelerator in 1985, Fermilab's Tevatron held the honor as the highest-energy accelerator and collider for a quarter of a century, until finally being surpassed by CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The push to turn up the luminosity of the Tevatron for the race to the Higgs created a large-scale upgrade program of nearly all facets of the Fermilab accelerator complex. The result was a series of new systems and running conditions and though the path to its final state was sometimes tortuous, the goals of the accelerator upgrades were eventually met and exceeded. A few examples of problems encountered along the way by one participant are described as well as lessons learned stemming from this important stretch of accelerator history.
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Feb 20
Wednesday

Temperature Control Solutions

Speaker: Bob Given and Mark Sinclair, Thermo Fisher Scientific
AES Seminar
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
This presentation will focus on our R&D on low temperature and low noise/vibration cooling circulators (chillers). We will provide a technical overview of Thermo Fisher Scientific, its temperature control product line, and our approach to meet technical challenges. The presentation will furthermore cover:
  • Low temperature and ultra low temperature liquid baths and circulators

  • Temperature control and cryopreservation storage systems

  • System performance, application considerations, and user assistance

  • Future product trends and challenges in temperature control

The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the temperature control needs at Argonne National Laboratory and exploring areas of possible collaboration.
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Feb 19
Tuesday

Probing and Reconstructing Transient One-Dimensional Crystalline Strains Using Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction

Speaker: Yuan Gao, University of Delaware
XSD Presentation
432/C010 @ 12:00 PM
View Description
Since the late 1990s, ultrafast x-ray pulses have been used to probe impulsive strains propagating in the bulk of optically opaque materials. Time-resolved x-ray diffraction has been proven to be a very powerful tool for visualizing transient one-dimensional crystalline strains, ranging from crystal growth to shockwave production.

In this presentation, I will describe a series of time-resolved x-ray diffraction experiments that visualize transient strain formation from nanometer-scaled laser-excited metallic films. Utilizing a table top picosecond x-ray source in conjunction with a high-power optical laser system, the resulting optical pump/x-ray probe spectra reveal that the spatiotemporal structure of the transient acoustic pulse is bipolar with acoustic wave-vectors up to inverse of the film thickness. In addition, I will also discuss the real-world constraints that place limits on the validity of the reconstructed transient acoustic pulse.
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Feb 19
Tuesday

Methods, Machinery, and Money: The LERIX-2 Conceptual Design

Speaker: Jerry Seidler, University of Washington
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
I will discuss the scientific motivation for, and technical details of, the recently completed conceptual design for the LERIX-2 spectrometer as part of the APS-U. In the conceptual design, we expand to 144 analyzers while taking the most successful mechanical and operational features of the LERIX-1 and LERIX-1B instruments. Among the issues that need to be resolved for the final design are the selection of detectors and the selection and reliable mass-fabrication of spherically-bent crystal analyzers (SBCA's). If in-house, rather than commercial, fabrication of the needed highly efficient SBCA's is possible, it will result in a factor of two cost savings for this instrument.
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Feb 18
Monday

Technical Review of Popular Power Conversion Topologies with Industrial Examples

Speaker: Raymond Zhang
ASD Seminar
401/B4100 @ 9:00 AM
View Description
Power conversion technology primarily deals with converting electric energy from one form to another, e.g., converting between AC and DC; changing the voltage and/or frequency, or a combination of the above. In this talk, we will first discuss three popular power conversion topologies, including ACF, Flyback, and PSFB, which play important roles in modern power converters. Real industrial products and examples will then be analyzed and compared based on the research and development experiences of the talker in the field. The design methods and the key precautions for the development of modern power converters will also be covered.
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Feb 11
Monday

Fundamental Dynamics in Molecules, Clusters, and Interfacial Systems Studied with Novel XUV and X-ray Light Sources

Speaker: Oliver Gessner, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
Ultrafast XUV and X-ray light sources offer new opportunities to unravel fundamental electronic and nuclear dynamics in matter. The Chemical Dynamics program at the Ultrafast X-ray Science Laboratory is focused on the application of emerging laboratory- and accelerator-based X-ray techniques to monitor the flow of charge, mass, and energy in molecules, clusters, and interfacial systems. A brief overview of the program will be followed by the discussion of two particular showcase examples of ongoing research: The study of photoinduced charge-transfer dynamics in dye-sensitized nanocrystals by time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the investigation of quantized fluid dynamics in nano- to micron-scale superfluid helium droplets by single-shot coherent diffractive imaging.

Interfacial charge transfer studies are performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) and the Advanced Light Source (ALS, Berkeley). Recent LCLS results demonstrate the potential of time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (TRXPS) to monitor charge migration in complex interfacial systems with femtosecond time resolution, chemical sensitivity and element specificity. The visible light induced transient oxidation state of N3 dye molecules adsorbed to nanocrystalline ZnO is characterized in a concerted effort of TRXPS experiments and ab-initio calculations of the interfacial electronic structure.

The superfluid nature of helium droplets presents a rare opportunity to study the onset of macroscopic quantum phenomena in sub-micron scale systems. Pure and doped helium droplets are studied by coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) using femtosecond X-ray pulses from the LCLS. Single-shot CDI data provide the most direct access yet to droplet size- and shape-distributions as well as fundamental dynamics inside the clusters. The results will be discussed in the context of the onset of quantum vorticity in finite three-dimensional quantum systems.
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Feb 11
Monday

State of the APS - All-Hands Meeting

APS Meeting
402/AUD @ 10:30 AM
View Description
An All-Hands Meeting has been scheduled for Monday, February 11, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. in the 402 Auditorium. Brian Stephenson will present an update on the current status and future plans for APS, including the APS Upgrade. All employees whose schedule permit are urged to attend. Resident users are welcome to attend.
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Feb 6
Wednesday

How Does Our Immune System Detect Disease?

Speaker: Erin J. Adams, The University of Chicago
APS Colloquium
402/AUD @ 3:00 PM
Feb 5
Tuesday

1913-2013: The Centennial Anniversary of the Birth of X-Ray Crystallography

Speaker: Denny Mills, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 1:00 PM
View Description
The year 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Bragg’s Law by W. L. Bragg and the publication of the first crystal structure determination by x-rays, by W.H. Bragg and W.L. Bragg. This presentation will include a brief introductory discussion regarding the knowledge of the generation and scattering of x-rays in this time period, some personal background regarding the Braggs, and how Laue’s famous photograph set the stage for this father and son team to not only win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1915 "For their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays," but to change the world of science for many years to come through their development of x-ray crystallography.
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Feb 4
Monday

RF Gun Mechanical Repair

Speaker: Bill Jansma, AES
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
In 2010 problems arose in two of the APS electron sources after the replacement of aging cathodes. Diagnosis of the problems included measurement of the cathode mating surfaces of the electron guns to identify suspected distortions. Measurement data were obtained utilizing a high-precision short-range laser surface scanner that was improvised using equipment on-hand. Profile plots of the 2-dimensional coordinates ascertained with the improvised laser scanner revealed that the thin metal cathode mating surfaces surrounding the rear aperture were bent symmetrically into the gun cavities by 250mm to 350mm. The AES Survey and Alignment Section and Mechanical Engineering and Design Group were charged with developing a plan to repair the guns. A special retraction tool was designed to restore the distorted surfaces to their original shape. The repairs were successful; the guns were reinstalled in the APS injector stations and have since been functioning normally. This presentation will explain the process developed to perform mechanical repair of damaged rf thermionic electron guns.
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Jan 30
Wednesday

APS/Users Operations Monthly Meeting

APS Meeting
402/AUD @ 10:30 AM
Jan 29
Tuesday

Mechanical Design at SRC: A PGM Monochromator, the IRENI Beamline and an SRF E-gun

Speaker: Mike Fisher, Synchrotron Radiation Center, University of Wisconsin - Madison
AES Seminar
401/B3100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC) has operated Aladdin for over 25 years, an 800 MeV/1 GeV storage ring that supports synchrotron radiation experiments from the IR through the soft x-ray photon energies. Mike will present mechanical design details of the U3 PGM monochromator and the BM2 IRENI beamline that SRC designed and built in-house. More recently SRC has been working on a DOE funded project to develop a superconducting RF electron gun that is a prototype of an electron injection system that could be used as the source for a future CW X-ray FEL facility. Mike will also present mechanical design details of the SRF e-gun cryostat module that is currently undergoing final assembly at SRC.

The PGM monochromator scans from 8 to 240 eV using two laser interferometers that control the precise, simultaneous movements of both a water-cooled plane mirror and a plane grating in close proximity to one another inside a UHV chamber. The mirror and grating rotate nearly 30 and 40 degrees respectively with sub-arcsec resolution.

The IRENI beamline collects 250mR of IR radiation from a single dedicated custom dipole vacuum chamber. The beamline splits the radiation into 12 beams that are collimated and steered via a series of 4 optics per beam path and delivers a 3 x 4 matrix of beams that illuminate a Focal Plane Array dectector at an IR microscope.

The SRF egun cryostat module consists of a 200 MHz quarter wave niobium cavity housed in a titanium helium vessel, a high Tc superconducting solenoid, a liquid nitrogen cooled copper thermal radiation shield, a magnetic shield and an outer insulating vacuum chamber. The cryogenic system is currently designed to be batch fed with helium and nitrogen dewars.
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Jan 25
Friday

Beyond Li-ion Batteries

Speaker: George Crabtree, Director, JCESR
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 1:30 PM
View Description
The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) develops concepts and technologies for portable electricity storage for transportation and stationary electric storage for the electricity grid. Electrified transportation replaces foreign oil with a host of domestic electricity sources such as gas, nuclear, wind and solar, and utility scale electric storage enables the grid to bridge the peaks and valleys of variable wind and solar generation and consumer demand. JCESR looks beyond Li-ion technology to new materials and phenomena to achieve the factor of five increases in performance needed to realize these transformational societal outcomes. JCESR will leave three legacies: a library of fundamental scientific knowledge of materials and phenomena needed for next-generation batteries, demonstration of battery prototypes suitable for scale up to manufacturing for transportation and the grid, and a new end-to-end integrated operational paradigm for battery research and development spanning discovery research, design, and demonstration.
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Jan 24
Thursday

Introduction of JML Optical Industries, LLC

Speaker: Scott Casella, JML Optical Industries, LLC
XSD Presentation
401/B4300 @ 1:30 PM
Jan 22
Tuesday

Tracking Electron Transfer Dynamics in Coordination Chemistry with X-ray Spectroscopy

Speaker: Wenkai Zhang, PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
The ability of coordination compounds to catalyze chemical reactions and absorb visible radiation makes them appealing targets for the development of photocatalysts. One of the attributes that makes transition metals excellent catalysts – a high density of frontier orbitals – can also lead to ultrafast quenching of electronic excited states. Understanding the properties of coordination complexes that dictate the electronic relaxation dynamics has practical, as well as fundamental importance. Most successful photosensitizers and photocatalysts have utilized 4d and 5d metal centers. The significant cost and low abundance of many 4d and 5d metals has inspired attempts to substitute high cost atoms with isoelectronic 3d metal complexes. But the exchange iron for ruthenium increases the charge transfer relaxation rate by roughly a factor of one million. The huge distinction in lifetimes has generally been attributed to differences in the ligand field excite state energies. But we currently still lack a detailed understanding of how ligand field excited states and charge transfer excited states interact and how this depends upon nuclear and electronic structure. We investigated the role of ligand field excited states in the relaxation dynamics of photogenerated charge transfer states in a series of iron(II) coordination compounds with hard x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES). The tremendous sensitivity of XES to the charge and spin state of the transition metal centers make these techniques ideally suited to investigating the electron dynamics in coordination chemistry. By studying mixed cyanide and bipyridine ligands with advanced x-ray spectroscopy, we discovered that the excited state decay pathway can be controlled and adjusted by systematically tuning the ligand field splitting. We demonstrated that changing the iron ligands lend to a 100-fold increase in the charge transfer excited state lifetime, a critical metric for earth abundant photosensitizers.
[ Hide ]
Jan 21
Monday

ICMS 101 Training

APS Course
401/B4100 @ 10:00 AM
View Description
The class is intended for new employees and new or current ICMS users who are looking to refresh or enhance their ICMS knowledge.

We will discuss:

  • ICMS Overview
  • What to Contribute
  • Checking In Documents and Revision Control
  • Document Security and Metadata
  • Searching Content and using Library Folders
  • Basic Workflows

All APS personnel are welcome, but due to limited class size, please RSVP if you plan to attend by sending an email to leighton@aps.anl.gov
[ Hide ]
Jan 17
Thursday

Programmable Assembly of Colloidal Crystals with DNA

Speaker: Andrew Senesi, Northwestern University
XSD Presentation
433/C010 @ 3:30 PM
View Description
Nano-structured materials and their assemblies have generated considerable scientific and industrial interest as a result of new chemical and physical interactions as their size is reduced and they are positioned into well-defined spatial arrangements. Indeed, a grand challenge in nanotechnology is to construct materials comprised of positionally encoded elements (i.e. nanoparticles) with fine control over spacing, symmetry, and composition, with single- or sub-nanometer precision and registry. The ability to exercise such control over multiple length scales and in three dimensions for a single system would, in principle, provide researchers with a route to fabrication “materials by design”, in which one could design and build a functional system with programmed chemical and physical properties, useful in material synthesis, optics, biomedicine, energy, and catalysis. In this talk, I will discuss recent progress towards this goal, by using DNA as a programmable ligand to direct the assembly of nanoparticles into crystalline arrays. DNA is ideally suited for this purpose, as synthetically tunable variations in nucleotide sequence allow for precise engineering of the nanoparticle’s hydrodynamic radius and binding properties. These factors, in turn, dictate the crystallographic symmetry and lattice parameters of the assembly. By further employing a DNA-functionalized substrate, thin-film nanoparticle superlattices can be grown in a layer-by-layer fashion with fine control over the number of particle layers in the assembly (i.e. film thickness). Importantly, the judicious choice of DNA substrate-particle interconnects allows one to tune the interfacial energy between various crystal planes and the substrate, and thereby control crystal orientation. A theoretical framework to understand these results is presented. These nanoparticle superlattices can further be patterned in arbitrary locations on a substrate using molecular printing techniques such as dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) and polymer pen lithography (PPL). The principles developed in this work represent a major advance in the bottom-up synthesis of nanomaterials and a major step towards the integration of nanoscale materials into functional device architectures. Lastly, ultrafast pump-probe studies of third-generation materials for future photovoltaics will be presented. One such novel photovoltaic material uses heavy O doping of ZnTe to generate the formation of an intermediate band within the forbidden gap, in order to improve the matching of semiconductor absorption and solar spectra. This approach is believed to become useful for realization of single junction solar cells with very high efficiencies. However, the implementation of such devices requires advanced characterization techniques. Multiphoton optical pulse excitations are demonstrated to induce multiband charge transfer dynamics in ZnTe:O films as revealed when monitoring the time-resolved photoluminescence signals.
[ Hide ]
Jan 17
Thursday

Giant Thermoelectric Effect (GTE) in Graded porous micro-nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials

Speaker: D. G. Niarchos, Nuclear Center Demokritos, NCSR Athens, Greece
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 3:00 PM
Jan 17
Thursday

Theoretical Study of the Transparency-like Phenomena in the XUV Induced by Coherent Coupling of the Doubly Excited States in Helium

Speaker: Michal Tarana, Department of Physics, Purdue University
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
Presently there is great interest in the application of light in the X-ray regime, produced by high-order harmonics, to investigate novel coherent X-ray optical phenomena. Loh et al. [1] report the observation of EIT-like behavior in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) by coherent coupling of 2s2p and 2p2 doubly excited states in He, probing with laser-produced high-order harmonics. The EIT-like phenomenon observed in their work is characterized solely by an increase in transmission over the entire unperturbed lineshape. It is the aim of our work [2] to extend the phenomenological theoretical treatment of this effect included in [1]. We present calculations based on the solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation in the LS-coupling configuration interaction basis set. The absorbing boundary is represented by the complex absorbing potential and we present here the analysis of the ionization yield obtained. This approach allows for more accurate treatment of the ionization continuum than presented in [1].

[1] Z.H. Loh, C.H. Greene and S.R. Leone, Chem. Phys. 350, 7 (2008).
[2] M. Tarana, C.H. Greene, Phys. Rev. A 85, 013411 (2012).
[ Hide ]
Jan 16
Wednesday

The ScanOcean Area Detector Viewer: Current Progress and Future Plans

Speaker: Nicholas Schwarz
APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
View Description
This is part of the January 2013 Seminar Series Software for Beamlines. These talks present tools for beamline scientists using spec or python to control data collection or automate alignment or similar beamline tasks.
[ Hide ]
Jan 15
Tuesday

Some Software for Beamlines

Speaker: Guy Jennings
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
View Description
A variety of locally written software is in use on Sectors 11 and 12 at the APS. I will describe the available software and some of the organizing principles behind its design in the hope that it may be more widely useful at other beamlines.

If time/audience interest permits I will also present an overview of a number of relevant features of the Qt framework as related to the software I have written.

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Part of the January 2013 Seminar Series Software for Beamlines. These talks present tools for beamline scientists using spec or python to control data collection or automate alignment or similar beamline tasks.
[ Hide ]
Jan 14
Monday

Pushing the Limits of Full Field and Scanning X-ray Microscopy

Speaker: Dr. Hendrik Ohldag, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 2:00 PM
View Description
X-ray microscopy has become a commonly available and often used tool for element specific investigations on a nanometer scale. However, with a constantly growing user community, the demand for a more flexible sample environment grows as well. In my talk, I will describe several approaches that were realized at the SSRL and the ALS to push the limits of x-ray microscopy, e.g. how to improve the resolution of PEEM microscopy without any changes to the microscope, how to measure in large magnetic fields with sub 10ps time resolution, or how to follow chemical reactions in situ.
[ Hide ]
Jan 14
Monday

Ultrafast Spin, Phonon and Charge Dynamics: From Femtoseconds to Nanoseconds at Nanoscale

Speaker: Vladimir A. Stoica, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 1:00 PM
View Description
The ultrashort-pulse photoexcitation and measurement techniques are of tremendous interest due to their capability to uncover the ultrafast transient response of materials. Among light-based pump-probe techniques, an original approach employing low-power fs-fiber-lasers was developed to acquire, manipulate and modify a wideband spectrum of photoexcitations in thin films and nanostructures.

In epitaxial ferromagnetic films, coherent spin waves are generated with femtosecond laser pulses via thermal excitation mediated by magnon-electron and magneto-elastic coupling. The propagation speeds and attenuation lengths of exchange spin wave modes are determined during the propagation and reflection at the film boundaries, consistent with their dispersion relation. Moreover, photo-thermal excitation could be used to achieve coherent control of the magnetization vector. An optically-induced spin reorientation transition of first-order is revealed and provides a new route to coherent magnetization switching.

Another experimental effort has been focused on phonon dynamics and thermoelectric transport studies. The coherent optical phonon spectroscopy was employed during the fs laser-induced nanostructuring in binary semiconductors such as Sb2Te3 and InSb. Nanostructure fabrication process optimization resulted in highly ordered periodic nanostructures without the adverse effects of residual phase separation. In another case, pump-probe measurements are used to understand the behavior of acoustically mismatched thin films to further assist the design of high-Q acoustic resonators at GHz frequencies.

Lastly, ultrafast pump-probe studies of third-generation materials for future photovoltaics will be presented. One such novel photovoltaic material uses heavy O doping of ZnTe to generate the formation of an intermediate band within the forbidden gap, in order to improve the matching of semiconductor absorption and solar spectra. This approach is believed to become useful for realization of single junction solar cells with very high efficiencies. However, the implementation of such devices requires advanced characterization techniques. Multiphoton optical pulse excitations are demonstrated to induce multiband charge transfer dynamics in ZnTe:O films as revealed when monitoring the time-resolved photoluminescence signals.
[ Hide ]
Jan 14
Monday

The Role of the APS and Argonne in the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Speaker: Janet Smith and Robert Fischetti
APS Colloquium
402/AUD @ 10:30 AM
View Description
It was the advent of the first micro X-ray beam for structural biology at the Advanced Photon Source that enabled the research that earned the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and lays the groundwork for countless new pharmaceuticals.

This micro X-ray beam removed a roadblock to studying the small and fragile crystals needed to unravel the structure of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Brian Kobilka, of Stanford University, and Robert Lefkowitz, of Duke University, won the Nobel Prize in October for their work on GPCRs. Almost all of the X-ray work was done at the APS using the microbeam.

GPCRs are receptors embedded in the cell surface that allow the cell to get signals from the outside world brought by molecules carrying information about sight, sound, taste, smell and internal chemicals such as adrenaline. About half of all medications work by connecting with many of the 800 or so human G-protein-coupled receptors.
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Jan 11
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
Jan 11
Friday

Strong-field Physics with Mid-infrared Lasers

Speaker: Anthony DiChiara, The Ohio State University
XSD Presentation
401/B4100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Abstract: The strong-field picture of ionization describes the physics of how an isolated atom interacts with an intense ultra-fast laser field. The basic strong-field picture is described as tunnel ionization, which is characterized by the rapid burst of an electron wave packet into the continuum, followed by the classical motion of a quasi-free electron in a strong laser field and recollision with the parent ion. Recollision physics is at the very heart of what makes strong-field science an exciting tool for probing matter on ultrafast time scales. It offers a mechanism to create Attosecond (1 as = 10-18 s) laser pulses through High-Harmonic Generation and it offers a method for controlling electron-ion collisions on sub-femtosecond (1 fs = 10-15 s) time scales.

In my talk I will discuss how wavelength scaling has offered a more robust description of the strong-field picture. In particular, long wavelength lasers provide deep access to tunnel ionization and high energy electrons (several hundred eV) for studying electron recollision. I will discuss two separate aspects of my contributions that have helped to extend the strong-field picture. First, I will discuss inelastic laser driven scattering, or non-sequential ionization, in the long-wavelength limit of a 3.6 μm laser field. Here, large recollision energies (up to 400 eV) driven at modest field strengths result in the impact ionization of charge states up to Xe6+. The multiple ionization pathways are well described by a white electron wave packet and field-free inelastic cross sections, averaged over the intensity-dependent energy distributions for (e,ne) electron impact ionization. Then, I will discuss how wavelength scaling has made possible extending the strong-field picture of ionization to condensed phase systems. Here, we have observed evidence of a dramatic new mechanism for High Harmonic Generation that is unique to crystals yet closely parallels the semi-classical analysis of the strong-field atomic picture.
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Jan 10
Thursday

specpy: Simplifying Python-based beamline scripting

Speaker: Brian Toby
XSD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
View Description
Part of the January 2013 Seminar Series Software for Beamlines. These talks present tools for beamline scientists using spec or python to control data collection or automate alignment or similar beamline tasks.
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Jan 9
Wednesday

Bent Crystal Optics for Synchrotron Radiation Beamlines

Speaker: Xianbo Shi, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
XSD Presentation
401/A1100 @ 11:00 AM
View Description
Bent crystals have been widely used as optical elements (e.g., monochromators, focusing optics and spectrometers) of high energy synchrotron radiation beamlines. The effects of bending on the reflectivity of the crystal are discussed within the dynamical theory with a full treatment of the crystal anisotropy and biaxial bending. Such knowledge and its combination with ray tracing and wave propagation are essential in the beamline design process. Two particular examples are presented to illustrate the usage of bent crystals for modern synchrotron radiation beamlines: the design of the X-ray Powder Diffraction (XPD) beamline at NSLS-II and the optimization of high luminosity spectrometers at ESRF and XFEL.

The XPD beamline uses a sagittally bent double-Laue crystal monochromator to provide horizontally focused x-ray beam over a large energy range (30-70 keV). A multi-lamellar model is introduced and implemented in the ray tracing of the monochromator. The instrumental resolution function of the beamline is also described.

Bent crystals are also utilized for high luminosity X-ray emission detection. This presentation will compare various concepts of dispersive/non-dispersive spectrometers with different crystal geometries by means of ray tracing.
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Jan 8
Tuesday

High Resolution Ultrasonic Imaging

Speaker: Ray Thomas, Analytical Services Division SonoLab
AES Seminar
401/A1100 @ 3:00 PM
View Description
High frequency ultrasonic systems in the range of 10-400 MHz allow unprecedented vision inside objects with relatively high resolution.

This talk provides some historical background to ultrasonic imaging, transducer development, and reviews the basic theory and the underlying physics. Various techniques and capabilities with emphasis on recent applications are described. It is shown, for example, that internal cracks with separations sizes greater than 200 Å in a thick fatigued metal part can be identified with lateral resolution on the order of 100 µm.
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Jan 8
Tuesday

Controlling EPICS from Python: PyEpics

Speaker: Matt Newville
XSD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM
View Description
Part of the January 2013 Seminar Series Software for Beamlines. These talks present tools for beamline scientists using spec or python to control data collection or automate alignment or similar beamline tasks.
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Jan 7
Monday

Low-level RF Control Development for FLASH and ILC

Speaker: John Carwardine
ASD Seminar
401/A1100 @ 2:30 PM
View Description
The FLASH accelerator facility at DESY operates as a soft-xray FEL User facility and as a beam test facility for the European XFEL and the International Linear Collider R&D programs. The linac uses 56 Tesla-type 1.3GHz superconducting cavities for compression and acceleration of up to 800us-long beam pulses to final energies up to 1.25GeV at a repetition rate of 10Hz. Digital low-level RF systems perform precision control of cavity fields and compensate detuning errors. Beam-based feedback is incorporated for stabilisation of bunch compression, final beam energy and arrival-time jitter. While LLRF challenges for FEL User operation are primarily on stability and reproducibility, beam studies in support of the ILC R&D program have been focused on LLRF control at high beam current, minimal RF power overhead, and at gradients close to cavity quench limits. The presentation will discuss the FLASH LLRF system implementation and development in support of both FEL user operation and the ILC R&D program.
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Jan 4
Friday

User Science Seminar

APS Seminar
401/A1100 @ 12:00 PM