CARS FYI no. 5 (July 23, 2010)
Sector Updates
Sector 13: GSECARS Upgrade Proceeds
The first visible alterations have been made in preparation for the upgrade of GSECARS to operation with two undulators. During the May shutdown, a new door was made in the wall of 13-ID-C; eventually it will open into the new 13-ID-E station. In addition, the control area was reconfigured. The undulator and front end components have been designed and procured; design continues on beamline components. Design work will continue during the fall 2010 shutdown and user operations will continue uninterrupted until late 2011. Installation of the new beamline components is scheduled for the fall 2011 shutdown and cycle 2011-3; commissioning and user operations will begin in cycle 2012-1. [top]
Sector 14: BioCARS Achieves Simultaneous SAXS/WAXS at Picosecond Resolution for Proteins in Solution
Working at BioCARS, Philip Anfirud and colleagues have demonstrated the use of the 14-ID-B beamline as an x-ray scattering diffractometer capable of probing structural dynamics of proteins in solution with 100-ps time resolution. They obtained data over a broad range of q spanning 0.02–2.5 Å-1, thus achieving simultaneous coverage of the small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) regions. The results were published in PNAS (April 6, 2010). [top]
Sector 15: ChemMatCARS Partners with Danish Research Center in Advanced Materials Crystallography
On April 14, 2010, Jim Viccaro and Yu-Sheng Chen participated in the inauguration of a new international research center centered in Denmark, the Centre for Materials Crystallography (CMS) at Aarhus University. Jim is a co-investigator on the program, and the ChemMatCARS advanced crystallography facility, led by Yu-Sheng, will be an active partner in the Centre’s work. The CMC is funded by the Danish National Research Council and includes partners from Gottingen University, Germany; the University of Western Australia, Perth; Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolar, Milan, Italy; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; ChemMatCARS, The University of Chicago; and SPring8, Japan. The aim of the Center is to exploit the revolutionizing opportunities provided by new X-ray and neutron sources to tackle important challenges in materials science. The focus is to develop new and improved materials for use in fields such as energy production, pollution prevention, digital storage media and an extensive range of nanotechnological applications. [top]
Sector 15: ChemMatCARS Partners with the APS for USAXS
ChemMatCARS and APS have entered into a partnership which will move the ultra small angle x-ray scattering (USAXS) program to the ChemMatCARS 15 ID-D station. The USAXS instrument is a high-performance materials characterization facility using small-angle x-ray scattering techniques. The only other similar instrument is located at the ESRF. The program is led by Dr. Jan Ilavsky (APS). The program will be part of the ChemMatCARS National User Facility program. The development plan includes the addition of a wide-angle x-ray scattering capability in tandem with the USAXS instrument. This combined USAXS/WAXS capability will be unique worldwide. [top]
Sector 15: ChemMatCARS Upgrade on Track
The upgrade of the sector 15 undulator beamline is nearly complete. The upgrade was funded by the NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program and the project began in late 2007. The PI of the upgrade grant for $1.38M is Prof. Sue Mini (Northern Illinois University); Jim Viccaro, and Mark Schlossman (University of Illinois at Chicago) are co-PIs. The upgrade project, led by Tim Graber, will introduce state-of-the-art mirrors and a new monochromator on the undulator line. The new components, which have just been installed, will increase the energy range to 60 keV and enhance the brilliance on-sample. Thanks to the efforts of Harold Brewer and Frank Westferro, the construction and installation is on schedule and first light is expected in early August. [top]
Awards
Viccaro, Rivers Receive Mentoring Awards
Jim Viccaro and Mark Rivers received awards from the DOE Office of Science’s Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists program in recognition of their dedication as mentors. Jim mentored Janet Soltau of the University of Vermont, who worked at ChemMatCARS in the summer of 2009 as part of the DOE’s Pre-Service Teachers program. In the summer of 2008, Mark mentored a group of three students, Maude Johnson, Lindsey Thomas, and Meagan Pinkney, and their advisor, Riyadh Al-Raoush, from Southern University and A&M College. The group worked at CARS under the DOE’s Faculty and Student Teams (FaST) Program; their work was highlighted by the APS. Both student programs are administered by Argonne’s Division of Educational Programs. [top]
People
Tim Graber was promoted to senior scientist in March. Congratulations, Tim! [top]
- Mrinal Kanti Bera, postdoctoral scholar working for Binhua Lin and Mati Meron. Mrinal received his Ph.D. physics in 2010 from West Bengal University of Technology in India.
- Daniel Citron, assistant research professional working for Mark Rivers. Daniel received a BA in physics in 2009 from the University of Chicago.
- Jan Ilavsky, staff member of APS X-ray Operations and Research Division. Through an agreement with the APS that brings the APS USAXS instrument to 15-ID-D, Jan is managing the SAX/USAXS program at ChemMatCARS. Jan’s office is in Bldg. 434C.
- Zhicheng Jing, postdoctoral scholar working with Yanbin Wang. Zhicheng recently received his Ph.D. in geophysics from Yale.
- Tatsuya Sakamaki, postdoctoral scholar working with Yanbin Wang and Mark Rivers. He received his Ph.D. From Tohoku University, Japan.
- Sergey Tkachev, postdoctoral scholar with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and part-time beamline scientist at NSLS. While at CARS, Sergey is working with Mark Rivers. He received his Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
- Kirill Zhuravlev, postdoctoral scholar with Carnegie Institution of Washington. Kirill is collaborating with Vitali Prakapenka at GSECARS. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Washington.
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CARS has welcomed six undergraduates this summer. John Lazarz (Penn State University) has returned for his second summer and this year is working with Przemek Dera. Travis Ksiasek (Illinois State University) has also returned for a second summer to work with Matt Newville on various software projects. Derek Peloquin, from SUNY University at Buffalo, is working at ChemMatCARS with Yu-Sheng Chen.
GSECARS is again hosting a group sponsored by the DOE/NSF Faculty and Student Teams Program. The students are Courtney Gordon, Jasmin Richardson, and Steven Robins, all from Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; their advisor is Riyadh Al-Raoush. They are working with microtomography experiments on fluid-saturated soil columns to determine properties that are important for understanding environmental remediation efforts. [top]
- Innokenty and Anastasia Kantor departed in March for the ESRF, where Inno has taken a position as a beamline scientist at ID24. He will develop an on-line laser heating system combined with energy dispersive x-ray absorption spectroscopy for the diamond anvil cell high pressure experiments.
- Jeff Gebhardt left CARS in June to join the APS Beamline Controls and Data Acquisition Group, where he will be writing detector software.
- Joe Pluth retired in July, after 39 years with the University of Chicago. Officially affiliated with the Department of Geophysical Sciences throughout his tenure with the University, Joe was a long-time collaborator with GSECARS and is the author of more than 100 papers on the structural chemistry of minerals, zeolites, and other organic and inorganic materials.
- Brian Leahy will depart at the end of July. Brian has worked with Binhua Lin on campus since July 2007. He received his BA in physics in June 2009 but stayed on to complete his work with Binhua, which has resulted in a publication accepted for Physical Review Letters, “Geometric Stability and Elastic Response of a Supported Nanoparticle Film.” Brian is headed to Cornell for graduate school in physics.
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