1. PHYSICAL SCIENCES INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR PROPOSALS DUE JUNE 1
Contact: GFKrebs@lbl.gov

June 1, 1999, is the deadline for independent investigator (II) proposals in the physical sciences for the next running period, which will last from October 1999 to May 2000. This transitional running period will be eight months long instead of the usual six because the ALS will be shifting its running periods by two months, so that they start in June and December rather than in April and October. (This schedule does not apply to protein crystallography proposals, which have a separate process and schedule.)

Other important changes in the II proposal process for the physical sciences include the following: First, starting with the current proposal cycle, all II proposals will have the option to remain active for two years (i.e., four six-month cycles) with the submission of a one-page Experiment Report/Beamtime Request every six months. Second, for the current proposal cycle only, investigators may request to have a previous proposal considered by notifying the User Services Office by the June 1, 1999, deadline (such resubmissions will also begin their two years of eligibility with the current proposal cycle). Third, the numeric rating for each II proposal will be communicated to the investigator along with comments from the Proposal Study Panel (PSP); investigators can then check the Web for the cut-off rating for each beamline. For details about these changes, see ALSNews Vol. 126 (http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/als_news/news_archive/vol.126_042899.html).

The proposal form for independent investigators is available on the Web at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/quickguide/independinvest.html. Data sheets describing the capabilities of the beamlines at the ALS are also on the Web at http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/als_users_bl/datasheets.html.

To request a proposal form by mail, contact:
Ruth Pepe, ALS User Services Administrator
Tel: (510) 486-5268
Fax: (510) 486-4773
Email: alsuser@lbl.gov

2. SCHEDULED SHUTDOWN TO BEGIN JUNE 1
Contact: jpharkins@lbl.gov

On June 1, the ALS will begin a three-week shutdown for planned installations and maintenance. Chief among the more than 200 tasks to be carried out is the installation and commissioning of the third-harmonic rf cavities, which are to lengthen the electron bunches in the storage ring. The longer bunches will give users longer beam lifetimes without increasing the energy spread of the beam. Another major activity will be the machining of the vacuum chamber in Sector 4 to allow future installation of superconducting bend magnets. With installation planned for mid-2001, the "superbends" will produce high-brightness, intermediate-energy x-ray beams. Also during the upcoming shutdown, the survey and alignment crews will take the opportunity to survey the storage-ring girders. Work on specific beamlines will include installation of a new graphite filter in the Beamline 5.0 front end and a new photon stop in the Beamline 7.3 front end.

The accelerator is scheduled to be started up on June 11 for commissioning of the third-harmonic cavities, but shutdown activities will continue outside the storage ring. On June 18, the accelerator will be shut down most of the day for additional storage-ring work. User operations are scheduled to resume at 8:00 a.m. on June 21.

3. ALS SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT GROUP JOB OPENING
Contact: employment@lbl.gov, refer to job ALS/10458/CJO

The ALS Scientific Support Group is looking for a beamline scientist to assist users of a high-resolution soft x-ray undulator beamline (initially Beamline 8.0). The successful applicant will join a research program in materials science and environmental science, utilizing the techniques of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and soft x-ray fluorescence/emission spectroscopy. More information about this position is available on the Web at http://WWW.LBL.GOV/CJO/sci10458als.html. The Berkeley Lab Current Job Opportunities (CJO) Web site (http://WWW.LBL.GOV/CJO/) lists all job openings at the Laboratory and explains how to apply. You may forward your resume/curriculum vitae and any questions or comments about current vacancies via e-mail to the Berkeley Lab Employment Office, employment@lbl.gov. For this position, refer to job number ALS/10458/CJO.

4. RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Blank, D.A., N. Hemmi, A.G. Suits, and Y.T. Lee, "A crossed molecular beam investigation of the reaction Cl + propane HCl + C3H7 using VUV synchrotron radiation as a product probe," Chem. Phys. Lett. 231 (1998), p. 261.

Hwang, K.Y., C.-S. Cho, S.S. Kim, H.-C. Sung, Y.G. Yu, and Y. Cho, "Structure and mechanism of glutamate racemase from aquifex pyrophilus," Nat. Struct. Biol. 6 (1999), p. 422.

Jackson, W.M., R. Price, J. Wrobel, D. Xu, M. Ahmed, D. Peterka, and A.G. Suits, "Velocity map imaging studies of the Lyman alpha photodissociation mechanism for H atom production from hydrocarbons," J. Chem. Phys. 109 (1998), p. 4703.

Kurmaev, E.Z., M.A. Korotin, V.R. Galakhov, L.D. Finkelstein, E.I. Zabolotzky, N.N. Efremova, N.I. Lobachevskaya, S. Stadler, D.L. Ederer, A.P. Moewes, S. Bartkowski, M. Neumann, J. Matsuno, A. Fujimori, and J. Mitchell, "X-ray emission of photoelectron spectra of Pr0.5Sr0.5MnO3," Phys. Rev. B 59, 20 (May 1999), p. 15.

Stimson, S.L., M.D. Evans, C.Y. Ng, C.-W. Hsu, P.A. Heimann, C. Destandau, G. Chambaud, and P. Rosmus, "High resolution vacuum UV pulsed field ionization photoelectron ban for OCS+ (X2): an experimental and theoretical study," J. Chem. Phys. 108 (1998), p. 6205.

Sun, W., J. Robinson, K. Yokoyama, A.G. Suits, and D.M. Neumark, "Discrimination of product isomers in the photodissociation of propyne and allene at 193nm," J. Chem. Phys. 110 (1999), p. 4363.

5. WHO'S IN TOWN: A SAMPLING OF ALS USERS

To highlight the richness of our user community and help introduce recent arrivals, we offer this listing of some of the experimenters who will be collecting data during the next two weeks at the ALS.

Beamline 1.4.3: Felicia Hendrickson and Robert Glaeser (Univ. of California, Berkeley) will continue studying the photocycle of bacteriorhodopsin microcrystals. Hoi-Ying Holman (Berkeley Lab) will be studying activity in environmental samples at the bacteria-mineral interface.

Beamline 7.3.1.1: Harald Ade (North Carolina State Univ.) will study dewetting phenomena of polymer bilayers and blends by using PEEM2.

Beamline 7.3.3: John Spence (Arizona State Univ.) and Wenbing Yun and Malcolm Howells (Berkeley Lab) will be developing hard x-ray microtomography.

Beamline 9.3.1: Mel Klein and Karen McFarlane (Berkeley Lab) will be performing x-ray absorption spectroscopy studies of proteins near the sulfur K edge.

Beamline 9.3.2: Kevin Wilson, Richard Saykally, and collaborators (Univ. of California, Berkeley) will study photoionization of a water jet.

Beamline 10.0.1: Aaron Covington, Ron Phaneuf, and collaborators (Univ. of Nevada-Reno) will continue commissioning the photon-ion endstation.

Beamline 10.3.1: Dale Sayers and his research group (North Carolina State Univ.) will be studying elemental impurity distributions in cancerous lung tissue.

6. OPERATIONS UPDATE
Contact: RMMiller@lbl.gov

Beam reliability for user shifts during the last two weeks (May 10-23) was essentially perfect. The number of user hours delivered was greater than the number scheduled. There were no significant outages.

Long-term and weekly operations schedules are available on the Web (http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/accelinfo.html). Weekly operations scheduling meetings are held on Fridays at 3:30 p.m. in the Building 6 conference room. The Accelerator Status Hotline at (510) 486-6766 (ext. 6766 from Lab phones) features a recorded message giving up-to-date information on the operational status of the accelerator.