1. ULTRAFAST SCIENCE CULTIVATED IN NAPA WORKSHOP
(Contact: HAPadmore@lbl.gov)

Connoisseurs of the ultrafast gathered last week (April 14-17) in Napa, California, to explore "New Opportunities in Ultrafast Science Using X Rays." The development of ultrafast optical laser systems has revolutionized the study of many problems in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences. The advent of ultrafast x-ray sources offers the possibility for extending optical studies to include x-ray techniques such as x-ray absorption spectroscopy (to give local chemical and magnetic information) and x-ray diffraction (to give structural information), with resolutions of well below 100 femtoseconds.

In light of this, the Napa workshop brought together members of the existing ultrafast optical community and the emerging ultrafast x-ray community to define scientific highlights and directions for the use of the x-ray techniques, to promote cross-fertilization of ideas between the two communities, and to define the source characteristics required for particular classes of experiment. The four-day workshop featured morning sessions that began at 8:30 a.m. and evening sessions that ended at 10:00 p.m., interspersed with afternoon poster sessions and, naturally, a number of wine and cheese receptions. Topics of discussion included structural dynamics, magnetism, chemical dynamics, electron dynamics, biology, and high-energy-density dynamics.

The workshop was organized with funds from the ALS, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, the Swiss Light Source, the Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Institutes of Health through BioCARS (the biological sector of the Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources, managed by the University of Chicago). The gathering was attended by over 100 experts from many different countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Among the luminaries in attendance were Massimo Altarelli, Director of the ELETTRA synchrotron in Trieste, Italy, and Denis Raoux, Project Director for the Soleil synchrotron being built near Paris. Both directors scheduled time before or after the workshop to spend a day touring the ALS and kept ALS management and staff busy discussing topics such as the science being done at the ALS, next-generation detectors, and facility developments.

2. SYNCHROTRON SUMMER SCHOOL EXPANDS CURRICULUM
(Contacts: nilsson@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu, attwood@eecs.berkeley.edu)

Building upon last year's successful program (held at Berkeley's Clark Kerr campus), this year's joint Stanford-Berkeley Synchrotron Summer School, to be held July 7-13, 2002, will be hosted by Stanford and will offer participants a choice between a physical science course and a life science course. Joint lectures, evening discussions, and visits to synchrotron light sources will provide an interdisciplinary and intellectually stimulating training ground for new and experienced researchers alike. Students, postdocs, and independent scientists who have ongoing research projects are encouraged to participate.

The physical sciences course will cover the fundamentals of synchrotron radiation, including the use of spectroscopy and diffraction in physics, chemistry, and materials science. The life sciences course, in addition to introducing the fundamentals of synchrotron radiation, will provide intensive training in x-ray diffraction, data collection, and crystal structure determination. More detailed information and applications for the week-long residential program are available online at http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/SR-School/. The program is limited to approximately 40 students per course, and prospective applicants are encouraged to apply early (by May 10). Applicants will be informed in writing regarding their application status by May 31.

The summer school is sponsored jointly by Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, with additional funding support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, and corporate sponsors. David Attwood (attwood@eecs.berkeley.edu) and Anders Nilsson (nilsson@ssrl.slac.stanford.edu) are the directors for the physical science course, and Peter Kuhn (pkuhn@stanford.edu) and John Kuriyan (kuriyan@uclink.berkeley.edu) are the directors for the life science course.

3. MOLECULAR FOUNDRY PHOTOS AND PRESENTATIONS

Photos and presentation slides from the Molecular Foundry workshop held at Berkeley Lab earlier this month are now posted at the Molecular Foundry Web site, http://foundry.lbl.gov/.

4. UEC CORNER: NOTES FROM THE USERS' EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
by Roger Falcone
(Contact: rwf@physics.berkeley.edu)

On April 17, eight representatives from the UECs of the four DOE synchrotron facilities (H. Ade and J. Doudna represented the ALS) visited Washington, DC, to meet with staffers from the House and Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittees, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology. A briefing document discussing the science, funding, and user profiles of the four facilities was presented and discussed. These annual visits have become an important means of showing our enthusiasm for what we are doing, of communicating our substantial contributions to basic and applied science, the economy, health, and security, and of articulating our needs. The briefing package will soon be made accessible to all users for their own efforts in communicating with Congress.

5. ALS GOES HOLLYWOOD: "HULK" FILMING GOES SMOOTHLY
(Contact: JPHarkins@lbl.gov)

A film crew from Universal Studios descended upon the ALS last Friday evening, April 19, and worked almost nonstop through the weekend until early Tuesday morning to complete the Berkeley Lab location shots for the upcoming movie, "The Hulk." Eric Bana, Sam Elliott, Jennifer Connelly, Lou Ferrigno, and Nick Nolte were at the ALS at various times throughout the filming. Eric Bana's excellent physical conditioning was apparent as he rode a bike up and down the hill along Lawrence Road just below the ALS in seemingly endless retakes requested by director Ang Lee. The filming finished at almost midnight on Monday with a dramatic police car scene in the Building 80 parking lot. While parking was severely affected during the day on Monday, Berkeley Lab employees took the inconvenience in stride. The Universal Studios personnel were great to work with. Look for the film to come out during the summer of 2003.

6. CORRECTION

In the last issue of ALSNews, Keith Jackson was incorrectly identified as being affiliated with Beamline 3.3.1 (commercial LIGA). He is affiliated with the noncommercial LIGA program at Beamline 3.3.2.

7. OPERATIONS UPDATE
(Contact: JPHarkins@lbl.gov)

The ALS is currently in a planned shutdown for installations and maintenance. The shutdown is progressing well thus far, with all scheduled projects proceeding as planned. An elliptically polarizing undulator (EPU) has been installed in Sector 11 for the new Molecular Environmental Sciences beamline. The supporting chicane magnets will not be installed until May 13, and it is anticipated that the EPU will be commissioned shortly thereafter. The storage ring survey has been completed and alignment of the storage ring is under way. Meetings are currently being held with each of the beamline scientists to confirm requirements for any beamline realignments, and time is scheduled on May 6 and 7 to align beamlines once the beam is turned back on. Higher-order mode dampers have been installed in the storage ring rf cavities and have been conditioned with high-power rf. Final conditioning with electron beam and commissioning of the controls will be done next week during start-up.

Other completed projects include installation of Beamline 4.2 tubes through the shield wall, installation of new quadrupole magnet controls, installation of fast-orbit feedback hardware and controls, modifications to the Sector 12 wireway, and upgrades to the storage-ring-rack water-flow monitor and interlock. Non-shutdown critical work being undertaken includes replacing the Beamline 5.3.1 mirror, modifications to the endstations at Beamlines 8.2.1 and 8.3.1, installation of the Beamline 11.0.2 M1 mirror, relocation of the Sector 12 clean room, and installation of a mezzanine platform. User operations are scheduled to resume at 12:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 9.

Long-term and weekly operations schedules are available on the Web (http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/accelinfo.html). Requests for special operations use of the "scrubbing" shift should be sent to Bruce Samuelson (BCSamuelson@lbl.gov, x4738) by 1:00 p.m. Friday. 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.

LBNL/PUB-863
Editors: lstamura@lbl.gov, alrobinson@lbl.gov, amgreiner@lbl.gov

This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.