ALSNews is a biweekly electronic newsletter to keep users and other interested parties informed about developments at the Advanced Light Source, a national user facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California. To be placed on the mailing list, send your name and complete internet address to ALSNews@lbl.gov. We welcome suggestions for topics and content.

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ALSNews           Vol. 59           August 21, 1996

Table of Contents


    1. OPERATIONS UPDATE
    2. NATIONAL SCIENCE TEAM WINNERS "BOWLED" OVER BY ALS
    3. USERS' MEETING WORKSHOPS AND T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST WINNER
    4. LONG-TERM SCHEDULE SET FOR NOVEMBER 1996-APRIL 1997

1. OPERATIONS UPDATE
(contact: rmmiller@lbl.gov)

Beam availability for the last two weeks was 84% overall and 83.4% for user shifts. One full shift was lost because of power supply repairs necessitated by the power outage that affected the western United States on Saturday, August 10. All other problems were repaired and were of short duration. Beam availability for last week was affected by the more frequent fills needed for 1.9-GeV, two-bunch operation.

Operations Summary for August 21 - September 9

Aug 21, 00:00-08:00           User Scrubbing & Special Operations
                              (00:00-02:00, 1.5-GeV/400-mA/320-bunch/
                              feedback off requested; 02:00-08:00,
                              1.9-GeV/2-bunch requested)
Aug 21, 08:00- Aug 26, 07:15  1.9-GeV/2-bunch User Operations 
                              (20 mA/bunch max)
Aug 26, 07:30-24:00           Maintenance & Startup
Aug 27, 00:00-24:00           Accelerator Physics
Aug 28, 00:00-08:00           User Scrubbing and Special Operations
Aug 28, 08:00- Sep 01, 23:15  1.5-GeV/400-mA/320-bunch User Operations
Sep 02, 00:00-24:00           Holiday (Labor Day)
Sep 03, 00:00-07:15           No Operations
Sep 03, 07:30-24:00           Maintenance & Startup
Sep 04, 00:00-24:00           Accelerator Physics
Sep 05, 00:00-08:00           User Scrubbing and Special Operations
Sep 05, 08:00- Sep 09, 7:15   1.5-GeV/400-mA/320-bunch User Operations

2. NATIONAL SCIENCE TEAM WINNERS "BOWLED" OVER BY ALS
(contact: jccross@lbl.gov)

For the winners of the National Science Bowl Championship (a DOE sponsored nation-wide science contest for high school students), a week-long visit to the ALS and participation in actual experiments was the ultimate prize for prevailing over 1700 other schools in the competition. The five students and their coach, from Venice High School in Los Angeles, spent the week of August 5 at the ALS learning everything from how a synchrotron works to the ins and outs of photoemission spectroscopy. Along the way they got a unique insight into both the ALS and the people that work here-an eye-opening experience for everyone involved.

When the five students-Noah Bray-Ali, David Dickinson, My Le Hoang, Candice Kamachi, and Chris Mayor-arrived at the ALS, one of the first questions posed to them was, "What is your mental picture of a scientist?" Their responses were surprisingly uniform-a scientist is a white male, with a beard and a British accent who can be found working madly away, alone, wearing a white lab coat. In less time that it takes to say "Eureka!" the students' view of a scientist was quickly dispelled by the diversity of ALS staff and the collaborative work environment of Berkeley Lab.

A highlight of the students' week at the ALS was the chance to join beamline research teams on Thursday evening. This was the first time that high school students have participated in actual experiments at the ALS but they demonstrated they were well up to the task as they prepared samples and imaged malaria cells using the x-ray microscope on Beamline 6.1, and took and analyzed data related to surface and bulk structure of materials on Beamline 9.3.2. In addition to learning the fate of a photon, the students participated in some of the "behind the scenes" activities that contribute to the success of the ALS such as conducting residual gas analysis (RGA) scans, measuring optical surfaces, creating solid models with computer-aided design (CAD), and precisely positioning equipment using survey and alignment.

From the point of view of the ALS, hosting the team was an opportunity to share knowledge and give the students an idea about how science is conducted at a major research facility. It was also a chance to challenge, and be challenged by, five bright and curious high school students, and, perhaps, to inspire future ALS scientists and engineers. It may have worked-asked to sum up the team's week at the ALS, Candice Kamachi replied, "Inspirational, and a once in a lifetime experience!"

3. USERS' MEETING WORKSHOPS AND T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST WINNER

A series of informal workshops will be held on Wednesday, October 23, in conjunction with the ALS Users' Association Annual Meeting on Monday and Tuesday, October 21-22, 1996. The registration materials for the annual meeting as well as the workshops are being mailed out at the end of the week. The workshop lineup is as follows:

Wed. morning: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon 
Introduction to Accelerator Physics for Users (ALS Accelerator Physics and
Experimental Systems Group) 
The ALS is a very flexible machine, with many different operating conditions
already available and new ones under development. This tutorial-style
workshop is designed to help users understand the various types of operations
and how the different modes affect experiments.

Wed. afternoon 1:30 - 5 p.m. (5 parallel workshops)
Soft X-Ray Fluorescence [contact: Tom Callcott (tcallcott@utk.edu)]
Atomic Physics [contact: Nora Berrah (berrah@wmich.edu)]
Spectromicroscopy [contact: Harald Ade (ade@pymvds.physics.ncsu.edu)]
High Aspect Ratio Microfabrication Using LIGA [contact: Keith Jackson
(keith_jackson@macmail.lbl.gov)]
Dispersive NEXAFS [contact: Zahid Hussain (zahid_hussain@macmail.lbl.gov)]

4. LONG-TERM SCHEDULE SET FOR NOVEMBER 1996-APRIL 1997
(contact: fred_schlachter@lbl.gov)

ALS management met with the users at a Town Meeting on August 14 to discuss the schedule for November 6, 1996 to April 28, 1997. Based on input from users, the ALS prepared a draft operating schedule which is given below by week. Users who have comments about the draft schedule should send them to Fred Schlachter (email: fred_schlachter@lbl.gov; fax: 510-486-6499) by September 3 at 8:00 a.m. California time. A final operating schedule will be issued shortly thereafter and distributed to all current and scheduled ALS users and be posted on the World Wide Web. Note, in response to the ever increasing demand for beamtime, the ALS is scheduled to operate nearly one full year without major shutdowns (the last shutdown ended in mid-May 1996, the next will begin no earlier than end of April 1997).

The first part of each heading is the storage ring energy in GeV; MB and 2B stand for multi-bunch and two-bunch operation respectively. Accelerator physics time, maintenance/startup, and holidays occupy the time not accounted for in the "Dates" column, as well as some shifts on the first and/or last days of most periods listed. You may request a copy of the schedule in chart form by sending your name and fax number to alsuser@lbl.gov with a "please send draft long-term schedule" message.

Dates (MM/DD/YY)    1.5/MB   1.9/MB   1.9/2B   1.3/MB

11/06/96-11/11/96                              1.3/MB
11/13/96-11/18/96   1.5/MB
11/21/96-11/27/96            1.9/MB
12/04/96-12/09/96            1.9/MB
12/11/96-12/16/96   1.5/MB
12/18/96-12/23/96   1.5/MB
01/07/97-01/12/97            1.9/MB
01/15/97-01/19/97                     1.9/2B
01/21/97-01/26/97                     1.9/2B
01/28/97-02/03/97            1.9/MB
02/05/97-02/10/97            1.9/MB
02/12/97-02/17/97   1.5/MB
02/20/97-02/24/97            1.9/MB
02/26/97-03/03/97            1.9/MB
03/05/97-03/10/97   1.5/MB
03/12/97-03/17/97   1.5/MB
03/19/97-03/24/97            1.9/MB
03/26/97-03/31/97            1.9/MB
04/02/97-04/07/97            1.9/MB
04/09/97-04/14/97                              1.3/MB
04/16/97-04/21/97   1.5/MB
04/23/97-04/28/97            1.9/MB