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.

Previous Issues are available.


ALSNews           Vol. 61           September 18, 1996


Table of Contents


    1. OPERATIONS UPDATE
    2. ALSNEWS READER SURVEY
    3. ALS COMMENDED IN DIVISION REVIEW
    4. ALS ACTIVITY REPORT IN THE MAIL
    5. USERS' MEETING INFORMATION AND REMINDERS

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

Beam availability for the last two weeks was 87.8% overall and 87.1% for user shifts. Causes of lost beamtime included failures of a booster-to-storage-ring bend magnet power supply, a traveling wave tube in the longitudinal feedback system, and a component in the gap drive system for the 5-cm-period undulator in sector 8 (see below for repair schedule).

Operations Summary for September 18 - October 7

Sep 18, 00:00-08:00           User scrubbing & special operations
                              (1.9-GeV/260-mA/320-bunch user operations)
Sep 18, 08:00- Sep 23, 07:15  1.9-GeV/260-mA/320-bunch user operations
Sep 23, 07:30- Sep 24, 24:00  Maintenance & startup
Sep 25, 00:00- Sep 26, 24:00  Undulator drive system repairs (see below)
Sep 27, 00:00- Sep 30, 07:15  1.9-GeV/260-mA/320-bunch user operations
Sep 30, 07:30-24:00           Maintenance & startup
Oct 01, 00:00-24:00           Accelerator physics
Oct 02, 00:00-08:00           User scrubbing & special operations
Oct 02, 08:00- Oct 07, 07:15  1.5-GeV/400-mA/320-bunch user operations

** REPAIRS TO BE MADE TO SECTOR 8 UNDULATOR DRIVE SYSTEM **
A roller screw in the gap drive system of the Beamline 8.0, 5-cm-period undulator has locked, jamming the drive system. The roller screw is one of a set of four supporting the lower half of the magnetic structure of the undulator. It is likely that we can adjust the three good roller screws to provide satisfactory operation until a complete repair can be made. The plan is to remove the damaged screw on September 23 and to set up and align the lower magnetic structure, completing temporary repairs on the 26th. If all goes well, we will be back to user operation on September 27, having lost one day of user beam time. There is a small chance this will not succeed, in which case the shutdown may extend through October 1, with user operations resuming on the morning of October 2 after midnight. We will make a full analysis of the failed roller screw to understand the cause of the failure in an effort to prevent similar problems in the future.

2. ALSNEWS READER SURVEY
(contact: alsnews@lbl.gov)

Note for archive edition: The ALSNews reader survey has been concluded and tallied, so we have disabled this form's functionality. However, we always welcome your comments and suggestions. To contact us, send email to alsnews@lbl.gov.

ALSNews is nearing its second anniversary with more than 575 subscribers from 25 countries, and we particularly appreciate those readers who have written with compliments or suggestions. However, to serve the needs of our large and varied readership even more effectively, we are soliciting feedback in the form of this brief survey.

All we ask is that you take about a minute to answer the following questions and click "Send responses to ALS" to send the survey back to us. If your browser does not support forms, please choose whichever of the following methods is easiest for you:

• Send an email message to alsnews@lbl.gov with the number of each question and the letter(s) of each answer: 1-A, 2-B, 3-C,D, etc., plus your comments;
• Copy the survey into an email message to alsnews@lbl.gov, inserting an X at the beginning of the appropriate lines to mark your answers and adding your comments; or
• Print out the survey, circle your answers, add your comments, and fax to ALSNews at (510) 486-7696.

1. E-mail address:

2. What category best describes you?
   A. ALS User
   B. Prospective ALS User
   C. Non-user -- U.S. government
   D. Non-user -- Industry
   E. Other

3. How often do you read ALSNews?
   A. Every issue
   B. Frequently, but not every issue
   C. Infrequently

4. Which types of articles do you appreciate the most? (Check all that apply.)
   A. Recent research results
   B. New beamline updates
   C. Beamline and instrument R&D
   D. Accelerator physics updates
   E. Explanations of research techniques
   F. Operations schedule
   G. Other (please specify)

5. How do you find the level of writing?
   A. Just about right
   B. Overly technical
   C. Too simple

6. Any suggestions for improvements to ALSNews or new types of articles to add?
   A. No (it's just wonderful as is)
   B. Yes (add suggestions here)
   

7. Which of the following would you like to have available on the ALS World Wide Web pages? (You may select more than one.)
   A. A list of ALS specifications (energy, current, emittance, etc.)
   B. Specifications for individual beamlines (source, monochromator type, flux, spot size, energy range, etc.)
   C. A Web-based version of the Users' Handbook
   D. Electronic forms such as Experiment Form, Independent Investigator Proposal, etc.
   E. A list of beamline contact persons
   F. Other (please specify)

3. ALS COMMENDED IN DIVISION REVIEW

Each year the ALS is reviewed as part of the peer review of Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division. The reviewers, appointed by the Lab director, come from other laboratories and universities. The ALS was broadly commended, both for its attention to the development of a productive user program and for continuing improvements to the facility itself. The facility and its leadership were described as "outstanding," serving "as the anchor and showplace of the Division." The committee especially noted the ALS's "rapid rise to maturity," with five of ten possible insertion devices installed, serving an active community of about 300 users. Proposals to develop hard x-ray sources, the development of improved monitoring and diagnostics systems, and a proposal to generate femtosecond x-ray pulses were all given high marks.

4. ALS ACTIVITY REPORT IN THE MAIL
(contact: djdixon@lbl.gov)

The ALS Activity Report for 1995 is complete and ready for your perusal. The report is designed to share the breadth, variety, and interest of the ALS scientific program and ongoing R&D efforts in a form that is accessible to a broad audience. Research results are presented in six sections, each representing an important theme in ALS science. This approach is designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the ALS, rather than to give a comprehensive view of 1995 experiments. The report also includes lists of beamlines and research techniques slated for use by the end of 1997; sections on operations, accelerator physics, experimental systems, and special events; a list of publications emerging from work at the ALS in 1995; and other ALS information.

The Activity Report came off the presses and went into the mail almost two weeks ago; many of you should have it by now, and some of you in more distant places will receive it soon. Copies will also be available at the Annual Meeting of the ALS Users' Association, October 21-22 (see item 5 below). If you would like to receive a copy by mail, please send your name and complete mailing address via email to alsuser@lbl.gov with "Send Activity Report" in the subject line.

5. USERS' MEETING INFORMATION AND REMINDERS
(contact: alsuser@lbl.gov)

The Annual Meeting of the ALS Users' Association will take place October 21-22. Read on for information about workshops held in conjunction with the meeting, registration deadlines, and the poster abstract submission deadline.

** WORKSHOPS TO BE HELD OCTOBER 23 **
On the day after the Users' Meeting, there will be one workshop in the morning and five parallel workshops in the afternoon. Registration by September 30 is required to attend these workshops; to request a registration form, send an email message to alsuser@lbl.gov with your name, fax number, and complete mailing address, and put "Request Workshop Registration" in the subject line. The workshops' times, titles, and organizers are given below.

09:00-12:00  Introduction to Accelerator Physics for Users 
               (Alan Jackson, Howard Padmore)
13:30-17:00  Five workshops to choose from:
               Soft X-Ray Fluorescence (Tom Callcott)
               Atomic and Molecular Physics (Nora Berrah)
               Spectromicroscopy (Harald Ade)
               High-Aspect-Ratio Microfabrication Using LIGA
                 (Keith Jackson)
               Dispersive NEXAFS (Zahid Hussain)

    Mollie Field
    Conference Coordinator
    Berkeley Lab, MS 65A
    1 Cyclotron Road
    Berkeley, CA 94720
    Fax: 510-486-6421

The number of posters accepted will be limited by the availability of space. All first authors will be notified by October 11 whether their abstracts have been accepted or declined. Please submit abstracts and address any additional questions to

    Elizabeth Saucier
    ALS Program Administrator
    Advanced Light Source
    MS 80-101
    Berkeley Lab
    Berkeley, CA 94720
    Phone: 510-486-6166
    Fax: 510-486-4960
    Email: alsuser@lbl.gov