Workshops

Following Tuesday morning's general session portion of the ALS Users' Meeting, time has been set aside beginning at 10:30 a.m on Tuesday, continuing through to Wednesday for ten workshops. One workshop will be held jointly with SSRL.

Please register for ALL workshops that you plan to attend.

Agendas for each workshop will be posted as soon as speakers are confirmed. For additional information about individual workshops, please contact the respective workshop organizers(s).

Current and Future Upgrades and New Techniques for Improving the Performance of the ALS
Christoph Steier (LBNL) and  Greg Portmann (LBNL)

The final preparations and testing of top-off will occur this fall. By January 2009 the standard user operating mode will be continuous top-off to 500 mA. Besides this upgrade this workshop will discuss future improvement to the ALS. For instance, it may be possible to create a pseudo single bunch operation by changing the orbit of the cam-shaft bunch using fast kicker magnets. It’s also possible to substantially improve the beam emittance by adding extra sextupoles to the ring. The pros, cons, costs, and feasibility of doing these and other upgrades to the ALS will be considered.

Advanced Imaging Techniques for Nanostructures
Alex Hexemer (LBNL) and Frank Ogletree (LBNL)

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Ion-Photon Beamline: Past,
Present, and Future of Photon-Ion Interaction Studies
AAguilar (LBNL), Rene Bilodeau (LBNL/Western Michigan University),  and Ron Phaneuf (University of Nevada, Reno)

This workshop will focus on studies of interactions of VUV photons with positive and negative atomic and molecular ion beams using monochromatized synchrotron radiation. Recent experimental and theoretical results for photon-ion interactions will be highlighted, along with their applications in astrophysics and other areas. New research directions will be discussed, including possibilities for future studies using trapped ions and free-electron laser beams.

Energy and Environmental Science with Synchrotron Radiation
Musahid  Ahmed (LBNL) and Kevin Wilson (LBNL)

This workshop will explore new applications of synchrotron radiation for the study of complex chemical systems important for emerging challenges in energy and environmental science. Presentations will highlight novel efforts at the ALS to understand important problems in combustion, atmospheric, environmental and interstellar chemistry.

Hard X-Ray Photoemission: Recent Progress and Promise for the Future [Workshop Web Site]
Tuesday October 14–Wednesday October 15
Chuck Fadley (LBNL) and Alexei Fedorov (LBNL)

Hard x-ray photoemission (HXPS or HAXPES or HX-PES), in which the excitation energies range from about 2 keV to 15 keV, is emerging as a new technique with broad possibilities for studies of complex materials and buried-layer nanostructures. Using higher excitation energies permits more cleanly probing bulk composition, atomic structure and electronic structure, as well as penetrating more deeply into multilayer nanostructures, due to the increased electron inelastic attenuation lengths,. There are some other advantages in terms of simplified data analysis. There are currently experimental activities in HXPS at SPring8, ESRF, and BESSY, but only one such facility exists in the U.S. at present. This workshop will overview the present status of HXPS and consider the various possible future directions for it, including options for developing capabilities for it at the ALS, SSRL and elsewhere in the U.S.

Coherent X-Ray Scattering and Microscopy
Workshop Web Site
Tuesday, October 14
Stefano Marchesini (LBNL), Tony Warwick(LBNL), David Shapiro (LBNL), and Sujoy Roy  (LBNL)

Coherent x-ray scattering and microscopy complement the capabilities of light and electron microscopy by providing a way to perform nanometer-scale measurements on micrometer-thick objects. In the life sciences and energy biosciences, x ray imaging techniques such as diffraction microscopy are being developed to study cells and bacteria at a resolution sufficient to recognize known proteins without limits imposed by optics and at minimum radiation dose. Another capability offered by coherent x-rays is probing the structure and temporal response of nanoscale domains and their self-assembly processes, using correlation spectroscopy, in complex hard and soft materials, which is key to understanding their unusual macroscopic behavior in the presence or absence of an external stimuli.

As the country's premier source of coherent soft X rays, the ALS is home to a leading effort in the development of diffraction microscopy for applications in materials and life sciences, and home to activities in time dependent coherent scattering studies of dynamics and phase transitions.
This workshop will explore new developments in coherent scattering and microscopy. It will include presentations on recent successes and planned developments at the ALS, exciting new developments in the international community, and discussions of grand challenge problems which coherent scattering and microscopy is uniquely positioned to help solve.

 

Recent Advances in the Automation of Protein Crystallography
Workshop Web Site
Peter Zwart  (LBNL), Nick Sauter (LBNL), John Taylor  (LBNL), and Paul Adams (LBNL)

Automation in protein crystallography has pushed the efficiency and capabilities of beamlines forward and developments in software has made it possible to solve complex structures in a routine manner. In this workshop, advances in automation will be presented in a series of short talks and during interactive, hands-on sessions.

Theory Institute for Photon Sciences
Arun Bansil (LBNL), Tom Devereaux  (SLAC), Dung-Hai Lee (UC Berkeley), and Zahid Hussain (LBNL)

X-Ray Imaging Technologies for Energy Storage
Alastair MacDowell (LBNL) Venkat Srinivasan (LBNL), Vincent Battaglia (LBNL)

NOTE: This workshop will be held during the week following the Users' Meeting, on Monday, October 20.
This workshop is aimed at looking for opportunities that synchrotron radiation research can provide to answer some of the challenges associated with Energy Storage. The workshop will most likely focus on battery technologies, the problems in this field and possible ways of examining these problems by means of the numerous techniques available via synchrotron radiation.

Joint ALS/SSRL Workshop at SSRL
Soft X-Ray Beam Line for Material and Energy Science at LCLS
Denis Nordlund (SSRL), Andreas Scherz (SLAC), Phil Heimann (LBNL)

NOTE: This workshop will be held Saturday, October 18, 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., at SLAC.

The workshop will establish the current status of the LCLS soft x-ray material and energy science consortium and aims for a coherent effort to make the most compelling science, detailing instrument requirements and commissioning a success. The participants will learn about the SXR instrumentation and scientific opportunities. Presentations will cover the scientific areas and the beamline design for the three main experimental setups: Coherent Diffraction Imaging, PES/XES/RIXS, and XAS. Each session is followed by a directed discussion mainly focusing on instrumentation including unresolved issues, time line and proposal preparation. Potential users for the SXR beamline at LCLS are encouraged to give a 5min presentation during the discussion sessions (please inform the organizers latest by Monday Oct 13th, 2008).