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Synchrotron Radiation Light Sources
The National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, commissioned in 1982, consists of two distinct electron storage rings. The x-ray storage ring is 170 meters in circumference and can accommodate 60 beamlines or experimental stations, and the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) storage ring can provide 25 additional beamlines around its circumference of 51 meters. Synchrotron light from the x-ray ring is used to determine the atomic structure of materials using diffraction, absorption, and imaging techniques. Experiments at the VUV ring help solve the atomic and electronic structure as well as the magnetic properties of a wide array of materials. These data are fundamentally important to virtually all of the physical and life sciences as well as providing immensely useful information for practical applications. The petroleum industry, for example, uses the NSLS to develop new catalysts for refining crude oil and making by-products like plastics. The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) was built in 1974 to take and use for synchrotron studies the intense x-ray beams from the SPEAR storage ring that was built for particle physics by the SLAC laboratory. The facility is used by researchers from industry, government laboratories, and universities. These include astronomers, biologists, chemical engineers, chemists, electrical engineers, environmental scientists, geologists, materials scientists, and physicists. A research program is conducted at SSRL with emphasis in both the x-ray and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. SSRL scientists are experts in photoemission studies of high-temperature superconductors and in x-ray scattering. The SPEAR 3 upgrade at SSRL provided major improvements that increase the brightness of the ring for all experimental stations. The Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, began operations in October 1993 as one of the world's brightest sources of high-quality, reliable vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) light and long-wavelength (soft) x-rays for probing the electronic and magnetic structure of atoms, molecules, and solids, such as those for high-temperature superconductors. The high brightness and coherence of the ALS light are particularly suited for soft x-ray imaging of biological structures, environmental samples, polymers, magnetic nanostructures, and other inhomogeneous materials. Other uses of the ALS include holography, interferometry, and the study of molecules adsorbed on solid surfaces. The pulsed nature of the ALS light offers special opportunities for time resolved research, such as the dynamics of chemical reactions. Shorter wavelength x-rays are also used at structural biology experimental stations for x-ray crystallography and x-ray spectroscopy of proteins and other important biological macromolecules. The ALS is a growing facility with a lengthening portfolio of beamlines that has already been applied to make important discoveries in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of only three third-generation, hard x-ray synchrotron radiation light sources in the world. The 1,104-meter circumference facility—large enough to house a baseball park in its center—includes 34 bending magnets and 34 insertion devices, which generate a capacity of 68 beamlines for experimental research. Instruments on these beamlines attract researchers to study the structure and properties of materials in a variety of disciplines, including condensed matter physics, materials sciences, chemistry, geosciences, structural biology, medical imaging, and environmental sciences. The high-quality, reliable x-ray beams at the APS have already brought about new discoveries in materials structure. The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is a facility under construction that will provide laser-like radiation in the x-ray region of the spectrum that is 10 billion times greater in peak power and peak brightness than any existing coherent x-ray light source. The SLAC linac will provide high-current, low-emittance 5–15 GeV electron bunches at a 120 Hz repetition rate. A newly constructed long undulator will bunch the electrons, leading to self-amplification of the emitted x-ray radiation, constituting the x-ray FEL. The National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II) is a project at Brookhaven National Laboratory to design and build a world-class user facility for scientific research using synchrotron radiation. The project scope includes the design, construction, and installation of the accelerator hardware, civil construction, and experimental facilities required to produce a new synchrotron light source. It will be highly optimized to deliver ultra-high brightness and flux and exceptional beam stability. These capabilities will enable the study of material properties and functions down to a spatial resolution of 1nm, energy resolution of 0.1meV, and with the ultra-high sensitivity necessary to perform spectroscopy on a single atom. The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a next-generation short-pulse spallation neutron source for neutron scattering that is significantly more powerful (by about a factor of 10) than the best spallation neutron source now in existence. The SNS consists of a linac-ring accelerator system that delivers short (microsecond) proton pulses to a target/moderator system where neutrons are produced by a process called spallation. The neutrons so produced are then used for neutron scattering experiments. Specially designed scientific instruments use these pulsed neutron beams for a wide variety of investigations. There is initially one target station that can accommodate 24 instruments; the potential exists for adding more instruments and a second target station later. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a light-water cooled and moderated reactor that began full-power operations in 1966 at the design power level of 100 megawatts. Currently, HFIR operates at 85 megawatts to provide state-of-the-art facilities for neutron scattering, materials irradiation, and neutron activation analysis and is the world's leading source of elements heavier than plutonium for research, medicine, and industrial applications. The neutron-scattering experiments at the reveal the structure and dynamics of a very wide range of materials. The neutron-scattering instruments installed on the four horizontal beam tubes are used in fundamental studies of materials of interest to solid-state physicists, chemists, biologists, polymer scientists, metallurgists, and colloid scientists. Recently, a number of improvements at HFIR have increased its neutron scattering capabilities to 14 state-of-the-art neutron scattering instruments on the world’s brightest beams of steady-state neutrons. These upgrades include the installation of larger beam tubes and shutters, a high-performance liquid hydrogen cold source, and neutron scattering instrumentation. The new installation of the cold source provides beams of cold neutrons for scattering research that are as bright as any in the world. Use of these forefront instruments by researchers from universities, industries, and government laboratories are granted on the basis of scientific merit. The Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center (Lujan Center) at Los Alamos National Laboratory provides an intense pulsed source of neutrons to a variety of spectrometers for neutron scattering studies. The Lujan Center features instruments for measurement of high-pressure and high-temperature samples, strain measurement, liquid studies, and texture measurement. The facility has a long history and extensive experience in handling actinide samples. A 30 Tesla magnet is also available for use with neutron scattering to study samples in high-magnetic fields. The Lujan Center is part of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), which is comprised of a high-power 800-MeV proton linear accelerator, a proton storage ring, production targets to the Lujan Center and the Weapons Neutron Research facility, and a variety of associated experiment areas and spectrometers for national security research and civilian research. Electron Beam Microcharacterization CentersThe Electron Microscopy Center for Materials Research (EMCMR) at Argonne National Laboratory provides in-situ, high-voltage and intermediate voltage, high-spatial resolution electron microscope capabilities for direct observation of ion-solid interactions during irradiation of samples with high-energy ion beams. The EMC employs both a tandem accelerator and an ion implanter in conjunction with a transmission electron microscope for simultaneous ion irradiation and electron beam microcharacterization. It is the only instrumentation of its type in the western hemisphere. The unique combination of two ion accelerators and an electron microscope permits direct, real-time, in-situ observation of the effects of ion bombardment of materials and consequently attracts users from around the world. Research at EMC includes microscopy based studies on high-temperature superconducting materials, irradiation effects in metals and semiconductors, phase transformations, and processing related structure and chemistry of interfaces in thin films. The National Center for Electron Microscopy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory provides instrumentation for high-resolution, electron-optical microcharacterization of atomic structure and composition of metals, ceramics, semiconductors, superconductors, and magnetic materials. This facility contains one of the highest resolution electron microscopes in the U.S. The Shared Research Equipment (SHaRE) User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory makes available state-of-the-art electron beam microcharacterization facilities for collaboration with researchers from universities, industry and other government laboratories. Most SHaRE projects seek correlations at the microscopic or atomic scale between structure and properties in a wide range of metallic, ceramic, and other structural materials. A diversity of research projects has been conducted, such as the characterization of magnetic materials, catalysts, semiconductor device materials, high Tc superconductors, and surface-modified polymers. Analytical services (service microscopy) which can be purchased from commercial laboratories are not possible through SHaRE. The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education manages the SHaRE program. Nanoscale Science Research CentersThe Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
(CNMS) at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory is a research center and user facility that integrates nanoscale science research with neutron science, synthesis science, and theory/modeling/simulation.
The building provides state-of-the-art clean rooms, general laboratories, wet and dry laboratories for sample preparation, fabrication and analysis.
Equipment to synthesize, manipulate, and characterize nanoscale materials and
structures is included.
The facility, which is collocated with the Spallation Neutron Source complex, houses over 100 research scientists and an additional 100 students and postdoctoral fellows.
The CNMS’s major scientific thrusts are in nano-dimensioned soft materials, complex nanophase materials systems, and the crosscutting areas of interfaces and reduced dimensionality that become scientifically critical on the nanoscale.
A major focus of the CNMS is to exploit ORNL’s unique capabilities in neutron scattering. The Combustion Research Facility at Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California, is an internationally recognized facility for the study of combustion science and technology. In-house efforts combine theory, modeling, and experiment including diagnostic development, kinetics, and dynamics. Several innovative non-intrusive optical diagnostics such as degenerate four-wave mixing, cavity ring-down spectroscopies, high resolution optical spectroscopy, and ion-imaging techniques have been developed to characterize combustion intermediates. Basic research supported by the BES Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences is often done in close collaboration with applied problems. A principal effort in turbulent combustion is coordinated among the BES chemical physics program, and programs in Fossil Energy and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. |
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