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May 21-23, 2007 2007 NSLS-CFN Joint Users’ Meeting Focuses on Synergy, Importance of Securing NSLS-IIAs Brookhaven aligns key scientific facilities and tools meant to make it a leader in U.S. energy research, government and Lab officials say the time has come to fight for and secure the last piece of the puzzle – the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). Held in conjunction with the official opening of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), the second joint meeting of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) and CFN user communities stressed the importance of NSLS-II to the Lab’s research synergy.
“Those three facilities – the NSLS, CFN, and NSLS-II, are in our view, vital to securing the nation’s energy security,” said Laboratory Director Sam Aronson during the opening session of the May 21-23 meeting. “The basic challenges in the broad areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and storage, among others, are really enormous, and this community here today, by working together at the facilities that Brookhaven is providing and will provide in the future, are a crucial part of the solution to those energy challenges.”
The need for NSLS-II – expected to receive “Critical Decision One” (CD-1) in June – was a common message among the meeting’s speakers, which included the U.S. Department of Energy’s Director of Basic Energy Sciences Pat Dehmer. In the mean time, Aronson said, the NSLS remains one of the most productive synchrotron radiation sources in the world, and should continue on that track with a new five-year plan developed with the help of many staff and users. “The most important features of this plan are that they will provide for continued high-level exploitation of the facility as it goes forward, and also a smooth transition for the community between NSLS and NSLS-II,” he said. “That’s an important piece of our service to our research community.” Aronson also congratulated NSLS users and staff for working more than 1,200 days (more than three years) without a lost-time injury. “This is a major accomplishment for the NSLS, which hosts thousands of users and many staff members in a really complex research environment,” Aronson said. “It’s a tremendous achievement and it’s emblematic of the safety we strive for in all of our facilities." “Sacrifice, Commitment, and Irrational Perseverance” for NSLS-II After commenting on the budget troubles that arose in early fiscal year 2007, DOE’s Director of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Pat Dehmer, gave a positive outlook for next year’s budget. In the president’s budget request for FY 2008, which is working its way through Congress, BES budget is slated to increase to $1.5 billion. Dehmer stressed the importance of support from both BNL employees and users for this budget.
Then, Dehmer delivered a message that she dubbed as a “little different” than previous talks she’s given at the Lab: the importance of “sacrifice, commitment and irrational perseverance” as the NSLS-II project proceeds. Almost eight years to the day since the CFN and the four other DOE nanocenters were envisioned, Dehmer detailed how project leaders and the nanotechnology community prevailed through overestimates, construction technicalities, and funding delays by following these three actions. “As you go into a project like this, you look forward to the joy of cutting the ribbon,” said Dehmer, who later that day helped dedicate the CFN. “But the years of construction can actually be very difficult.” She also referenced the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was first envisioned in the early 1980s and just recently became a reality in June 2006. “You may think that a mega project like this at some point in time has a life of its own, that the project is so massive that its momentum carries it forward,” Dehmer said. “But you would be wrong. Projects like the Spallation Neutron Source, the nanoscience center, and the NSLS-II all are very fragile.” Warning the crowd that the planning and construction period for NSLS-II will be difficult at one point or another for almost everyone involved, Dehmer pointed out that the reward – the brightest light source ever built – will be worth it. “You must want this project and you must want it every day for the next seven to eight years, until we put the ribbon on it,” she said. NSLS-II Update Next up in the meeting, Associate Laboratory Director for Light Sources Steve Dierker, said although there is still much work to do, NSLS-II is faring well in the development process.
“This has been a fast-paced and exciting year,” said Dierker, adding that the project has held five reviews, one workshop, and four advisory committee meetings, as well as hosted more than 75 visitors. The culmination of this activity was a Conceptual Design Report (CDR), a hefty document that details everything from the scientific mission of the machine to technical design parameters. “This was truly a team and community effort and I think this is an extraordinary document that is filled with great promise for the performance that we wish to deliver as well as sobering in terms of the technical challenges to overcome in order to deliver that performance,” Dierker said. “We believe we have an approach that will be successful in meeting those challenges.” NSLS-II underwent a CD-1 DOE review in December 2006, Dierker said, which praised the design and the team of people involved. As a result of that review, the CDR has changed slightly, and Dierker spent much of his talk presenting details from the most current plan. The $850 million project currently has about 100 staff members – expected to increase to 160 by the beginning of 2008 – and groundbreaking is scheduled for fiscal year 2009, with completion in 2015. The facility is expected to have at least 57 beamlines, Dierker said, on the same order as the 65 operational beamlines at the current NSLS. “The NSLS-II will have a similar capacity to the NSLS, but with far-superior performance,” he said. In order to accommodate a significant fraction of users during the early operation of the facility, a plan is being finalized to relocate as many as 20 beamlines from the NSLS. These transferred beamlines are expected to serve about 1,300 users per year. To help finalize details such as NSLS-II design, beamlines, transition, and access modes, Dierker encouraged the audience to attend a user workshop to be held July 17-18 at BNL.
He also commented on the importance of the Joint Photon Sciences Institute (JPSI), a facility that is intended to foster development of new scientific programs, experimental techniques, and enabling technologies, and already has a financial commitment from New York State. “JPSI is a critical part of the effort to realize the full potential for NSLS-II,” he said, adding that JPSI operations are slated to start in 2012 with NSLS Chair Chi-Chang Kao leading the development effort. CFN Officially Opens On the day of the CFN building’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, the facility’s Director Emilio Mendez gave an update on its progress. With a mission to “develop and share materials, processes, and tools at the nanoscale for the country’s critical needs,” Mendez said, the CFN’s research interests are divided into three themes: electronic nanomaterials, soft and biological nanomaterials, and nanocatalysts and interfaces.
“We chose these three because they are essential to the energy needs of the country and because these are some of our strengths at Brookhaven National Laboratory,” Mendez said. Construction on the $81 million building (which includes equipment such as state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscopes) began in September 2005. The facility passed its CD-4a review in April and is now ready for occupancy, Mendez said. It will be ready for full operations in April 2008, and is expected to attract 300 users a year. The CFN currently has about 21 staff members and 11 post-docs, with plans to ramp up that number to 45-50 permanent staff members. Mendez presented examples of recent CFN work, including studies on nanotubes and the use of what is thought to be the world’s smallest pipette in order to study crystallization of liquid metal nanodrops. The facility has already received 190 user proposals, of which about 139 have been approved, Mendez said. Goals for 2007 include: transitioning into the new building, hiring more staff, broadening the user community, and refining the CFN strategy with the continued guidance from the CFN Scientific Advisory Committee. Mendez also hopes to acquire an e-beam writer (a tool that allows scientists and engineers to create nanometer-sized electronic and mechanical devices using a computer-guided beam of electrons to “write” patterns or designs), which will be widely used by the CFN community. Immediately following the morning session, the audience joined hundreds of other BNL community members to celebrate the official CFN opening. Mendez joined Dehmer, Aronson, Associate Lab Director for Basic Energy Sciences Doon Gibbs, Brookhaven Science Associates Chair Shirley Strum-Kenny, and U.S. Congressman Timothy Bishop in dedicating the 94,500-square-foot facility. NSLS Update Although the budget was tight again this year, NSLS Chair Chi-Chang Kao explained that the facility was still able to complete scheduled projects without staff reductions or extended shutdowns. The NSLS served more than 2,100 users this year and produced more than 900 publications, a record high.
In order to increase the number of industrial users, which currently make up about 6 percent of the total users, the NSLS has started a task force to identify their synchrotron-based scientific needs and “enhance the connection between applied sciences and basic sciences,” Kao said. “We will likely find new opportunities there.” Kao explained how in their application for beam time, NSLS users were following good integrated safety management practices and emphasized the importance of the final step – feedback and improvement. He asked that users complete this step by filling out end-of-run surveys and promised that in turn, the NSLS will find a way to provide timely feedback about the changes made as a result of user input. He then highlighted successful research resources groups based at the NSLS – the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences (COMPRES) and the Synchrotron Catalysis Consortium (SCC). COMPRES recently received renewed funding from the National Science Foundation to operate four NSLS beamlines, and in its first year of operation, the SCC has helped more than 40 catalysis groups and attracted 10 more to the NSLS. “This is a very important model,” Kao said. “They become the bridge between us and the research community they represent, and we would like to build on this example in other fields of research.” Kao also discussed the recent reorganization of the department. Changes in staffing were made in order to execute the NSLS five-year plan, which identifies scientific opportunities in energy, nanoscience, and imaging. Kao said he believes the new alignment of staff within the department will help in the transition of beamlines, scientific programs, and staff to NSLS-II.
“This is a critical period in NSLS history and your input and support are important,” Kao said. “The new management team and I are looking forward to working with you in the coming years.” NSLS User Science Talks On Tuesday afternoon, users heard from scientists who have conducted research at the NSLS. Dean DeLongchamp, a scientist at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, spoke on “Microstructure Foundations of High Performance in Organic Superconductors.” Organic semiconductors enable new and low-cost methods to mass-produce flexible sheets of light-emitting diodes, transistors, solar cells, and sensors. Microstructure variations in semiconductor films can make or break the performance of organic electronic devices, however, measuring them is difficult. DeLongchamp detailed how he uses benchtop and synchrotron-based measurement methods to do so, using the polymer semiconductor pBTTT as an example. Next, Sarah Lawrence College physicist, Scott Calvin, discussed “Enlarging the Synchrotron Community.” Detailing the various groups of synchrotron users, spanning from experts to casual users, Calvin stressed the need for a wide range of education and training techniques. Calvin is leading the development of an introductory textbook on EXAFS analysis, and used it as an example of the questions that arise during the process. Other Notables Each year, the NSLS Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) presents one user with the UEC Community Service Award, which honors hard work and dedication toward bettering the experience of users and the user community. UEC Chair Chris Jacobsen presented this year’s award to Richard Heese (NSLS). More details on this year’s award can be found here. A new award also was established this year for researchers who have recently conducted a thesis project that included measurements at the NSLS. The Julian Baumert Ph.D. Thesis Award was established in memory of Julian David Baumert, a young Brookhaven physicist who was working on x-ray studies of soft-matter interfaces at the NSLS before he died in June 2006. This year’s winner was Stony Brook University graduate Benjamin Hornberger. More details can be found here. At the conclusion of the first day’s meeting, participants attended the annual poster session and vendor exhibition. Hors d’oeuvres were served as attendees mingled and talked, and awards were presented to the top student and postdoc posters. The winners were: Jean Jakoncic (BNL-NSLS), Ariane Kretlow (Robert Koch Institute, Germany), Elena Loginova (Rutgers University), Sanjaya Senanayake (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Matthew Sfeir (BNL-CMPMSD), and Tony Yu (Stony Brook University). Each winner received a BNL certificate and a $50 American Express gift certificate.
During the Tuesday afternoon session, users were treated to a special viewing of the Whiz Bang Science Show, a BNL Summer Sunday favorite that features interactive science demonstrations. Elvis was in the building that night, making an appearance at the meeting’s banquet to serenade guests while they ate. Afterward, the diners hit the dance floor themselves, twisting and shouting as part of the 1950s-themed party. In addition, a series of nine half-day workshops were held at locations across the Laboratory. They were: “Nanomedicine: Biocompatibility and Applications Part 1: Biocompatibility of Nanoparticles,” organized by Miriam Rafailovich (Stony Brook University); “Probing Nano-scale Inhomogeneities in Transition Metal Oxides Using High Energy X-ray Diffraction and Scanning Microscopy,” organized by Markus Hucker and Guangyong Xu (BNL-Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science), and Zhong Zhong (BNL-NSLS); “Soft X-rays: Polarization Sensitive Measurements Using Resonant Soft X-rays,” organized by Sujoy Roy (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory) and Cecilia Sanchez-Hanke (BNL-NSLS); “Nanomedicine: Diagnostics and Treatments,” organized by Perena Gouma and Molly Frame (Stony Brook University); “’Tender’ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (at 1-5KeV),” organized by Jay Brandes (Skidaway Institute of Oceanography) and Paul Northrup (BNL-Environmental Sciences); “High-Energy X-rays, Part II: Effects of Extreme Environments of Radiation, Temperature and Stress on Material Structure at Nanoscale – Role of X-ray Probing and Visualization Techniques in Nanoscale Design,” organized by Nick Simos and Lynne Ecker (BNL-Energy Sciences and Technology); “Biologically Directed Self-Assembly of Nanomaterials: Synthesis and Characterization,” organized by Qian Wang (University of South Carolina), Lin Yang (BNL-NSLS), and Oleg Gang (BNL-CFN); “Making and Using Nanobeams,” organized by Ismail Noyan (Columbia University) and Kenneth Evans-Lutterodt (BNL-NSLS); and “Applications of Synchrotron Based Methods to Microelectronics Materials,” organized by Jean Jordan-Sweet and Christian Lavoie (IBM Research Division). An additional “Synchrotron Image-Data Format Workshop” organized by Herbert Bernstein (Dowling College) and Robert Sweet (BNL-Biology) was hosted on May 24, a day after the official meeting. See the links below for highlights and photos from these workshops:
To watch the meeting’s plenary session, go to WBNL. RELATED LINKS: More Users' Meeting Photos ARTICLE BY: Kendra Snyder |
The National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, is a national user research
facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Science. The NSLS operates two electron
storage rings: an X-Ray ring and a Vacuum UltraViolet (VUV) ring which provide intense light spanning the electromagnetic
spectrum from the infrared through x-rays. Each year over 2300 scientists from universities, industries and government
labs perform research at the NSLS.
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