General-user
proposal evaluation
process to be overhauled
 With
more than a hundred new general-user proposals every six months,
our present proposal evaluation mechanism is overwhelmed and
in need of overhaul. Our present system requires all members
of our nine-member Proposal Study Panel (PSP) to read and
score all proposals, a heavy workload for panel members. This
has been somewhat alleviated by assigning one or more "primary"
reviewers to each proposal. Even so, the workload is severe.
We propose to alleviate the workload further by augmenting
the PSP evaluations with external reviews done entirely through
the Web. The idea would be to establish pools of reviewers
focused on either a beamline, a set of beamlines, a technique,
a scientific discipline, or some other common thread. Each
cycle, batches of proposals would be sent to a small number
of members of each pool for evaluation and scoring. The PSP
would be reconstituted as a "reconciliation" committee
that would do the apples-and-oranges comparisons and deliver
for each beamline a rank ordering of new and still-active
proposals. A pilot experiment of the batch-review approach
was performed recently on two beamlines and generated encouraging
results.
We seek input from the user community
to optimize this proposal review process. It should be fair,
but it should not impose an unnecessarily large burden on
our reviewers or our administrative staff. We are particularly
receptive to accounts of best practices at other facilities.
Please contact Neville Smith (NVSmith@lbl.gov,
510-486-5423) with your comments and suggestions.
Contact: Neville Smith, NVSmith@lbl.gov
Direct imaging
of asymmetric
magnetization reversal
The phenomenon of exchange bias has transformed
how data is read on magnetic hard disks and created an explosion
in the information storage density of magnetic hard disks.
However, it remains poorly understood, and even the fundamental
mechanism of magnetic reversal for exchange-biased systems
in changing magnetic fields is unclear. By using x-ray photoemission
electron microscopy at the ALS to directly image the magnetic
structure of an exchange-biased film, a team from the University
of Washington and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
has identified separate magnetic-reversal mechanisms in the
two branches of a hysteresis loop. This advance in fundamental
understanding will provide new insights for developing the
next generation of information storage and sensing devices
where exchange bias is expected to play a critical role. Full
story.
Publication about this research: P. Blomqvist,
K.M. Krishnan, and H. Ohldag, "Direct imaging of asymmetric
magnetization reversal in exchange-biased Fe/MnPd bilayers
by x-ray photoemission electron microscopy," Phys.
Rev. Lett. 94, 107203 (2005).
Contact: Kannan M. Krishnan, kannanmk@u.washington.edu
Time-resolved
study of bonding
in liquid carbon
We are accustomed to observing carbon
in its elemental form as a solid, ranging from the soft "lead"
in pencils to the precious gemstone in diamond rings. While
considerable attention has been focused on solid forms of
carbon, the properties of liquid carbon are much more difficult
to measure accurately. The very strong bonding between carbon
atoms that gives diamonds their hardness also makes carbon
very difficult to melt, requiring temperatures above 5000
K at pressures above 100 bar. Maintaining such conditions
in a laboratory is a challenge that has hampered efforts to
fully understand the chemical bonding properties of this biologically,
industrially, and environmentally important element. At the
ALS, researchers have found a way to rapidly heat a carbon
sample and contain the resulting liquid long enough to perform
picosecond time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The
technique provides a way to measure the bonding properties
of liquid carbon at near-solid densities that can then be
compared with results from molecular dynamics simulations.
Full
story.
Publication about this research: S.L.
Johnson, P.A. Heimann, A.G. MacPhee, A.M. Lindenberg, O.R.
Monteiro, Z. Chang, R.W. Lee, and R.W. Falcone, "Bonding
in liquid carbon studied by time-resolved x-ray absorption
spectroscopy," Phys. Rev. Lett. 94,
057407 (2005).
Contact: Steve Johnson, steve.johnson@psi.ch
Femtosecond NEXAFS
of photoinduced
insulator–metal transition in VO2
The grand goal motivating femtosecond
studies of condensed-matter dynamics is to directly measure
the structural pathways that connect different crystallographic,
electronic, and magnetic phases of solids, as well as the
short-lived transition states between reactants and products
in chemical and biochemical reactions. Researchers from Berkeley
Lab and the Université du Québec have taken
a big step forward by adding femtosecond x-ray spectroscopy
to the experimental toolkit with their first use of the laser-slicing
technique to study the photoinduced metal–insulator
phase transition in vanadium dioxide (VO2). Full
story.
Publications about this research: A.
Cavalleri, H.H.W. Chong, S. Fourmaux, T.E. Glover, P.A. Heimann,
J.C. Kieffer, B.S. Mun, H.A. Padmore, and R.W. Schoenlein,
"Picosecond soft x-ray absorption measurement of the
photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition in VO2,"
Phys. Rev. B 69, 153106 (2004).
A. Cavalleri, M. Rini, H.H.W. Chong, S. Fourmaux, T.E. Glover,
P.A. Heimann, J.C. Kieffer, and R.W. Schoenlein, "Band-selective
measurement of electronic dynamics in VO2 using
femtosecond near edge x-ray absorption," Phys. Rev.
Lett. 95, 067405 (2005).
Contact: Andrea Cavalleri, a.cavalleri1@physics.ox.ac.uk
UEC Corner: Notes
from the Users'
Executive Committee
 Please
join us for our annual ALS Users' Meeting, scheduled for October
20–22. The meeting co-chairs Jinghua Guo and Simon Morton
have put together an exciting program (see item below for
a quick overview). For the latest detailed information, go
to the Users'
Meeting Web site.
Nominations are due on Friday, September
30, for the David A. Shirley, Klaus Halbach, and Tim Renner
awards, which will be presented at the Users' Meeting, so
please send your nominations in. More information about the
awards
and nomination process can be found online.
Also, it is time for the annual election
of new members to the Users' Executive Committee. Please take
a moment to look at the UEC
Election Web site and nominate suitable candidates who
would be willing to serve.
As usual, if you have any questions,
comments or issues, please contact me or any other UEC representative.
We are here to help.
Contact: Greg Denbeaux, GDenbeaux@uamail.albany.edu
2005 ALS Users'
Meeting update:
Register now and save!
 Registration:
Saturday, October 1, is the last day to take advantage of
the discounted early-registration fees of $150.00 (regular)
and $60.00 (student). After that date, fees rise to $175.00
and $75.00, respectively. Registering early also gives Berkeley
Lab's Conference Services time to process all the paperwork
necessary for visitor security passes at the entrance to the
Lab and prevents long lines at the on-site registration desk.
Register
now.
Abstract Submission:
Abstracts for both the regular poster session and the student
poster competition are due by October 1. The poster session
will be held from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October
20, in conjunction with a reception for exhibitors.
Users' Meeting Awards:
The deadline for submission of nominations for awards recognizing
outstanding user service, scientific research, and innovative
instrumentation at the ALS is September 30. The UEC invites
ALS users and staff to submit nominations for any or all of
the awards:
- David A. Shirley Award for Outstanding
Scientific Achievement at the Advanced Light Source
- Klaus Halbach Award for Innovative
Instrumentation at the Advanced Light Source
- Tim Renner User Services Award
The nominations may be for an individual
or a group, and a brief rationale for the nomination(s) is
required. Past award winners, along with representatives from
the UEC and the ALS, will serve on the award selection committee.
To submit a nomination, go to the Award
Nominations Web page.
Public Science Lecture:
In honor of the World Year of Physics, the Users' Meeting
Program Committee is delighted to announce that Dr. Joachim
(Jo) Stöhr (Professor and Director, Stanford Synchrotron
Radiation Laboratory) will present a public lecture titled,
"The Magic of Magnetism: From Physical Attraction to
Spin Doctors," on Thursday evening, October 20. All meeting
participants, users, and staff are invited to attend. Information
about Dr.
Stöhr and his current research interests is available
online. The location of the talk will be announced shortly.
Agenda and workshop updates and accommodation
and general meeting information are all available on the 2005
ALS Users' Meeting Web site.
Contact: alsum@lbl.gov
ALS Doctoral
Fellowship
winners announced
 The
ALS is extremely pleased to announce this year's winners of
ALS Doctoral Fellowships: Yulin Chen (Stanford University),
Ileana Dumitriu (Western Michigan University), Amanda Hudson
(University of Las Vegas, Nevada), Timothy Learmonth (Boston
University), Zhiqiang Li (University of California, San Diego),
Zhihui Pan (Boston College), John Paul Strachan (Stanford
University), and Michelle Weinberger (University of California,
Los Angeles). These exceptional Ph.D. students have been selected
to perform a major part of their thesis work at the ALS during
a one-year appointment covering the 2005–2006 academic
year. For Chen, Learmonth, Strachan, and Weinberger, this
will be a continuation of their fellowship grants from last
year. Congratulations to all eight! The selection committee
consisted of SAC Chair Samuel Bader (Argonne National Laboratory),
UEC Chair Gregory Denbeaux (University at Albany, SUNY), Erwin
Poliakoff (Louisiana State University), Zahid Hussain (ALS),
and Neville Smith (ALS). Detailed
information about the fellowships is available online.
Contact: Zahid Hussain, ZHussain@lbl.gov
Help Wanted:
Raising the profile
of synchrotron science
 Support
for the ALS and other synchrotron light sources is closely
linked with successful communication of the innovative and
important science carried out by you and your colleagues at
light sources. News articles based on press releases from
user institutions are a highly effective way of communicating
with the broadest possible audience. We encourage you to talk
about your research with the public affairs office at your
home institution, and whenever your home institution prepares
a press release based on research that you conducted at the
ALS, we hope you will do your best to insure that synchrotron
radiation research in general, the ALS, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy are mentioned.
Since the ALS relies on you to inform us whenever you have
exciting news and research results about to be published,
we also ask you to notify Art Robinson (ALRobinson@lbl.gov,
510-486-6838) at the ALS when you become aware of an impending
press release based on your research. It will help us in promoting
your achievements as well as ours. We look forward to working
with users and their home institutions to promote user research
to a broader audience.
Contact: Art Robinson, ALRobinson@lbl.gov
Transition to
top-off mode
set to begin in fall 2006
 There
is no plan for an extended shutdown of the ALS during the
spring of 2006. Rather, the ALS is planning for an extended
shutdown (in the neighborhood of six to eight weeks) in the
fall of 2006 to upgrade the ALS injector for full-energy operation
in preparation for top-off operation. The exact date and duration
of the shutdown will be determined next spring. During this
shutdown, we will be upgrading the radio frequency systems,
the magnet power supplies, the radiation protection system,
and other systems necessary for top-off operation. We plan
to operate the ALS with full-energy injection immediately
after the installation shutdown and slowly migrate to full
top-off operation during the following six months. Upgrading
the ALS injection system to enable full-energy injection and
top-off operation is the highest-priority machine upgrade
currently planned. It will result in significant improvements
in brightness and stability and keep the ALS competitive with
newer light sources for the next decade.
Contact: David Robin, DSRobin@lbl.gov
SXR/EUV textbook
now available in paperback
 An
affordable ($17) paperback version of Soft X-Rays and
Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation: Principles and Applications
by David Attwood is now available for a limited time through
the UC Berkeley online book store. The book is being offered
as a "reader" in conjunction with the author's course
of the same name, being Webcast this fall (co-listed at UC
Berkeley as AST 210 and EECS 213). The course runs from August
30 through December 8. More information about the author,
book, and course can be found on the course
Web site.
Contact: David Attwood, attwood@eecs.berkeley.edu
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