A Note From Steve Dierker

Both of Brookhaven Lab’s light sources have been in the news in recent weeks. Brookhaven issued a press release on a publication by Jun Wang and her colleagues at NSLS beamline X8C. Their paper in Applied Physics Letters describes a new transmission x-ray microscope (TXM) that stitches together thousands of images to create close ups of the tiniest objects.

Celebrating Two Milestones at NSLS-II

About 440 people gathered in the hangar-like hallway of NSLS-II on April 26 to celebrate two major construction milestones: completion of the massive ring building in February and the commissioning of the light source’s linear accelerator, or LINAC, in March.

New Microscope Captures Nanoscale Structures in Dazzling 3D

New device stitches together thousands of images to create unparalleled visions of nature’s tiniest objects.

Infrared Light Probes Hydrogen Under Extreme Pressure

The two-atom hydrogen molecule is perhaps the simplest molecule in existence, but, surprisingly, scientists still don’t know some basic information about it, such as how it responds to very high pressures. This is particularly true for solid hydrogen, where, for varying densities and at very low temperatures, scientists have not been able to conduct experiments that would verify theory.The two-atom hydrogen molecule is perhaps the simplest molecule in existence, but, surprisingly, scientists still don’t know some basic information about it, such as how it responds to very high pressures. This is particularly true for solid hydrogen, where, for varying densities and at very low temperatures, scientists have not been able to conduct experiments that would verify theory.

Search Under Way for New Brookhaven Lab Director

Brookhaven has set up a Director Search website where you can find additional information as well as a nomination and comment form.

Kids Make Magic at NSLS

“Magic Moves!” That’s the title postdoc Karen Chen gave to the “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work” program at NSLS on April 26. The 22 youngsters who participated in the morning activities were quickly immersed in the magic of science.

Final Call: NSLS/CFN Users Meeting on May 21-23

We invite you to the 2012 NSLS and CFN Joint Users' Meeting at Brookhaven National Laboratory on May 21-23, 2012. This year’s theme, “Expanding the Toolbox for 21st Century Science,” will highlight the vital roles served by the Department of Energy’s NSLS, NSLS-II, and CFN, with an emphasis on new tools that have recently been developed for our current facilities and planning for the upcoming transition to NSLS-II.

Visit the Vendors

The bright lights and colorful panels, the cool gadgets, the engaging smiles. What would a meeting be without vendors? According to Nancye Wright, 
Exhibitor Chair of the 2012 NSLS/CFN Joint Users’ Meeting, 53 vendors (a record number!) will be displaying their products and explaining the services they provide at the annual meeting, May 21-23.

An Inside Job

Anyone in the world can watch construction progress on NSLS-II by clicking on the construction-cams icon on the Photon Sciences homepage. But those externally mounted cameras do not look inside the building.

The Jaws Were THIS BIG!

Here’s Steve Dierker diving on the Great Barrier Reef this past winter (summer Down Under). In truth, Dierker was waving at the videographer, although he did see lots of sharks on the dives. “They were mostly white-tipped reef sharks, some around five-feet long,” he said.