Photon Sciences staff and the user community have organized or participated in workshops through the year to encourage development of early science at the National Synchrotron Light Source II. This effort informs the development of beamlines at the new facility.

Rock & Cell Workshop, September 17-18, 2012

Before the Rock & Cell workshop convened, Juergen Thieme sent a charge to invited speakers, asking for their needs in relation to the capabilities of the Submicrometer Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy (SRX) beamline. SRX group leader Thieme, associate scientist Vincent De Andrade and mechanical engineer Yuan Yao organized the workshop to identify important scientific topics that SRX can impact, to identify synergies across different research areas when using the same instrumentation and to explore collaborative approaches to addressing these research topics successfully.

During the workshop, speakers described the spectromicroscopy capabilities of SRX and two other beamlines planned for NSLS-II – TES, the Tender X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy beamline, and XFM, the X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy beamline. Presentations then followed about the application of x-ray spectromicroscopy to a wide range of scientific topics:

• Biological sciences
• Energy research
• Environmental sciences
• Geosciences
• Materials science
• Planetary sciences

Workshop participants, numbering close to 40, identified several high-impact experiments. Giving an example, Thieme described bioleaching of rare earth elements as an environmentally less harmful way of extracting these valuable elements from ores. “With its very high spatial resolution, SRX will be able to image single microorganisms and monitor the leaching process on the cell level,” he said.

Participants at the Rock & Cell Workshop, September 2012

SR2A 2012, June 5-8, 2012

Brookhaven Lab co-sponsored the Fifth International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation in Art and Archaeology (SR2A 2012), in New York City this past June. The event brought together cultural-heritage professionals and synchrotron physicists (see August eNews).

“Several ideas emerged, which are likely to fuel the early science program at NSLS-II,” said Eric Dooryhee, group leader of XPD, the X-ray Powder Diffraction beamline being constructed for NSLS-II. He and Photon Sciences physicist Pete Siddons served on the local organizing committee.

Dooryhee listed two examples:

• Use of sub-micron x-ray beam capabilities of HXN, the Hard X-Ray Nanoprobe beamline, and SRX, the Submicron Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy beamline, to identify and map the inorganic pigments and fillers in Piet Mondrian’s palettes. Work to be done in collaboration with Museum of Modern Art.
• Authentication of unique papyrus manuscript through non-destructive analysis of the inks. Manuscript is more than 1700 years old.

In Operando Studies of Materials for Energy Storage, March 12-13, 2012

Photon Sciences staff members Kathleen Nasta, John Parise, Qun Shen and Jun Wang were on the organizing committee of the workshop In Operando Studies of Materials for Energy Storage.

The event brought together researchers from universities, industry and national laboratories to discuss pressing scientific questions that are hindering advances in batteries and other forms of energy storage. Workshop participants explored ways that electron and synchrotron techniques can address problems.

— Mona S. Rowe