Updates for the User Community

inputs from the CFN User Office

January 24, 2022

Greetings from the CFN User Office! We hope that you and your families continue to stay safe and healthy!

The CFN continues to operate under Phase 2, “Expansion of Limited Operations.” We currently allow a maximum of 16 users on-site per day and continue to support user projects remotely by assisting with data analysis and other activities that can be done away from the lab. For more information, contact the User Office at cfnuser@bnl.gov, 631-344-6266.

General Information

• The User Office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. 
• FOM continues to be unavailable outside the BNL firewall. To access FOM, you need BNL’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) and DUO Two Factor Authentication. To apply, please go to https://www.bnl.gov/accounts/ and submit an account request form. Once you have your BNL domain account, you can follow the instructions at this URL: https://www.bnl.gov/cybersecurity/vpn/ on how to use VPN. If you need to create a new FOM account or experience any other FOM-related issues, contact the User Office.

Users Returning to the CFN

• For physical onsite access to work at CFN, users must be on the CFN roster for the days that they are scheduled to be onsite. Please email or call your CFN host or point of contact to schedule and confirm your day on the schedule. If you are not sure who your host or point of contact is, contact the User Office at cfnuser@bnl.gov.
• New users or users renewing their badge must pick up their badge on the first day of their scheduled work. The GUV Center will not permit “anytime” badge pickup. If you are not on the roster, the GUV Center will send you home.
• VACCINATION REQUIREMENT FOR ALL GUESTS AND USERS: All guests and users accessing the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) site will be required to provide proof of vaccination or proof of exemption from the vaccine requirement from your home institution. Those with proof of exemption will also be required to provide proof of weekly COVID-19 testing while on site. This is a new requirement under Brookhaven Science Associates’ prime contract.
• Everyone on site—even fully vaccinated—must wear a face covering/mask and maintain six feet of distance from co-workers, except:
  • When sitting or working in an area separated by floor-to-ceiling walls with the door closed
  • When outside and able to follow social distancing guidelines
  • During intermittent eating and drinking
• After-hours and weekend access for users is suspended while CFN is in limited operations.

Starting your Experiment at CFN

Before starting your experiment at CFN, users must complete the following steps:

• Registration: Every experimenter listed on the proposal, participating onsite or remotely, must have a valid BNL appointment. To obtain or renew a guest appointment, go to https://guest.bnl.gov. Users who mail in or receive samples from CFN must also have a valid guest appointment.
• Safety Approval Form (SAF): All projects must have an approved Safety Approval Form.  Onsite or remote work can not start until a SAF has been submitted and approved. Note that failure to submit a SAF on time can result in delay or cancellation of your experiment. If you are allocated beamtime at one of CFN's Partner User Beamlines (11-BM, 12-ID, 21-ID), select NSLS-II as the user facility when creating the SAF. If you are allocated time for both beamlines and CFN tools, you will have to create two SAFs (one each for NSLS-II and CFN).
• Training: All experimenters must complete online training prior to a scheduled experiment. For a list of training requirements, please go to https://training.bnl.gov.

Upcoming Deadlines

•  The next submission deadline for new proposals and requests for additional time for the May to August 2022 cycle is January 31. Please send your submissions through the online CFN Proposal Portal.
• The upcoming special issue of Nanotechnology – which will focus on the DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs) – has a new deadline for submissions: June 30, 2022. This will give staff and users more time to prepare manuscripts amid the ongoing pandemic.
  • The new website for the special issue is here.
  • CFN has done a great job of including staff and users in this effort to promote the science being performed at the DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs). Thanks to Stan Wong, Deyu Lu, and everyone else who has been involved in this effort!

New Tools

These new tools are installed and ready to accept users!

• Flow Coater: The flow coater (also known as a blade coater) is a compact apparatus for casting uniform films of nanoparticles, molecules, or polymers from solution with user-designed film thickness increments or gradients. The instrument consists of a motorized linear translation stage that moves a flat substrate underneath a microscope slide edge, or “blade” (with a submillimeter gap between them). As the substrate moves, the competition between capillary and frictional forces leaves an amount of solution behind that depends on the velocity. Films with thicknesses from 20 to 1000 nm can be deposited, requiring only 10-100 microliters of solution per film. Film width can be either 1 or 2”. For more information, contact Gregory Doerk at 631-344-7370, email: gdoerk@bnl.gov.
• Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS): This tool features a cryogen-free cryostat that is cooled by a He-4 compressor, with a continuous temperature range from 400K to 1.8K, under closed-loop temperature. The same cryocooling system supports a superconducting magnet that achieves a maximum magnetic field of 12 T. With an optional He-3 insert, the PPMS performs low-voltage DC and low-frequency AC (< 200 Hz) electrical measurements from 0.35 K to 400 K, under a 0-12 T magnetic field applied by the superconducting magnet. It accepts wire bonded samples for continuous measurements as a function of temperature and magnetic field. For more information, contact Mingzhao Liu at 631-344-2569, email: mzliu@bnl.gov.

User Science Publications and Highlights

• Thank you for continuing to send us high-resolution copies of publication covers that feature your papers or articles so that we can display them at the CFN (example of a front cover submitted Nanoscale, 2021,13, 17677 by Chonghang Zhao, et al. (Nanoscale, 2021, 13, 17725)).
• Keep us informed of your awards, honors, and publications. Publicizing your discoveries and professional achievements helps us raise the profile of the CFN, attract top scientists from around the world, and secure ongoing funding.
• The following acknowledgement must be used in publications when referencing work performed in whole or in part at the CFN: “This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), which is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility, at Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704.”

General Reminders

• Send us an email if you have completed or refreshed a training so that we can update your badge access.
• Access to CFN laboratories is through authorized badge access only. Piggybacking onto someone else’s access is a violation of CFN rules. If you lose access, contact the CFN User Office. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the CFN User Office or any of the CFN staff. We are here to help and ensure you are safe when conducting your work.

On behalf of the entire CFN family, we thank you for your continued support of and engagement with the CFN. We hope to see you all soon!

— Grace Webster
User Program Administrator and Outreach Coordinator

2022-19379  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom