General Lab Information

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Access to NSLS-II

As a U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility, NSLS-II offers a wide range of access modes for various research needs. Commonly used modes of access for industrial researchers are general access, propriety access, rapid access, and partner user access.

Access Modes

All modes of access follow a common life cycle that involves the following steps: proposal submission, feasibility evaluation, peer-review, allocation of beam time, scheduling, carrying out the work, and reporting the results.

General Accesss

General access is the most common access mode for scientists. Researchers can apply for beamtime on all NSLS-II beamlines. General access follows three calls for proposals every year. This mode is useful for non-proprietary work that requires more than one beamline or technique, since general access proposals allow for up to three beamlines in one proposal. Details on different proposal types can be found in the NSLS-II User Guide under Proposal Types.

Proprietary Access

In cases when research needs to be proprietary, we offer a proprietary access mode, which allows companies to retain proprietary rights to their data. This mode enables industrial research to take full advantage of the facility’s advanced instrumentation as a competitive tool for faster market development. More details on proprietary access can be found in the Proprietary Research Policy (PDF).

Rapid Access

We recognize that time-to-market and the rapid pace of innovation are unavoidable challenges of the competitive landscape. Therefore, we provide rapid access to a suite of beamline techniques that are in high demand by industry, with quick turnaround, and provide the required technical and logistical support for meaningful and actionable results. A list of beamlines that accept rapid access proposals can be found in the NSLS-II User Guide, under Proposal Types: Rapid Access Proposal.

Partner User Access

NSLS-II encourages interested industry partners to establish a partnership with one or multiple beamlines. Partnerships with beamlines offer a guaranteed amount of beam time in a timely manner, as well as strong collaborative research with pooled resources. The industrial partner has the option to choose different types of contributions in return for their guaranteed access such as staff for beamline operations, hardware, or software at the beamline(s). By making a common investment, industrial partners can benefit from the joint resources and retain proprietary rights, as well as gain a competitive advantage. For more details on possible partnerships, please contact Jun Wang, Industrial Liaison officer.

For more detailed information about NSLS-II access modes and applications for beam time, please contact Jun Wang, Industrial Liaison officer, or consult the NSLS-II User Guide.