Celebrating the Past, Constructing the Future

NSLS-II Interim Director Erik Johnson shares updates on new beamlines, our upcoming first light 10th anniversary, the winter maintenance period, and more

January 23, 2024

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope the holiday break has left everyone refreshed and reinvigorated for this year’s spring cycle. 2024 is shaping up to be a memorable year already. NSLS-II will celebrate its 10^th anniversary of first light in October. We’re also excited to announce that the UEC show will once again be live and in-person this spring! Stay tuned for more details on when and where to catch the show. I look forward to celebrating what we’ve accomplished together over the last decade as we gear up for a bright future that includes more beamlines, more users, and more science.

New Year, New Electrical Safety Considerations

On January 1st, Brookhaven Lab implemented changes to its electrical safety policies to comply with new guidance from the National Fire Protection Association.  These changes include appointing appropriate staff as Electrically Competent Persons (ECP), Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) not being required to perform tasks on cord-and-plug equipment under the correct conditions, and an emphasis on the need to purchase electrical equipment that’s listed by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL). 

What does this mean to you? Users should be aware that any equipment brought to NSLS-II must be NRTL certified. If the equipment is not listed by a NRTL, is custom made, or has been modified, documentation must be provided to support an electrical equipment inspection.  Documentation includes manufacturer equipment manuals, electrical schematics, a bill of materials, and/or any other documentation that can be used to assess the hazard of the equipment.  Like all electrical work, this must be reviewed and approved by an ECP. If your experiments at NSLS-II will involve this type of equipment, please be sure to indicate this on your Safety Approval Form and submit it at least 1 month prior to beam time. You should also make the beamline staff aware that you will be bringing this equipment.

BESAC Panel

On December 1, 2023, Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, the director of the Office of Science (SC) issued a request to the SC Federal Advisory Committees, including the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) to “look toward the scientific horizon and identify what new or upgraded facilities will best serve our needs in the next ten years (2024-2034).”     

The specific charge is to consider new or upgraded facilities at the forefront of scientific discovery. The facilities to be considered are generally investments above $100 M. They are categorized with respect to their potential to contribute to world-leading science in the next decade and their readiness for construction. The report from BESAC, and all of the other DOE advisory panels, is due to Dr. Berhe by May of this year.

The office of Basic Energy Sciences, the DOE sponsor of NSLS-II, provided a list of proposed facilities for BESAC to consider. This includes the NSLS-II Experimental Tools III (NEXT-III) and NSLS-II Upgrade projects. Details are currently being worked out, but briefs to a BESAC sub-panel are expected to take place next month. Their report across the BES facilities is expected to be completed for consideration by BESAC this April.

The Lab is working to present the most compelling case possible for NEXT-III and the NSLS-II Upgrade built on the input we have received from our user community regarding their needs. I’m sure this process will be part of an ongoing dialogue between BES, its facilities, and the users to make sure the most effective use can be made of the resources available as we pursue science together.  

In line with our vision for the facility, as NSLS-II evolves, I believe that it will continue to play a central role in utilizing synchrotron light to solve the world’s most challenging scientific problems. This includes delivering the projects that we have proposed together.

A Successful Winter Maintenance Period

This winter maintenance period has been a productive one. Maintenance and repairs have been performed on existing systems and preparations are underway for our new beamline additions. An instrumented bellows & new beam position monitors were installed in the cell 1 straight, which will be used during accelerator studies. Additionally, complex bend permanent magnets were reconfigured in the linac for additional accelerator studies to support the NSLS-II upgrade. To assist Brookhaven Lab’s upcoming Electron Ion Collider (EIC) project, A Non-evaporable Getter (NEG)-coated vacuum chamber was installed for them to test at our photon desorption front end at 14-BM.

News from the User Services Office

Over the past year or so, we have welcomed a number of new faces to the User Services, Communications, Education, and Outreach (USCEO) office at NSLS-II and I’d like to introduce them to you. In October 2022, Mercy Baez became our User Program Coordinator. Mercy has worked in the NSLS and NSLS-II user offices for 18 years and comes with a wealth of experience in managing user programs. Kerri Banaszek joined us in March of 2023 as our new conference and workshop coordinator, managing all user-related events at NSLS-II. Mariah Barget joined us in May of 2023, and she is handling guest registrations and communications, educational programs, publications, and general administrative support. In November of 2023, Denise Yazak joined us as our science communications manager. If you’d like to know more about the USCEO team at NSLS-II, I encourage you to visit the USCEO website.

Preparing to Celebrate 10 Years

October 23, 2024 marks the 10-year anniversary of first light at NSLS-II. Despite how quickly it appears to pass, a decade is a long time. From first light to present day, NSLS-II has grown tremendously and has facilitated an impressive amount of cutting-edge science. Condensing all of these achievements into a single celebration will not be easy, but it’s a worthwhile challenge. We’re looking for everyone to share their ideas, opinions, and experiences to help drive this event and the months leading up to it. This is a great time to revisit some of NSLS-II’s unique history and invite the greater lab and user community to commemorate this milestone. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Denise Yazak – our science communications manager.

CDI and ARI/SXN Beamline Progress

The NEXT-II project is progressing smoothly, with the design of all three beamlines currently complete and most of the beamline components awarded for procurement. Hutches for these new beamlines were designed in-house by the Beamline Engineering Group. This was a substantial effort, as each hutch required between 500 and 750 individual parts and assembly drawings. The first hutch panels were delivered in mid-December. They were fabricated by Streck’s Inc., a New York vendor with experience making specialized components for the Lab. Construction of the CDI hutches on the experimental floor has started. This is the first time that hutches are being installed by Brookhaven Facilities and Operations (F&O) staff rather than an outside vendor.

The ARI/SXN exit assembly was installed, which will ultimately connect the storage ring to the beamline. Acoustic panels were installed in the SXN cabin. These panels were designed to reduce the volume of sound in the experimental area, which could affect data.

CDI expects to achieve first light in 2025. ARI and SXN are expected to achieve first light in 2026. 

NEXT-III Project Update: Selection of Future Beamlines

The set of new beamlines being planned for the NEXT-III project are beginning to take shape. For the first phase, we will design and build the High Resolution Powder Diffraction (HRD) and Quantitative Cellular Tomography (QCT) beamlines.  In addition, we will design the Advanced Nanoscale Imaging (ANI) and Tender X-ray Nanoprobe (TXN) beamlines. 

NEXT-III isn’t just about these new beamlines, however. We also plan to develop new software platforms that enable us to incorporate the latest technological developments and include methods to define the configuration of servers and controllers used at beamlines.

NSLS-II personnel leading this phase of the NEXT-III subproject have been identified and these teams are already hard at work. Each beamline subproject is led by an executive team comprised of a Science Lead, a Technical Lead, and a Control Account Manager.  The Science Leads are Dan Olds (HRD), Yang Yang (QCT), and Xiaojing Huang (ANI/TXN), and the Technical Leads are Tom Caswell, John Sinsheimer and Padraic Shafer, respectively. 

Stuart Wilkins is the lead for the software platform development and Andy Broadbent is the Project Manager for this subproject, as well as the Control Account Manager for the beamlines and software.  The teams have visited several other light sources and held discussions with their counterparts to learn about their experiences and discuss possible collaborations.  Beamline Advisory Teams have been set up for the beamlines, the teams have met virtually, and will meet in person in the next couple of months. We aim to achieve the next level (CD-1) of approval at the end of FY24.  

Search for the Next NSLS-II Director

The process of finding the next NSLS-II director has been under way for some time.  The search panel has been formed and is currently executing an international search. With a significant number of applicants to consider, the search panel will move into the next phase of its work—interviewing applicants and recommending candidates to Jim Misewich, the Associate Laboratory Director for Photon and Energy Sciences, over the next month or two. From there, the incoming Director’s start date will depend largely on the needs of the candidate selected, but we expect that the fiscal year will close out with the new Director in place and established!   

— Erik Johnson, Interim NSLS-II Director