Annual SSRL and LCLS Users’ Meeting, Special Symposium & Workshops September 28-October 3, 2007

A Special Symposium on the Future of X-ray Science, Friday-Saturday, September 28-29, 2007

Organizers: Anders Nilsson and Hans Siegmann, SSRL
X-ray science with synchrotron radiation has gone through many major development stages since the early 1970s with new opportunities provided by 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation storage rings. We are currently evaluating and planning new x-ray facilities based on advanced storage rings, free electron lasers, energy recovery linacs, and novel concepts which promise major advances in scientific knowledge. This workshop is intended to bring together scientists for presentations and discussions on the future of x-ray science, focusing on scientific opportunities and how they can be enabled by next generation sources. All speakers are encouraged to present their personal views on the future of their fields of interest and to speculate on what scientific or technological breakthroughs, decades from now, x-ray science will be remembered for.

Introduction to Synchrotron Radiation Techniques, Sunday, September 30, 2007

Organizers: Karen McFarlane-Holman (Willamette University, kholman@willamette.edu) and Andrew Doran (ALS - adoran@lbl.gov)
This workshop will provide a basic introduction to the various experimental techniques available at synchrotron facilities with a tutorial-style approach. The content will be geared towards scientists who are new to synchrotron radiation and its applications, and will be appropriate for graduate students, synchrotron staff members, and principal investigators who are considering incorporating synchrotron experiments into their research. The workshop panelists will address: (1) unique advantages of synchrotron-based experiments, (2) how the experiments work, (3) questions that one tries to answer when using a particular technique, (4) what kinds of equipment and sample preparation are necessary to carry out a particular experiment, and (5) comparisons to other non-synchrotron techniques (if any) that are used to answer the same kinds of questions.

Scientific Opportunities for Studying Laser Excited Dynamics at the Linac Coherent Light Source, Tuesday-Wednesday, October 2-3, 2007

Organizer: Kelly Gaffney (SSRL, kgaffney@slac.stanford.edu)
The workshop will focus on the LCLS Pump-Probe Endstation. We will update the community on the LCLS capabilities, as well on the technical capabilities that will be present at the pump-probe endstation and the timeline for their development. We will also discuss the scientific opportunities presented by these facilities, prioritize these opportunities, and begin building the teams for commissioning and first experiments at the endstation.
Agenda

XANES Spectroscopy: Data Collection, Analysis, and Simulation, Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Organizers: Serena DeBeer-George (SSRL, debeer@stanford.edu) and Robert Szilagyi (Montana State University, szilagyi@montana.edu)
The workshop will focus on experimental and theoretical aspects of XANES spectroscopy in the soft to hard-X-ray energy regions. In addition to speciation information for solutions and mixtures, spectral features in the XANES region can be related to the electronic and geometric structures of the absorber by ligand field theory, molecular orbital theory, multiplet theory, multiple-scattering theory, and band structure. The aim of the workshop is to review the current state-of-the-art methods for interpreting XANES data, and discuss the possibility of a more unified theory for the analysis of XAS edges.
Agenda

New Opportunities in Microfocusing, Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Organizer: Sam Webb (SSRL, samwebb@slac.stanford.edu)
This workshop will concentrate on the current expanding experimental techniques in hard x-ray microfocusing capabilities at SSRL, from the installation of microfocusing optics in hutch enclosures to the new full field hard x-ray microscope. Reviews will include the types of data that can be collected, including micro x-ray fluorescence maps, micro x-ray absorption spectroscopy, micro x-ray scattering, chemical imaging, and tomography. Presentations will review the beam lines at SSRL capable of conducting microfocusing experiments, and discuss the strengths and capabilities of the various techniques at each station. Experts will be invited to give talks on the wealth of complementary information that can be obtained from the microscale observations.
Agenda

New Opportunities in Imaging and X-ray Microscopy, Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Organizers: Hendrik Ohldag (SSRL, hohldag@slac.stanford.edu) and Andreas Scherz (SSRL, scherz@slac.stanford.edu)
State of the art synchrotron x-ray sources as well as future sources like free electron lasers present excellent and unique opportunities for x-ray based imaging techniques. Spatial resolution with x-rays can be obtained by using zone plate lenses in a scanning or full field microscope or by making use of the coherent properties of the x-rays in a coherent scattering or speckle setup. Both approaches can be used to obtain unique information about the chemistry, magnetism and structure of a complex sample. Due to the short wavelength of the x-rays and the pulsed nature of the x-ray source such facilities can provide an unprecedented combination of spatial and temporal resolution. It is therefore conceivable that in the future x-ray microscopy will evolve beyond its current status into an indispensable tool for a wide spectrum of scientific disciplines like condensed matter physics, geo- and environmental science, biology, soft matter science, chemistry, etc. The scope of this workshop is to identify scientific programs that will most directly benefit from such facilities and explore concepts for their realization. We will also address the current status of the field and explore possible future directions with particular focus on its suitability for LCLS.
Agenda

Link to 2007 ALS-Molecular Foundry Workshops

Ambient Pressure Photoelectron Spectroscopy (Hendrik Bluhm, Simon Mun, and Miquel Salmeron)
Advanced X-Ray Optics Metrology for Nanofocusing and Coherence Preservation (Valeriy Yashchuk and Kenneth Goldberg)
Atmospheric Aerosols (Mary Gilles)
Beyond Top-Off: Opportunities for Improved ALS Performance (David Robin and Christoph Steier)
Design and Function of Protein Nanostructures* (Ronald Zuckermann and Petrus Zwart)
Nanomagnetism* (Peter Fischer, Jeffrey Neaton, Holger Schmidt, and Tolek Tyliszczak)
New Infrared Science Opportunities at the ALS (Michael Martin, Peter Nico, and Fernando Sannibale)
New Opportunities for Science with Advanced Detectors (Peter Denes and Howard Padmore)
Photon-In/Photon-Out Inelastic X-Ray Scattering in Renewable Energy Science (Jinghua Guo and Franz Himpsel)
Polymer Science* (Harald Ade, Alexander Hexemer, and Bumjoon Kim)
Soft and Hard X-Ray Tomography (Gerry McDermott, Alastair MacDowell, and Dula Parkinson)
Theory at the ALS (Arun Bansil, Dung Hai Lee, and Zahid Hussain)