Acquisition of Hardware for a Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope Dedicated to Synthetic and Natural Polymer Research and Education

9975694ADE该合同将为采购部件提供部分支持，以建造一个扫描透射式X射线显微镜(STXM)设施，专门用于高级光源(ALS)的聚合物科学和工程项目。该设施将是优化的弯曲磁铁光束线的唯一终端站。这将使聚合物应用的仪器时间增加至少4倍。至少25%的仪器时间将通过ALS管理的同行评议比赛提供给合格的独立调查人员。ALS已经同意花费大量资源(55万美元)来提供同步加速器光束线/单色仪。光束线光学设计已经完成。开发了一种新的设计，其中波带板而不是样品被扫描来形成图像。固定的样品受到精细扫描要求的最小限制，将更容易地加热、冷却、旋转和拉伸样品。将实施干涉编码，这将提高在光谱模式下可实现的稳定性和空间分辨率，并将改进在不同能量下获取的图像的配准。将增加更高效的检测器，以及索引样本台、在线数据分析和新的高阶抑制器作为新功能。总而言之，这些方面将使聚合物-STXM比现有仪器更具能力和用户友好性。耦合到弯曲磁铁的“革命性”方法将显著降低必要的投资，从波荡器及其光束线的约4,000,000美元降至弯曲磁铁光束线的约550,000美元。由于在各种第三代同步加速器设施中仍有大量未使用的弯曲磁源，开发或建造额外的STXM的潜力显著提高，而不需要新的同步辐射源。所有参与的学术机构都有来自许多来源的大量研究和教育计划。作为一种独特而复杂的仪器，新的聚合物STXM设施将极大地丰富学生的教育。%该设施将极大地推动聚合物科学和工程领域的发展，并培训新一代X射线显微镜技术的科学家和工程师。在这一领域拥有专门知识的人员在世界范围内普遍短缺。

9975694AdeThis award will provide partial support for the acquisition of components to build a scanning transmission X-Ray microscope (STXM) facility dedicated to polymer science and engineering projects at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). This facility will be the sole endstation at an optimized bending magnet beamline. It will increase instrument time for polymer applications at least 4 fold. At least 25% of instrument time will be provided to qualified independent investigators through a peer reviewed competition administrated by the ALS. The ALS has agreed to spend considerable resources ($550,000) to provide the synchrotron beamline/monochromator. The beamline optics design has been completed. A novel design in which the zone plate rather than the sample is scanned to form the image has been developed. A stationary sample, with minimal constraints imposed by fine scan requirements, will more easily facilitate the heating, cooling, rotating and stretching of the samples. Interferometric encoding which will improve the stability and spatial resolution achievable in spectroscopic mode, and will improve the registration of images acquired at different energies will be implemented. More efficient detectors will be added, as well as an indexing sample stage, and on-line data analysis, and a novel higher-order-suppressor as new features. Together, these aspects will make the polymer-STXM significantly more capable and user-friendly than existing instruments.The "revolutionary" approach of coupling to a bending magnet will significantly lower the necessary investment from about $4,000,000 for the undulator and its beamline to about $550,000 for a bending magnet beamline. Since there are still plenty of unused bending magnet sources at various third generation synchrotron facilities, the potential for developing or constructing additional STXMs without the need for new synchrotron radiation sources improves dramatically.All participating academic institutions have substantial research and education programs supported from many sources. As a unique and complex piece of instrumentation, the new Polymer STXM facility will substantially enrich the education of students.%%%This facility will significantly advance the fields of polymer science and engineering, and train a new generation of scientists and engineers in x-ray microscopy techniques. There is a world-wide shortage of personnel with expertise in this field.***