Beamtime start time
Experiments at the Powder Diffraction beamline start (and end) at 8am. The default (room temperature capillary) setup for the beamline takes ~4 hours plus additional time depending on the sample environment you will use.
Beamline staff will be onsite from 8:00am at the start of your experiment. Typically beamline staff will do the primary setup of the beamline optics, wavelength calibration and set up sample environment(s). You should not rely on the beamline staff to set up, mount, modify or control your equipment - you need to be self sufficient at this and plan for this when planning your experiment.
This doesn’t mean you need to be there at 8am necessarily. Your beamline scientist will contact you before and discuss what time you should come to the beamline. your beamline scientist will be setting up the beamline from 8am. The early stages of beamline setup do not require the presence of Users. (So you may as well have a lie in!)
Before attending the beamline you must have a valid access card. These are obtained from the User office after you have completed your online training. You MUST NOT enter the main synchrotron building without one.
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Beamline induction
After a successful application for an experiment, you will be required to undertake separate facility and beamline safety inductions before beginning your work. Following successful completion of the facility safety induction (carried out online through the portal website before EA submission), users are expected to participate in the beamline-specific safety induction ( prior to beginning work on the beamline).
Even if you have attended an experiment at a different Australian Synchrotron beamline those new to the PD beamline must undergo an induction. Beamline inductions remain valid for 12 months. ‼ All experiment participants are requested to make themselves available for this induction at the beginning of the experiment as a single group, regardless of when they plan to work onsite, i.e. night shift users must be available at the start also. ‼ This is to ensure that beamline staff is available onsite to perform the induction and to ensure that all those involved in an experiment are trained to work safely.By default Users of the Powder Diffraction beamline are given access to the main Chemistry Laboratory. . Beamline staff cannot do inductions after hours or on weekends.
You must attend an induction to be able to access this labthe chemistry laboratory. Inductions are run at 9.30am every day that there is User beam30 am Tuesday to Friday, so you will most likely attend this on the first day of your experiment while the beamline is being setup for you.
Please discuss with your beamline scientist Beamline Scientist if you need to arrive early or think you need access to other labs laboratories onsite.
Visitors
Users are not authorised to accompany visitors on site at the synchrotron. Personnel who are not on the Experimental Authorisation form will not be allowed into the main synchrotron building.
User support
User support on the PD beamline is outlined below. Although it may occasionally be possible for us to provide additional support, this should not be expected. If additional support is required it must be discussed with beamline staff well in advance of the experiment, such as when preparing your EA form for submission.
PD staff will primarily support your experiment remotely and not remain at the beamline once they have done their setup, safety induction work and any training. You will need to complete any experiment setup work yourself (if applicable), and then conduct your data acquisition.
⏲ Weekdays: Beamline staff can be directly contacted up to 6 pm for detailed support, which they will perform remotely where possible. Basic troubleshooting support is available until 11 pm.
⏲ Weekends: Remote support is available during the day until 5 pm, and the Control Room is available at all times.
⏲ After Hours (i.e. 18:00-08:00): the Control Room should be your first point of contact. The Control Room is contactable at all times. If the control room operators are unable to assist, a member of the beamline staff will be available on call during weekday evenings until 11 pm. Beamline staff are unavailable after this time.