🧐 Q: Can I run 20 samples each at 30 min?
No, as the total time for the analysis will be ~10 h and there is a maximum of 3 h for an experiment
🧐 Q: Can I run 40 samples each at 4 min?
No, although the total time for the analysis is ~160 min and less than 3 h, there is a maximum of 20 samples for an experiment
🧐 Can I come onsite for the experiment?
No, the rapid access round is for mail-in samples only. Sample kits are also able to be picked up and the samples then dropped off to the Australian Synchrotron, by prior arrangement only.
🧐 What acquisition time should I put for my samples in the robot spreadsheet?
Estimate how much time is needed based on the chemistry, degree of crystallinity and what information you want to obtain from the data. Generally 150 seconds a position is a good place to start.
If your proposal is successful, we will ask you to nominate 1-2 samples that are representative of all of your samples that we can do a quick run to estimate the time needed for all.
🧐 Where is the robot spreadsheet?
The robot spreadsheet needs to be submitted for the proposal and EA. It is an additional tab at the bottom of the sample spreadsheet.
The pin numbers can be left blank when submitting your proposal but they need to be filled in when submitting your EA.
🧐 What capillaries should I buy?
These can be purchased from Charles Supper or Hilgenberg. They are typically made from glass, boron rich glass or quartz and the choice of which one to buy depends on (1) if you samples will react with any of the materials and (2) if the capillary will be heated.
The quartz capillaries are more resistant to heat and chemical corrosion but can be more fragile compared to glass capillaries. We have received samples in both glass and quartz capillaries that haven't broken during transit. As the mail-in experiments are only carried out at room temperature it might be unnecessary to have quartz if your samples don't react with glass. The boron capillaries are considered to have the lowest absorption.
Thin walled capillaries (0.01 mm) x 80 mm capillaries are generally sufficient for the mail-in program but need to be 0.2 - 0.7 mm in diameter.