General details on applying for beamtime at the Australian Synchrotron are available in the User Information section.
Technical information about the beamline are available here: XAS Technical Information
Beamtime applications will be scored and ranked according to scientific merit, track record, need for synchrotron radiation, and technical feasibility and clarity.
All new users to the beamline must contact the beamline scientists well in advance of submitting their proposal in order to discuss feasibility and maximise their chances of success. Any applicants seeking to use Hutch C are requested to do same.
Please ensure that you read the entire proposal guidelines document. Failure to follow these guidelines is likely to render your proposal noncompetitive.
DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES DOC:
Does the experimental plan include a table of samples and experimental conditions as outlined in the guidelines? (example below)
If you have not used the XAS beamline over the past 3 years, have you contacted the beamline scientist team to discuss the feasibility of your experiment?
If you are proposing an experiment for Hutch C (non-standard experimental set-ups), have you contacted the beamline scientist team to discuss the feasibility of your experiment?
If you are applying for more than 6 shifts (2 days), are at least 3 people listed as attending?
Are the absorption edges you would like to examine in the same energy mode? The XAS Beamline operates across a range of different energy modes, and it takes significant time to change between modes (see XAS Technical Information and the Australian Synchroton website). If you need access to absorption edges in different modes, please submit a separate proposal for each mode (e.g. Part 1, Part 2, containing different sample tables).
The first shift (8 hours) will be required for beamline optimisation, inductions, training, and radiation hardness testing.
Consider the time it may take for sample changes and alignment in between scans. This can add up, particularly for cryostat experiments where a limited number of samples can be loaded at a time. An estimate of 30 mins would be reasonable for each sample change, including time for alignment and for the sample cool down to 10K.