BioSAXS Beamline

The BioSAXS beamline is a high-flux beamline dedicated to solution small angle scattering experiments at the Australian Synchrotron. BioSAXS is part of the BR-GHT suite of beamlines and has recently entered user operations in cycle 2023/3. The primary role of the beamline it to take 2D small angle scattering patterns on solution samples, either equilibrated or evolving, using a Pilatus3S 2M area detector. The aim of the beamline is to provide a streamlined and largely automated experience, from sample presentation to data capture and processing.

If you have any questions about the beamline or its capabilities in the context of your science, please contact the beamline team at as-biosaxs@ansto.gov.au. The BioSAXS team strongly encourages all users, including experienced users, to contact the beamline team prior to submitting proposals to discuss their experiments. BioSAXS is a new beamline with new systems and not everything may work as you expect from your prior experience on other beamlines.

1 New to SAXS?
2 Beamline Technical Details
3 Acknowledging the Beamline in your Publications and Outputs
4 Should I apply for BioSAXS or SAXS/WAXS beamtime?
5 Data Processing and Analysis

New to SAXS?

Visit the SAXS/WAXS beamline wiki at this link, where you can order a free copy of the Anton Paar SAXS Guide and see some of our previous beamline workshops.

Beamline Technical Details

Source

BioSAXS has a superconducting undulator source, providing an X-ray beam of flux on the order of 10¹⁴ photons/s at the sample position. The undulator is optimized for a photon energy of 12.0 keV and this will be the primary photon energy used for experiments. If you require other photon energies, please discuss this with the beamline team prior to submitting your proposal as your experiment may be more suited to the SAXS/WAXS beamline, on which the undulator has a wider accessible energy range.

Monochromator

The use of a double multilayer monochromator increases the flux relative to a standard double crystal monochromator. The multilayer on BioSAXS comprises B₄C/Mo layers and an energy bandpass (dE/E) of 1.0%. As a result, BioSAXS is not suited to anomalous SAXS experiments, which rely on finer energy resolution. If you wish to perform anomalous SAXS measurements, please reach out to the SAXS/WAXS beamline team to discuss your requirements.

Detector

BioSAXS has a Pilatus3X 2M detector, similar to that deployed on the SAXS/WAXS beamline. The detector is mounted on a translation stage in a large vacuum vessel, allowing it to reach distances of ~700-7000 mm from the sample position. With a photon energy of 12.0 keV, this should allow a minimum q of ~0.003 Å^-1 at the longest sample-detector distance and a maximum q of ~2.4 Å^-1 at the shortest sample-detector distance.

Acknowledging the Beamline in your Publications and Outputs

The beamline team are always happy to support users through to the publication of their work. Please consider the form you would like this acknowledgement to take given the contribution of your beamline scientist. Please note:

Beamline staff are Scientists. When they make an intellectual and/or experimental contribution to a publication they deserve to be recognised and acknowledged, just as any other co-author would be.
National facilities are not just instruments provided in a room; they are populated by highly-skilled and experienced individuals who make complex experiments possible, and provide essential support in very specialised technologies, often with an intellectual contribution to the project. Proper acknowledgment of facilities enables them to obtain financial support.
Beamline staff should have the opportunity to participate in drafting the pertinent part of the paper, and give final approval to the wording and conclusions drawn before publication, as any other contributing Scientist would. This will also ensure the data is interpreted correctly, avoids data misinterpretation, and more information on your samples through advanced analysis may be obtained.

We risk widening the gap between academic and beamline staff if prior practices and non-acknowledgement are allowed to continue.

The research community as a whole, academic and technical alike, should work towards the mutual goal of research excellence across the sector.

To acknowledge the beamline without an authorship please use the words:

Part (or all), of this work was carried out on the BioSAXS beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, ANSTO.

Thanks to Natasha Stephen, University of Plymouth, for developing original policy documentation

Should I apply for BioSAXS or SAXS/WAXS beamtime?

For solutions that are automatically loaded please apply for BioSAXS beamtime where the Coflow Autoloader is used. Exceptions include samples or experiment design not feasible for BioSAXS (such as anomalous scattering, photon energy requirement (>15 KeV), high viscosity etc.) for which the SAXS/WAXS beamline will maintain a limited capability for automatic liquid handling.
Proposals requesting SEC-SAXS under Coflow should go to BioSAXS
Proposals requesting Batch measurements for samples in solution should go to BioSAXS unless anomalous scattering is required
Proposals requesting solution samples in static capillaries can be sent to BioSAXS or SAXS/WAXS
Proposals requesting Rheo-SAXS should be directed to SAXS/WAXS
Contact staff at as-scattering@ansto.gov.au for guidance on specific experiment plans and beamline suitability

Data Processing and Analysis

If you have collected data at the BioSAXS beamline, follow this link for information on the file formats, how to view the files, data processing and methods for data analysis.