Communication with beamline staff

Owned by AS MX Wiki
Sept 11, 2023

The MX beamline staff are here to help! Good communication is key to making sure everyone’s experiment runs successfully, so here is some advice for reaching out to the beamline staff.

I’m new to using MX, and I don’t know where to start! - contact the principal scientists on MXPrincipal@ansto.gov.au.

Questions about applying for beamtime, travel funding, accommodation or card access? - contact the User Office on user.office.vic@ansto.gov.au.

Specific questions about an experiment? - contact a beamline scientist directly. The beamline team webpage shows the speciality of each beamline scientist, and they are happy to be contacted by users. If you are unsure who to contact directly, emailing as-mx@ansto.gov.au will reach the whole team.

Problems during an experiment? - On the day of your experiment you will be given a beamline scientist contact who will help you during business hours. After hours, contact the control room on +61 434 600 225.

Top tips:

  • Reach out early. Getting in contact the day a proposal is due or the day before beamtime is unlikely to yield good results.

  • Be specific. Include as much information as possible, so that fewer emails are required.

  • Share your scientific questions as well as technical requests. Knowing the context behind an experiment will allow us to help you better.

  • Be open to several forms of communication. A 20 min video meeting is useful for discussing experiment requirements, but a follow-up email will mean nothing is forgotten.

  • Include your experiment number and date of beamtime in emails.