When writing your proposal it is important to consider the suitability of the SAXS/WAXS beamline for your experiment. The Samples for SAXS/WAXS, SAXS Specifications and Beamline wiki  pages are recommended for the preparation of your proposal and will help in planning your experiment.

A Detailed Guide for preparing high quality, competitive proposals for the SAXS/WAXS beamline is available here.

For questions regarding planning an experiment not covered by the information on our website, please contact beamline staff. However, please use the website as a first point of reference.

• Clearly specify why the experiment cannot be conducted on a laboratory SAXS instrument.

• Clearly state how the data collected will be analysed after the experiment.

  • Information on programs to be used, potential models and what parameters are being sought in the analysis is recommended. This information is indicative of a well-considered experiment and helps reviewers understand the goals of the proposal.

• Detail any publications arising from previous synchrotron work, including relevant non-synchrotron work especially if you are new to the field.

  • In particular, be aware that a track record of conducting experiments at the Australian Synchrotron without subsequent publication or explanation will not be well regarded. This is particularly true if time has been awarded twice or more.

• For assessing scientific merit, in addition to explaining the overall aims of your research clearly state the role of the proposed experiment in the research program.

  • For example, give details of the specific hypothesis being tested by the experiment. 

• For assessing the need for synchrotron radiation, give evidence-based justification.

  • This may include (but is not limited to) SEC traces, laboratory SAXS data, light scattering, microscopy, etc.

• Please give background information to the experiment, including results from other laboratory and/or synchrotron experiments using other techniques, not only SAXS.

• for in-situ experiments, explain why the experiment needs to be done in situ, and demonstrate in your proposal that adequate previous work (e.g. ex-situ analysis) has been done to justify in-situ experiments.

• be careful of proposing to measure all combinations of all experimental parameters in your experiment design that might result in large numbers of samples, without providing supporting justification.

• remember the application process is competitive. You are competing against the quality and scope of other proposals.

• Be mindful of the sample mounting and handling capabilities of the beamline (refer to the Beamline wiki  and Samples for SAXS/WAXS). A description of how samples will be handled and mounted on the beamline is required.

• you are encouraged to come to the beamline day ahead to setup up more complex experiments in the User cabin. We have a good system for simulating the setup and space envelope of the beamline outside in the cabin, allowing you to set up and test your setup before the beamtime starts (potentially saving many hours) and move pre-assembled experiments into the hutch and get running quickly. Do not expect beamline staff to do setup work that you can reasonably be expected to do for yourself.

• Similarly, be aware of the sample environments available on the beamline (refer to the  Beamline wiki  and Samples for SAXS/WAXS), and detail which environments are required. Additionally, provide details of any sample environments/requirements that are not presently available or that are intended to be brought on site.

• If you plan to bring your own equipment, sample environments or sample mounts please read the Bringing Your Own Equipment section of the Beamline wiki . This must be stated clearly in the proposal to ensure the technical feasibility of the experiment can be fairly assessed. Note that minimum cable length from the sample stage to outside the experimental hutch is 7m. All electronic equipment must have current electrical testing and tagging.

• All proposals are required to clearly state what Q-range(s) are required for the experiment. Please refer to the SAXS Specifications page for more information on the Q-range available.

• Be aware that typical exposure times are 1 - 10 seconds. This allows large numbers of samples to be studied and requires you to make plans to made to minimise time to change or swap samples to ensure efficient use of beam time.

• Please describe your experimental plan in detail, including temperature range and temperature ramp, experimental setup (with clear diagrams or pictures if non-standard), number of samples, concentrations, number of measurement steps, length of measurements, etc.

• We schedule experiments in blocks of similar setups (e.g. solutions with autoloader, GISAXS, transmission) and this places constraints on what combinations of setups are supportable. In particular, if you are using the solution autoloader we will not support any other choice of setup for an experiment. Same constraint typically applies for GISAXS, unless by prior consultation. In vacuum and in air experimental setups can not be requested for the same beamtime. Please submit two proposals if both setups are needed. Best advice is if in doubt to consult beamline staff when writing your proposal.

Proposal Guide for Proteins

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 SAXS 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.

User support on the SAXS/WAXS 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.

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, initial SAXS/WAXS camera calibration(s), and set up sample environment(s) IF they are standard setups provided by the beamline. Beyond this, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MOUNTING SETTING UP ANY CUSTOM SETUPS, IN-SITU SETUPS AND ANY EQUIPMENT THAT YOU PROVIDE. 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.

SAXS/WAXS staff will primarily support your experiment remotely (i.e. not remain at the beamline) once they have done their setup and safety induction work. After the beamline induction staff will leave and support you remotely. You will need to complete any experiment setup work yourself (if applicable), and then conduct your data acquisition. If sample setup and/or camera length changes are required during the experiment, you will need to perform these yourself. Camera length changes are largely automated, particularly if configured by beamline staff at the start of your experiment.

Beamline staff can be directly contacted up to 6pm for detailed support, which they will perform remotely where possible. Basic troubleshooting support is available until 10pm.

Weekends: Beamline staff will plan to be onsite at weekends only as required for beamline set-up. Remote support is available during the day, troubleshooting is available in the evening (until 10pm), and the Control Room is available at all times.

After Hours (i.e. 18:00-08:00), the Control Room (extension 4123) 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 and at weekends until 10pm. Beamline staff are unavailable after this time.

To facilitate user-driven development and improvement, the Australian Synchrotron requires that a User Feedback Survey is completed after each experiment conducted at the facility. After your experiment, one member of the research group / team should complete the online survey found here. Regardless of the number of participants in an experiment, only one feedback survey is required. This survey provides us with an indicator of beamline performance and helps us highlight areas for development and all user groups are encouraged to complete it.