By Brooke Kuei
One topic that has been brought up every year at the Molecular Foundry User Meeting has been streamlining collaborations with the Advanced Light Source (ALS). At this year’s User Meeting, there was a dedicated session on joint access to the ALS and the Molecular Foundry that discussed the different ways that users can get access to both facilities and also showcased work that leveraged both facilities. Susan Bailey from ALS User Services described three ways that users can get joint access to the Foundry and the ALS:
1. For work requiring significant access to both facilities,
it is recommended that users submit separate proposals to each facility.
2. For work that requires only limited access to one facility, it is
recommended that users submit a proposal to the primary facility requesting
access to the other.
3. If you are preparing crystal samples at the Molecular Foundry, there is an
ALS Approved Program that can be used. Users should contact Jian Zhang to learn
more.
Susan’s talk was followed by research highlights exemplifying projects that have successfully utilized both facilities. For example, Gregory Su from Berkeley Lab presented his work on combining X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the ALS with theory work from the Foundry to understand adsorption chemistry in solid-state nanoporous frameworks for gas separation. He also combined resonant soft X-ray scattering and theory to characterize the morphology of polymer membranes. Next, John Bradley from the University of Hawaii talked about combining transmission electron microscopy at the Foundry with infrared spectroscopy at the ALS to probe astro-materials. Finally, Christopher Chen from Berkeley Lab discussed how he combined transmission electron microscopy from the Foundry with nano-ARPES from the ALS to study the optical and electronic properties of 2D materials.
For anyone interested in learning more about the ALS, join the tour tomorrow morning at 8am!
