57 Studies in Materials Science
In our Engineering and Environment Village researchers are also increasingly looking to use the physical sciences tools across a range of problems. On the I11 Powder Diffraction beamline, users are able to investigate a range of materials in situ and recently the beamline has supported work into new lithium-ion battery materials. The beamline also is being used for our fi rst ever citizen science project, Project M, where secondary school students from 100 schools from across the UK will grow calcium carbonate samples that will be analysed in a 24-hour period.
Another beamline in this area is our Joint Engineering and Environmental Processing (JEEP) beamline, I12. Offering environments that allow users to study scientifi c problems in very close to real-world settings, it is our highest energy beamline. With a unique ability to penetrate samples of signifi cant thickness, it enables researchers can perform investigations into a process without having to scale it down.
Whilst Diamond is free at the point of access to any researcher who will published their work in a peer-review journal, the facility has also welcomed almost 100 different companies to carry out proprietary projects.
These users often enjoy the complementary nature of the beamlines at Diamond, with the global speciality chemicals company, Johnson-Matthey, long-standing users on I18, also being the fi rst users on our hard X-ray nanoprobe beamline, I14. They’ve also sited an high-tech electron microscope same building alongside Diamond’s electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC) and electron Physical Sciences Imaging Centre (ePSIC), as Diamond becomes a world centre for excellence in nanoscale imaging.
In February this year, HRH The Princess Royal unveiled a new Versatile Macromolecular Crystallography in situ (VMXi) beamline, which is currently the only one of its kind worldwide. The beamline is solely dedicated to in situ X-ray measurements and has the capacity to store and carry out thousands of user crystallisation experiments under one roof. As a result, scientists will also be able to examine crystals at a much earlier state than previously possible and Diamond will be able to deliver increased capacity to researchers.
Fan blade from Rolls-Royce engine on the JEEP beamline, I12. Overhead view of Diamond and the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire, UK
Engineers from Rolls-Royce were the fi rst to use this beamline, a prime example of where Diamond partners with industry to help advance technological capabilities. Rolls-Royce were interested in testing coating on the fan blades of their Trent 1000 engine used to power the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and gifted Diamond one of the blades which now takes pride of place outside our control room. More recently, the beamline was used to image bone samples at high resolution – an idea that originated from a researcher touring the facility whilst working on another beamline and seeing a potential application for their research.
User Flexibility
Whilst users at Diamond are able to stay on the campus and can be provided with laboratory space adjacent to the beamline they are working on, automation and remote access is driving many of our developments in the next few years. Users are increasingly able to use the facility via ‘remote access’, ensuring they can select samples of interest remotely and investigate the data whilst still continuing their daily roles in their home institutions.
Our staff are all extremely proactive and know the importance of continuously developing over the next ten years to maintain our place as a world-class facility. Our Phase III plans will see the number of operational beamlines rise from 28 at present to 33 by 2020. We also want to maintain links with the facilities across the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and our aim is to make Diamond a cornerstone the campus as it continues to be a site for scientifi c discovery and innovation.
Phase III will involve a range of upgrades to our facilities, from the storage ring through sample preparation and handling, to detectors for upgraded beamlines and dauntingly large volumes of data. The balance of roles and organisation of the staff at Diamond will also evolve as we embrace a wider range of skills required to support science that is even more diverse as well as technical developments.
We fi rmly believe that synchrotron science can continue to support excellent research and innovation from science and industry, and believe that our can have societal benefi ts to us all, addressing the environment and more effi cient energy devices, to the healthcare issues affecting billions of people.
HRH The Princess Royal with Professor Andrew Harrison,CEO, Diamond Light Source at the launch of the VMXi beamline
All pictures Credit: Diamond Light Source
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