Wilson West houses a new large experimental hall to accommodate the upcoming High Magnetic Field X-ray Beamline. Guests were invited to tour the new building, including future beamline caves, server rooms, electronics and vacuum labs, sample preparation rooms, and an ADA-accessible chemistry room.
See for yourself by exploring this 3D Space:
The new milestone marks a point in the project when efforts will begin to move from building construction to installing highly specialized experimental equipment.
In partnership between CHESS, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab), and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), the High Magnetic Field Beamline will serve convergence research between two large NSF facilities and train students from UPR to become future technology leaders.
CLASSE Technical Director Ernie Fontes reports that the HMF beamline construction team will now start to install, test, and commission new hardware. “Absolutely essential to locating the new x-ray beamline is extending the laser-tracker coordinate systems from Wilson lab into Wilson West,” says Fontes, referencing a coordinate system that will allow the massive new HMF lead-shielded hutch to be located with sub-millimeter accuracy, “At the same time, x-ray optics components will start being installed, starting with the upstream-most apertures and shutters, and moving downstream over the course of 2024. The beamline front-end will be installed during the summer 2024 shutdown, so later in the year, we may see the first x-ray beams in the new building!”