CHESS is currently in the midst of designing and planning for CHESS-U, and since NSLS-II was recently built and commissioned (and the work is still ongoing), the folks at NSLS-II had fantastic advice and expertise to offer us.
We started off the day with Chris Conolly giving an overview of the CHESS-U project, followed by Paul Zschack giving an overview of NSLS-II and describing their upgrade process. Afterwards we toured the experimental facility for about two hours – for many of the CHESS staff, it was their first time visiting another synchrotron. To say we were impressed would be an understatement!
In the afternoon we broke into smaller groups and talked to experts on a variety of topics – cryogenic monochromators, hutch design and build, control systems, user labs, vibration controls, vacuum systems, detectors, and personnel protection systems. We each took pages of notes and together took nearly 1,000 photographs.
The visit certainly inspired the CHESS staff and gave us many ideas we hope to implement in CHESS-U. Thank you to all the people at NSLS-II who met with us and offered expertise during our visit.
