High-quality epitaxial thin films are key components of almost all modern electronic devices. During epitaxial thin film growth, lattice mismatch between the substrate and the film generates elastic strain, which eventually leads to defects that relieve the strain beyond certain thicknesses of film growth.

Microfluidic mixing chips are used by scientists to analyze biological molecules. They have small channels in which biological solutions, usually solutions of protein, are mixed. Biological small angle x-ray solution scattering (BioSAXS) is then used to study how these biomolecules change under different conditions, for example when they mix with hormones and drugs or when they interact with other biomolecules. These observations can help further our understanding of how cells function.

Long duration (tens of minutes to hours) X-ray beam position shifts have been present due to warm-ups after beam interruptions and as a result of changes due to the temperature shift of the CESR environment. These beam position shifts, especially during start-up times could be as large as hundreds of microns and the warm-up time as long as 12 hours.

Joint efforts made by scientists across Cornell campus from the Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Material Sciences and Engineering, and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) have resulted to a novel and feasible tool in which a nanocrystal superlattice is used as a nanoscopic pressure cell for in-situ investigation of soft molecules under pressure.

As an innovative tool for exploiting matter with atomic precision, X-ray based crystallography served as ways to solve the scientific controversies such as the molecular ordering of planar benzene, the existence of ionic crystals and the determination of complex macromolecular structures.

Gillilan, together with a former MacCHESS postdoc, Soren Skou and long time CHESS user, Nozomi Ando have distilled much of their knowledge into a Nature Protocols article.

Coates, professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and a Tisch University Professor, won the ACS Award in Applied Polymer Science, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the science and technology of plastics, coatings, polymer composites, adhesives and related fields. Coates researches new catalysts for the synthesis of macromolecules and small molecules.

The staff made a Herculean effort and in just 10 short weeks, removed the old wiggler, reconfigured CESR, installed two Cornell Compact Undulators, and completely rebuilt the A-line front end and optics. 

5 of CHESS’s 11 experimental stations are now fed by undulators.  “The ingenuity and “get-the-job-done” attitude of the technical staff and scientists is amazing,” states Joel Brock, Director of CHESS.  “We are extremely proud of our team, meeting and exceeding their goals and getting the laboratory ready for users in October.”

To apply these materials in emerging nanotechnologies, scientists need to better understand their structure, their corresponding functions and how they pack together.