Dichtel, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University, has made continuous use of CHESS over the past few years to aid his group’s studies of covalent organic frameworks (COFs). The group regularly relies on the G2 station at CHESS to characterize the crystalline and orientational order of different COFs and under different conditions [1-3], including different substrates such as single-layer graphene. Those results have contributed to the group’s development of COFs for various applications, such as vapor detection [4].

Josh and his students have already performed first x-ray scattering experiments related to this project at D1 station in the summer run 2015.

The NASA Program aims to support “early stage technologies that will address high-priority needs of America's space program” (see NASA Press Release). Eight projects were selected out of a national competition which will be funded for $200K per year up to three years.

We congratulate Josh and are looking forward to more exciting experiments of his group at CHESS!

The x-ray pulses have many longitudinal modes, so energy fluctuates over a finite bandwidth. Longitudinally coherent x-ray pulses can be made by sending longitudinally coherent radiation along with electrons through the undulator. This so-called “self-seeding” is done between long undulator sections by separating electron from x-ray beams using a magnetic chicane, monochromatizing the x-rays, and finally recombining beams as indicated in Figure 1.

The current CHESS award supports undergraduate students through both formal and informal programs. One of our newest efforts is a summer program for upstate community college students is named “Summer Research for Community College Students”, or SRCCS, and is modeled after the very successful REU program supported by NSF. Under this program, four to five students interested in STEM careers are invited to participate in cutting-edge research at the CLASSE.

Kyle Lancaster is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University and has agreed to serve as Vice-Chair of the CHESS Users' Executive Committee. Professor Lancaster’s group employs synthesis, biochemistry, and a broad range of methods to explore small molecule reactivity as mediated by transition metals.

Recognizing the broad applications of this type of technology, the Xraise outreach group worked with Devin Sonne, an undergraduate research student from Mohawk Valley Community College, on a summer project blending XRF research and outreach capabilities. Devin helped orchestrate collaboration between Dr. Robert Ross, education director at the Paleontological Research Institute (PRI) at the Museum of the Earth and Xraise to explore possible ways in which XRF technologies can be utilized by the geosciences to develop extended learning outcomes for secondary science education.

This phase separation, and the internal structure of the films, is critical to creating the high interfacial area between domains with distances suitable for charge extraction. Seeking to make the fabrication and performance of solar devices more standard and more predictable, small molecule additives have emerged as viable alternatives to the more widely studied conjugated polymer counterparts primarily since they lack batch-to-batch variability and can be simpler to purify.

That void was briefly filled from July 6-10, when the Marriott Marquis at 1535 Broadway hosted the 12th International Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation (SRI). The international version of SRI is held every three years, and offers a rare opportunity for the global synchrotron community to share ideas and information specifically related to synchrotron science and technology. This year’s conference featured just under 200 talks scheduled in 4 parallel sessions, as well as over 400 poster presentations.

The formation of superlattices is a fascinating mesoscale phenomenon governed by the interplay of a range of thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Long-time collaborators Detlef Smilgies, CHESS, and Tobias Hanrath, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, have recently summarized the role of time-resolved X-ray scattering techniques in combination with in-situ sample environments to gain unique insights into the relevant processes.