This group forms an educational and innovative collaborative materials research effort to bring together a diverse and talented scientific community with experience and expertise in electro-chemistry, solid-state and inorganic chemistry, and synchrotron-based techniques to character energy materials in operando conditions at CHESS.
The students have become an integral part of the team building out and commissioning new X-ray beamlines at the upgraded CHESS facility. New to them was learning good ultra-high vacuum (UHV) practices, using tools like torque wrenches to set vacuum seals, and using an RGA to find chemical contamination in optics boxes (“was really interesting!”). They have also studied the design of beamline components in each sector: apertures, safety bricks and power filters required to deliver X-rays to experimental hutches.
Melissa’s favorite activity was assembling components for Sector 4 X-ray monochromator. “It is like a puzzle to solve. There are many different plates and bolts and it is a real challenge to assemble based on the 3D CADmodel. There is a correct order to do things. It was fun to install water cooled components in the vacuum chamber,” she says.
Joesene has kept a detailed diary of his weekly experiences and worked closely with Mechanical Engineer Austin Cao to make new copper pieces, selecting and bending tubes to the desired form for cooling motors inside the ultra-high vacuum mono box. “I learned how to select the diameter of the copper tubing to bend the tubes to the desired formfor cooling motors inside the ultra-high vacuum mono box. We soldered the copper pieces and finishing cleaning them for UHV compatibility,” he says.
Brenda adds: “All the things that I have worked on have been very interesting because I had never had this kind of experience before. I never thought that to assemble and disassemble pieces would be so interesting.”