Super Cornell Compact Undulator (sCCU) Compact Variable-Gap Undulator with Hydraulic-Assist Driver and Enhanced Magnetic Field
First self-assembled superconductor structure created
Ulrich Wiesner, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Engineering, led the group, which included researchers in engineering, chemistry and physics.
The group’s findings are detailed in a paper published in Science Advances, Jan. 29.
Synchrotron "X-ray Micromechanics" course now online
The course consists of a series of lectures providing the basic background necessary to successfully analyze diffraction data gathered using high-energy X-ray experiments at synchrotron light sources with the goal of understanding the mechanical response of crystalline solids. The successful outcome for students who watch the lectures is developing sufficient comfort with the theory and algorithms underneath X-ray processing tools such that these tools are no longer a "black-box" and students are able to edit tools for their own research needs.
The Real Thing: D-line sample robot serves first user group
CHESS summer student Arthur Campello tackled the task of designing a sample changing robot for CHESS D1 station, under the guidance of CHESS Staff Scientist Detlef Smilgies. The basic ingredients of the robot were a rotation stage as a sample carousel and a slim translation stage for the sample transfer. A suction device lightly picks up the sample in one of the 20 slots on the sample carousel. Then the translation stage transports the sample to the sample holder. Campello designed the basic structural components based on beamline dimensions and the available stages.
New electron microscope sees more than an image
“We can extract local strains, tilts, rotations, polarity and even electric and magnetic fields,” explained David Muller, professor of applied and engineering physics, who developed the new device with Sol Gruner, professor of physics, and members of their research groups.
A pioneer of scientific tools
“Most scientists focus on a very specific area, but I do many different things,” says Sol Gruner, Physics. “I’m a research mutt. Mainly, I develop tools to attack scientific problems people haven’t looked at yet, largely because the tools needed to solve those problems haven’t existed.”
Engineering
The broader impacts of engineering studies affect all walks of society. Examples include improving infrastructure and longevity of structural materials for roadways, bridges, and aircraft, learning how to tailor new materials for microelectronics and biomedical applications, and improving fuel efficiency of diesel and gasoline-based vehicles. Partnering fundamental scientific research with engineering research opens new avenues for multidisciplinary research, discovery, and innovation.
The areas of engineering sciences research at CHESS are closely aligned with interdisciplinary research around the world. Engineering research with high-energy x-rays at CHESS covers a wide array of applications: material processing, component deformation and failure, and new energy storage systems, to name a few. Researchers apply techniques such as x-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify crystal structures and monitor deformation at the atomic-level, x-ray fluorescence (XRF) to determine the elemental composition of material, and x-ray computed tomography (CT) to image the morphology of a structure. Mapping microstructures of crystalline specimens, understanding deformation of materials in real-time of structural materials or nonwoven geotextiles, and watching how fuel is injected into an engine are important problems tackled by engineers and staff scientists using the x-ray facilities at CHESS.
Engineering
The broader impacts of engineering studies affect all walks of society. Examples include improving infrastructure and longevity of structural materials for roadways, bridges, and aircraft, learning how to tailor new materials for microelectronics and biomedical applications, and improving fuel efficiency of diesel and gasoline-based vehicles. Partnering fundamental scientific research with engineering research opens new avenues for multidisciplinary research, discovery, and innovation.