BEAMLINE INSTALLATION

It is planned to install thirty public beamlines at the ESRF by the end of 1998. An additional twelve beamlines can be installed by Collaborating Research Groups (CRG) on bending magnets. Table 5 give a list of the beamlines that are in operation, in commissioning or under construction. By the end of 1996 twenty-two public beamlines will be operational. Another five beamlines will follow by the end of 1997. When all thirty public beamlines are operational there will be thirty-four end-stations available which can be run independently. In addition to the public beamlines, there were four CRG beamlines in operation by the end of 1995. Five additional ones are in the phase of construction or commissioning. The location of the various beamlines is given in Figure 110.When the programme as described in Table 5 is attained, there will be another three insertion device positions (besides the two used by the machine) free for later use. There are also seven more bending magnet ports free, but for the time being it has been decided to limit the maximum number of CRG beamlines to twelve, i.e. only three more than the already authorised (Table 5) 

 

It is planned to install thirty public beamlines at the ESRF by the end of 1998. An additional twelve beamlines can be installed by Collaborating Research Groups (CRG) on bending magnets. Tables 5a and 5b give a list of the beamlines that are in operation, in commissioning or under construction. By the end of 1996 twenty-two public beamlines will be operational. Another five beamlines will follow by the end of 1997. When all thirty public beamlines are operational there will be thirty-four end-stations available which can be run independently. In addition to the public beamlines, there were four CRG beamlines in operation by the end of 1995. Five additional ones are in the phase of construction or commissioning. The location of the various beamlines is given in Figure 110.

When the programme as described in Tables 5a and 5b is attained, there will be another three insertion device positions (besides the two used by the machine) free for later use. There are also seven more bending magnet ports free, but for the time being it has been decided to limit the maximum number of CRG beamlines to twelve, i.e. only three more than the already authorised (see Table 5b).

 

 

USER OPERATION

Following the successful opening of the first group of beamlines to external scientists in 1994, another nine beamlines began scheduling user experiments between August 1995 and July 1996. This brings the total number of beamlines open for users by the end of the period to twenty ESRF beamlines, and four CRG beamlines.

The increasing demand for beam time is illustrated in Figure 111, which shows the number of proposals received and the number of proposals allocated beam time since the beginning of user operation.

 

Proposals are selected and beam time allocations are made through peer review. Review Committees of specialists from European countries and the USA have been set up to cover the following scientific areas:

  • chemistry
  • hard condensed matter: electronic and magnetic properties
  • hard condensed matter: structures
  • life sciences
  • methods and instrumentation
  • soft condensed matter
  • surfaces and interfaces.

In view of the increasingly large number of applications arriving in the area of hard condensed matter, from 1996 this committee was split into two committees, one for electronic and magnetic properties, and the other for structures.

The Review Committees met twice during the past year, some six weeks after the deadlines for submission of proposals (1 March and 1 September of each year). They reviewed a total of 1030 applications for beam time, and selected 434 (42%), which have been scheduled for experiments. Table 6 shows the breakdown of the proposals received and of the proposals accepted, and their distribution across scientific areas.

In terms of shifts, a total of 14599 shifts were requested for this period, and 5099 shifts (35%) were allocated; the breakdown by scientific area is shown in Table 7.

The past year has also seen an increase from 837 to 1445 in the number of scientists visiting the ESRF under the user programme (see Table 8). On average, user teams comprise 3.3 persons who stay for some 5 days. Scientists who have carrried out experiments particularly appreciate the quality of the beam, and the reliability of both the machine and the experimental stations. A number of technical improvements, such as the installation of the High Quality Power Supply in May 1995, have in all but exceptional cases overcome beam losses due to thunderstorms and to earth tremors. On the beamlines, beam time losses tended to occur because of occasional difficulties with the beamline components, computer programs, or with samples. Such beam time losses, however, remained below 5 % of the total shifts for experiments during the period.

 

 

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE