Report

SPring-8 Academic Review Committee(SPARC)

January 23, 20091

1.

Introduction

SPring-8 started operation in 1997, and celebrates its 11th anniversary in the fall of2008 with a broad portfolio of ongoing activities. To reach this mature stage required
constant efforts on the part of SPring-8. Periodic critical assessments and warm
and thoughtful encouragements and advice from colleagues nationally andinternationally have helped to shape the developments.
International reviews in the past include,
1. International Advisory Councils in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1996.
2. SPring-8 Advisory Council in 2000.
3. JASRI International Advisory Council in 2006.
SPARC (SPring-8 Academic Review Committee) this time was held on November
16-19, 2008. The terms of SPARC given by the Director General of JASRI are as
follows,
1) To measure or evaluate the peak height of the academic outputs2) To explain their scientific values in a manner that can convince public community
3) To advise on the future plans for SPring-8
In contrast to previous review committees, the mission of SPARC has beenstraightforward, i.e. to focus only on scientific achievements in the past and on thepresented future plans.
Based on the presentation and documents made available, SPARC had intensive andextensive discussions on the scientific activities which SPring-8 has so far achieved.
Through these discussions, it has become clear that SPring-8 has a high degree ofcapability to meet scientific needs once they become clear and well defined. This is
impressive and highly commendable.
In this report, the Summary of the Review is presented as an Executive Summary on
scientific achievements and recommendations in Section 2, followed by a detailed
assessment of each subfield in Section 3. The relationship to society, especially theeducational program, is briefly assessed in Section 4.

2.

Executive summary

The results of the assessment of the scientific achievements made by SPARC arepresented first, followed by the general recommendations.
[A] Outstanding achievements2* In-vacuum Undulator Sources
By placing the magnet structure inside the vacuum chamber, the undulator gap canbe reduced, and hence much shorter magnetic periods can be built withoutcompromising the strength of the magnetic field. This extends the energy-range of
undulators at SPring-8 and all other light sources. The brilliant success of thisapproach has been leading the way for other facilities and for new sources withmedium size accelerators which nowadays even operate at smaller emittance than
the first 3 facilities, APS, ESRF and SPring-8. It is also worth pointing out that thisconcept promises presently a cost saving option for future XFEL sources. Clearly, thisdevelopment has had a profound worldwide impact.

*Advanced Beamline Technology
From the start the SPring-8 beamline team has tried to develop new beamline
concepts using the source properties in the most optimised way. This has led not only
to new designs of monochromators and polarisers, but also to new measurement
strategies such as a 1km beamline, modulation spectroscopies and several more.

* Structural Studies on Membrane Proteins.
It is known that up to 30% of human proteins are located in the cell membrane.
These membrane proteins play crucial roles in many biological functions and are of
key importance for medicine. We recognized that research on Ca2+ -ATPase, bovine
Rhodopsin, bacterial multidrug efflux transporter are truly outstanding and to thehighest international standard. High flux X-ray beams at BL41XU and BL44XU
were essential for these experiments.

* Structural Studies on Macromolecular Assemblies.
The study of macromolecular assemblies is a particular challenge for structural
biology. The flagellum is a huge molecular complex made of 20 to 30 thousand
subunits containing about 30 different proteins. High resolution X-ray structures offlagellar component proteins were solved using the brilliant X-ray beams at BL41XU
and BL44XU. By combining these single crystal X-ray results with the low
resolution structures obtained using cryo-EM and X-ray fibre diffraction, thestructures of three distinct parts of the flagellum were determined.

*Real-time SAXS Analysis of Periodosome
3

The process of assembly/disassembly of the periodosome (a multimeric complex of
Kai proteins) was followed in real time by SAXS experiments at BL45XU, which
could indeed verify that this was controlled by the phosphorylation of one of the Kai
proteins and provided an overall picture of the periodosome in its different states.
This real time elucidation of the circadian clock mechanism by Small Angle X-ray
scattering is a unique example of the application of real time SAXS experiments.
Other examples include the successful investigation of protein folding.

*Motion of Potassium Channel revealed by Single Molecule Tracking.
By using a novel technique based on monitoring the movements of a gold
nanoparticle attached to the KscA potassium channel and irradiating it with white
X-radiation, the motion of the protein could be monitored in real time by following
the motions of the diffraction spots from the gold crystal. These experiments showed
how the potassium channel upon gating was twisted around the pore and that gating
could be prevented by adding an open-channel blocker. Single molecule tracking
opens unique opportunities to study molecules in action and this was made possible
on BL44B2.

*Rational Design of Nanoporous Materials with Chemical Functionality
An impressive range of new metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and Porous
Coordination Polymers (PCPs) compounds exhibiting specific chemicalfunctionalities have been synthesized.
These compounds have significant
commercial potential as potential gas storage, as well as catalytic, media for clean
and renewable energy solutions. This program benefits and interplays synergisticallywith the world-leading small molecule crystallography program at BL02B2.

*Probing Bulk States of Correlated Electron Systems by
High-Resolution Resonance Photoemission
At a helical undulator beamline, equipped with a varied line space grating
monochromator, high-resolution and high-photon flux soft X-ray beamline wasrealized at BL25SU. This has been successfully utilized in soft-X-ray resonancephotoemission experiments of strongly correlated systems. Thanks to a much longer
escape depth, bulk electronic states were observed, which previously had been
revealed only weakly with a low photon energy photoemission spectroscopy (PES).
These results demonstrate the effectiveness of high energy, high resolution PES forthe study of strongly correlated 4f electronic states.
* Phase Change Mechanism of Rewritable Optical Media

4

X-ray diffraction pinpoint measurements at BL40XU demonstrate the interest intime resolved X- ray diffraction for academic and industrial use. Optical recording on
DVD media is due to the amorphous to crystalline phase transition of the Ge2Sb2Te5(GST) and Ag3.5In3.8Sb75.0Te17.7 (AIST) materials. A direct measurement of thecrystallization processes has been studied on a 0.32 micron surface of the DVD itself
at nanosecond time resolution. Comparison between GST and AIST suggests thatcrystal growth control may be a key for designing faster phase change materials. The
quality of the micro beam is paramount for investigating the ultra fast physics ofphoto- and thermo-excited phase transitions or chemical reactivity, by time resolved
studies* Post-perovskite Phase of MgSiO3 at 120GPa: Nature of the Mantle-Core Boundary
Under the high-pressure and high-temperature conditions (125GPa, 2500K)
corresponding to a 2700km depth at the mantle-core boundary, where the D” seismic
wave velocity discontinuity is observed, the crystal structure of the post-perovskite
phase of MgSiO3 was successfully analysed, based on the in-situ X-ray diffraction
measurements at the state-of-the-art high-pressure station BL10XU.
This
newly-solved crystal structure has a striking high-density layered-structure. Thisfeature can solve successfully long standing mysteries, such as the discontinuousseismic change and the seismic anisotropy in the D” layer.

* Advancing the Understanding of Automobile Exhaust Gas Catalysts
Researchers from Toyota are advancing their understanding of Ceria Zirconia – a
3-Way automotive exhaust catalyst. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure(EXAFS) measurements were made on the Ce K-edge (40.45 kev) and Zr K edge (18keV) at BL01B1 and BL16B2 to understand the local structure around these atoms
and a clear relationship between the oxygen storage/release capacity of the material
and its local structure was determined. Through the end of 2006, over 30 million
Toyota vehicles have been fitted with this type of exhaust catalyst. This, and otherwork, clearly has made an impact on Toyota as they are now in the process ofconstructing an insertion device beamline (BL33XU) at the SPring-8 facility.
In other work on catalysis, scientists from Daihatsu are using BL14B1 to further
their understanding of so-called intelligent catalysts with the goal of developing amore durable exhaust gas catalyst. They found that precious metal ions such as
palladium, entered and exited the ceramic crystals repeatedly as if they had“intelligence”, and that the ions did not grow larger in size which can reduce theefficiency of their catalytic activity. This information has allowed Daihatsu to achievea substantial reduction of palladium in their automotive catalysts.
These two examples clearly demonstrate the fact that the basic research with strong5

motivation can lead to real break-through in applications. Such efforts should be
encouraged more.

* Interfacial Magnetism between FM/AFM Bilayers in Magnetic Sensor Heads
It is the goal of many hard disk drive manufacturers to reach a recording density of 1
Tb/in2. With this increase in density, instabilities in the exchange coupling between
the ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers have been seen where themagnetization in the ferromagnetic layer has changed unexpectedly. Higher
robustness is required in the fidelity of the data on hard drives and so experiments
were performed at BL25SU to better understand the mechanism of exchange
coupling and the control of magnetic structures at FM/AFM interfaces. Previously
the existence of pinned interfacial AFM spins had been reported, but the mechanismthat stabilises this process was unclear. This work verified the existence of pinned
interfacial spins in the anti-ferromagnetic layer.

[B] General Recommendations on Future Plans*Revolutionary Instrumentation Development
Relying on the development (together with Osaka University) of the Elastic Emission
Machining of mirrors to reach atomically smooth surfaces, a microfocus of 48nm x 36
nm has already been demonstrated on the 1 km beamline, with remarkably low strayscatter. Furthermore, focusing to 8 nm has been demonstrated in one dimension.
This is clearly a remarkable record. Particularly exciting plans were announced toextend this technology to the 1 nm level by the use of multilayers. In fact, aKirkpatrick-Baez microprobe with any spot size in the sub-10 nm range will be
revolutionary!

* Compact XFELThe use of a thermionic gun followed by several bunch compression stages, a C-bandwarm linac and micro-undulators as emitters, was considered by many specialists,
again similar to the in-vacuum undulator approach in the early 90’s, a high risk
approach. A prototype was built, which has demonstrated brilliantly the viability of
the approach, and is now used as a successful user facility with a 20 – 25 eV FEL.
Knowing that the prototype is working, the opportunity to realise a short and cost
efficient version of an XFEL has become even higher. There are plans to use the
FEL as a pump, to be combined with beams from SPring-8, as a stroboscopic probe oftime evolution. This will be a unique capability. Furthermore, electron bunches from6

the linac will also be available to be injected into SPring-8 to create capabilities forvery short X-ray pulses. This would give additional unique scientific opportunities.

* Improvement of life-science BL
More and more complex biological systems will be targeted in the future that will
require the use of different synchrotron radiation based techniques, e.g. diffraction,
small angle scattering and imaging. The combination of techniques in the study of
biological systems is already taking place and it is important that SPring-8 continues
to facilitate applications of complementary methods. Structural biology evolves
towards the study of more and more complex systems that are characterized by small
and poorly diffracting crystals. It is therefore necessary to examine many crystals of
the same sample to find the one most suitable for the measurements.
The proposed improvements of the MX beamline complex, that aims at creating abeamline portfolio, with each beamline fulfilling a specific role, seems best suited to meetthe demands of structural biology in the future and to keep the macromolecular
crystallography at SPring-8 at an internationally competitive level.

* Theoretical Modeling
Due to their quality, the experimental results sometimes deserve a more thoroughtheoretical approach, as for example the pioneering work on myoglobin. Similarly,
combined with MEM, systematic use of multipolar analysis of electron density would
allow better description of inter-atomic interactions and bonding.

* High Resolution Inelastic X-ray Scattering
At BL35XU non-resonant meV resolved Inelastic X-ray Scattering should be
developed in the future in order to investigate atomic scale correlations in electronic
excitations. This requires the construction of a new beamline which will enable
important higher resolution measurements of electronic excitations.

*Synthesis of Nano-Polycrystalline Diamond: Potential Applications for HPT
Experiment
A nano-polycrystalline diamond, named “HIME-DIA”, was successfully synthesisedwith a special capability of hardness exceeding diamond and low thermal
conductivity, potentially accessible to the center of the earth (364GPa, 5,500K). It
will benefit also fields such as material and environmental sciences.

3. Detailed Assessment of Scientific Achievements in Each Subfield of Science7

[Instrumentation]

General Statements
SPring-8 used in-vacuum undulators as the standard insertion device in order tocover a wide energy range, particularly in the higher energy region and to reduceheat-loads on optical components. Most of the instrumentation and methodologies
now characteristic of the facility stemmed from this decision. Even at the beginningof SPring-8 operation, the undulator technology itself was in its infancy. Whileundulator development at SPring-8 continued, the extremely intense,
highly-directional, quasi-monochromatic and well-polarized X-rays generated by the
undulators, demanded a new approach to instrumentation. To take full advantage ofthe undulator radiation requires a low emittance of the electron beam circulating inthe storage ring. Deliberately careful alignment of the accelerator components has
made it possible to minimise the vertical and horizontal emittance coupling,
resulting in a vertical source size < 10 µm. This small source size combined with thelong distance between source points and sample positions enables delivery of hard
X-rays with a very high degree of coherence. From these partially coherent X-rays,
fully coherent hard X-ray beams can be extracted by placing an appropriate pinhole
in the centre of the beam.

Highlights
Tightly collimated X-ray beams are very well matched to X-ray optics based on
perfect crystal components, in which dynamical diffraction occurs within an angularrange of only a few µrad around the Bragg condition. This even allows building
optical devices such as the diamond phase retarder which converts X-ray polarisationfrom linear to circular. The phase retarder can produce both right- and left-handcircular polarized X-rays in a specified energy range. It can even switch the helicity
by changing the X-ray angle of incidence by < 1 mrad. SPring-8 has pioneered
techniques for operating an X-ray undulator beamline for magnetic circulardichroism (MCD), by using X-ray phase retarder optics delivering fast
helicity-switched of circularly polarized X-rays. Bi-stable flipping of the phaseretarder can produce alternating right- and left-hand circularly polarised X-rays
with a flipping rate > 30 Hz by using a piezo-electric stage, and of ~1 kHz by using a
Galvano motor stage. Such fast flipping rates enable the use of phase-locked
measurement technology, resulting in a low noise measurement of the extremely
weak MCD spectrum.
High-resolution X-ray monochromators are another example of benefits resulting
from perfect crystal X-ray optics with highly directional undulator beams. The
performance of both, backscattering monochromators and combined channel-cut
8monochromators, is much enhanced with highly-directed undulator X-rays. A
backscattering monochromator can be utilised very advantageously when only thedifference of X-ray energies inbound and outbound is important. A good example isinstrumentation at BL35XU used in high resolution inelastic scattering. Energy
loss in the meV range is recorded as a function of momentum transfer, thus enabling
detection of low energy excitations such as phonons. Combined channel-cut
monochromators are preferred whenever the absolute value of the output energy isimportant, such as in nuclear resonant scattering experiments. The highest
resolution achieved so far is approximately 0.1 meV at 14.4 keV.
This
monochromator was also extensively utilised for a Hambury-Brown-Twiss type
intensity interferometer in the X-ray region, and to devise a Fabri-Perot
interferometer in the X-ray region. With highly-directional undulator X-rays, even a
simple channel-cut monochromator using a higher order reflection can provide
energy resolution better than 100 meV. Such monochromators are extensively
utilised for hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES), which SPring-8 is oneof the pioneers in developing. Now HAXPES is attracting growing interest as apromising new tool in materials science. Highly directional undulator radiation has
also enabled the realisation of high resolution monochromators in the soft-X-ray
region exceeding E/∆E >10,000.
SPring-8 is unique in having a 1 km beamline (BL29XU). This beamline can provide
large area coherent hard X-rays. The coherent property of the beam has been
extensively utilized in developing ultra-smooth X-ray mirrors in collaboration with agroup from Osaka University using the Elastic Emission Machining (EEM)
technique. The collaboration team developed simulation code based on the
wave-optical theory, instead of the geometrical theory, and a micro-stitchinginterferometer, which combines the microscopic interferometric data of the mirror
surface figure with the large scale Fizeau interferometer data to measure with highprecision the global mirror surface figure. Once the surface figure of the mirrors is
accurately measured, the team is able to correct the figure toward the ideal one.
These developments led to the construction of a series of Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) typefocusing mirrors. The smallest focal spot size currently achieved is ~ 10 nm.
Development toward a ~1 nm focal size is underway. The polishing method is also
used to fabricate a speckle-free mirror for XFEL. A 400 mm long elliptical mirror
has been prototyped that has a deviation from the designed figure of less than 2 nm.
Focusing devices based on reflective optics match well to spectroscopy because theirfocal position remains unchanged as a function of X-ray energy. One of the moststraightforward applications of nano-focused X-rays is high resolution scanningprobe microscopy. Some devices for scanning fluorescence X-ray microscopy havebeen developed and applied to a wide variety of samples, in which the local
distribution of specific chemical elements is important. There is a growing interestin applying this technique to biological and medical samples, such as cancer cells.
9The enhanced lateral coherence of X-ray beams at SPring-8 has contributed
significantly to further develop coherent diffractive imaging (CDI). The collaboration
with Miao’s group began in 2000, and resulted in a series of milestone experiments
applying coherent diffractive imaging to nanoscience and biology. The first 3D
reconstruction by CDI was demonstrated for an artificial sample, the first application
for a non-artificial sample was completed using a porous silica particle, and the first
biological application was made using E-coli bacteria at SPring-8. The image
recovery algorithm was improved to solve the missing central cone problem and a
new algorithm to get super-resolution was developed. The 3D image reconstruction
was applied to a GaN nanodot sample with 17 nm voxel resolution. Especially
impressive has been the most recent 3-dimensional visualization of a humanchromosome using coherent X-ray diffraction with beamline BL29XU.
In-vacuum undulators, developed as the standard insertion device for SPring-8, havefound many applications in various research areas. A 27 m long, in-vacuum
undulator was designed and constructed to serve as a light source at BL19LXU.
Although photon flux did not increase as the square of the undulator length due tothe energy dispersion of the electron beam, the undulator has provided the world’s
highest photon flux above 10 keV. Having the magnet structure inside the vacuum
makes it possible to build shorter period, or mini-pole undulators, because the gap
between two magnet arrays can be made very small. The use of mini-poleundulators opens new capabilities for constructing lower electron energy,
third-generation synchrotron radiation sources emitting hard X-rays. The first
demonstration of a mini-pole undulator was made by collaboration between SPring-8
and the NSLS at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). This proved the capabilityof low energy storage rings to generate undulator X-rays. With the demonstrated
success of this configuration, many lower energy, third-generation, synchrotron lightsource facilities considered installing in-vacuum undulators. Most of these facilities
use the higher order harmonics of the undulator to extract hard X-rays. For thispurpose stronger magnetic fields are better, and the SPring-8 team developed acryogenic undulator which utilizes the magnetic field enhancement of the permanent
magnet at a low temperature.
Another important direction is to apply minipole undulator technology to linac-based,
free electron lasers. The technical feasibility of in-vacuum undulators opened thepossibility to design a compact SASE source. In-vacuum undulators reduced theelectron energy required to produce FELs compared with conventional
out-of-vacuum undulators, thus reducing the length of the linac. SPring-8 started an
R&D program focusing on the compact SASE XFEL in 2001, with an approach thatwas quite different from the approaches used by LCLS or Euro-XFEL.

10

Instead of the laser-RF electron gun, a thermionic gun with a single-crystal CeB6
was employed. An electron injector system with velocity bunching was proposed anddeveloped to generate the high density and low emittance electron bunches required
for an XFEL. High frequency accelerating tubes operating at 5712 MHz (C-band)
further reduce the length of the linac compared with those using the moreconventional 2856 MHz (S-band). A 15 mm period in-vacuum undulator was
prototyped.
These newly developed components were combined to make a prototype free electron
laser (FEL) operating at 250 MeV and generating intense ultraviolet SASE laser
radiation at a wavelength of 60 nm. Building upon these results, an XFEL project
has been proposed to construct an 8 GeV linac-based XFEL generating SASE X-rays
at wavelengths less than 0.1 nm. The total length of this facility will beapproximately 700 m, i.e., less than 1/3 of the length of the U.S. and European
facilities. The proposal was approved as one of five ‘Key Technologies of National
Importance’ of Japan to start in 2006 and to complete in 2010 fiscal year.

Recommendations
With the completion of the XFEL, Harima will be the unique site where both athird-generation synchrotron light source and an XFEL will be co-located. Several
experiments utilising XFEL pump and SPring-8 probe measurement are discussed.
The linac for XFEL, which can provide low-emittance and short-pulsed electron
bunches, will be used as an injector of the SPring-8 storage ring. Although thecurrent SPring-8 lattice cannot take full advantage of the higher quality electron
bunches from the XFEL linac, some planned alterations of the lattice will enhance
the SPring-8 performance greatly in terms of emittance and pulse length. The
synergistic use of SPring-8 and XFEL will undoubtedly require more innovative
instrumentation and development of new methodology. We believe both SPring-8 and
XFEL will be excellent and complimentary scientific tools, which will enable entirely
new classes of experiments and will further advance the frontiers of science and its
applications.
[Life Science]

General Statements
SPring-8 has been successful in developing a strong program in Life Science. This isdemonstrated by fact that 40 % of the most cited papers are in this area. In terms of
productivity the macromolecular crystallography beamlines are also leading in the
Asian region, 65 % of the depositions in the Protein Data Bank are based on data11

measured at SPring-8.
The Protein 3000 initiative from 2002-2006 has been important to stimulate the growthin structural biology in Japan, that it now seems possible to continue through theTargeted Proteins Research Programme.
The strength of the Life Science program is illustrated by the relatively large number ofvery difficult protein targets comprising membrane proteins and macromolecularassemblies for which the structure determination was made possible with the use ofSPring-8’s beamlines. SPARC recognizes the very high overall quality of protein
crystallographic activities at SPring-8.

Highlights
Two of the truly outstanding works are the studies on Ca2+- ATPase and on thebacterial flagellum. Ca2+-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum is an integral membraneprotein, which pumps Ca2+ into the sarcoplasmic reticulum from muscle cells using
ATP, thereby regulating muscle constriction and relaxation. This pump is a
representative member of a group of enzymes called P-type ATPases, which are ion
pumps of crucial importance. The structures of this calcium pump revealed its
molecular transport mechanism. It is known that up to 30% of human proteins arelocated in the cell membrane. The hydrophobic nature of membrane proteins,
however, makes crystallisation extremely difficult and many of these crystals diffract
X-rays only very weakly. Because of these problems, less than 10 mammalian
membrane protein structures have been solved so far. To solve the structures of
Ca2+-ATPase, full advantage was taken of high flux X-ray beams at BL41XU and
BL44XU. In collaboration with beamline scientists, very careful data collections
were carried out addressing radiation damage occurring during measurement andthey solved this important mammalian membrane protein in 6 different
conformations. These results and related works have produced more than 40
papers in the international journals including 4 papers in Nature since 2000. Thisis a truly remarkable example of cutting-edge structural biology studies usingsynchrotron radiation.
Bacteria swim by rotating a helical filamentous organelle called the flagellum. The
flagellum is a huge molecular complex made of 20 to 30 thousand subunits
containing about 30 different proteins. The study of macromolecular assemblies
like the flagellum is a particular challenge for structural biology. The high-resolution
X-ray structures of flagellar component proteins were solved using the brilliant X-ray
beams at BL41XU and BL44XU. By combining these X-ray structures and low
resolution structures obtained using cryo-EM and X-ray fibre diffraction, models of
the structures of three distinct parts of the flagellum have been obtained. These12

structures in combination with computer simulations have revealed the polymorphic
transition mechanism of the flagellar filament, the universal joint mechanism of thehook and the molecular joint mechanism of the hook-filament junction. These are big
steps towards a complete understanding of the structure and molecular mechanismof this complex nano-machine, which have led to more than 20 papers in theinternational journals including two Nature papers. This is another brilliant
example of contemporary structural biology studies combining various methodologies
and highlights the importance of state-of-the-art synchrotron beamlines like
BL41XU and BL44XU.
We also recognized that the studies on bovine Rhodopsin and on the bacterial
multidrug efflux transporter AcrB are outstanding and to the highest international
standard.
The Rhodopsin structure is a very important contribution to pharmacology andmedicine. The structure published in Science in 2000 represents the first structureof the G-Protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which, at least, 30% of currently
available drugs are targeting. The structure determination of this mammalian
membrane receptor is a big step towards rational drug design based on GPCR
structures. The fact that the paper has been cited over 2000 times highlights theimpact of this paper. The structure determination was achieved by a successful
application of the Trichromator at BL45XU beamline on MAD phasing of thestructure from extremely delicate Rhodopsin crystals. The same group recently
solved another important membrane protein structure.
The structure ofleukotriene C4 synthase, which was published in Nature in 2007, is one of the first
X-ray structures of membrane proteins and also an important drug target. BL44B2
was used for this structure determination.
The emergence of bacterial multidrug resistance is an increasing problem in thetreatment of infectious diseases. The major cause of the multidrug resistance ofbacteria is a multidrug efflux transporter, which exports drugs out of the cells. AcrB
is a membrane protein and the major multidrug efflux transporter in bacteria. The
structure of drug-free AcrB was published in Nature in 2000. This is the firststructure of not only a multidrug efflux transporter but also a secondary active
transporter driven by proton motive force across the membrane. In 2006, the
AcrB-drug complex structure was also published in Nature. It consists of three
asymmetric protomers, each of which has a different conformation corresponding to
one of three functional states. This elegant work reveals the drug export
mechanism of AcrB by a three-step rotating mechanism in a trimer, in which drugs
undergo ordered binding change. The X-ray data collections for these challenging
structure determinations were performed at BL41XU and BL44XU as were the data
for Ca2+-ATPase and the flagellar components.
This again highlights the13

importance the high-flux beamlines at SPring-8 optimised for difficult-to-solve
biological structures.
In addition to the highly productive beamlines for protein crystallography at SPing-8
that can catch a static picture of a protein in different states, some outstanding
results have recently been obtained at SPring-8 that give real time pictures of theprotein in action.
One example is a very elegant experiment recently reported in Cell on the single
molecule monitoring of the gating of potassium ion channels. Ion channels transport
ions across the cell membrane. They are signal transduction molecules that are able
to switch the ion permeation on or off (gating). Though the crystal structures are
known of potassium channels in open and closed conformations, knowledge was notavailable about how the gating actually takes place. By using a novel techniquebased on monitoring the movements of a gold nanoparticle attached to the KscA
potassium channel and irradiating it with white X-ray radiation, the motion of theprotein could be monitored in real time by following the motions of the diffraction
spots from the gold crystal. These experiments showed how the potassium channel
upon gating was twisted around the pore and that gating could be prevented byadding an open-channel blocker. This single molecule tracking opens unique
opportunities to study molecules in action and it was made possible at BL44B2.
Another real time investigation of protein movements and protein assembly was
published recently in Molecular Cell. The circadian clocks allows organisms to adapt
to the daily variations. Three different clock proteins KaiAm, KaiB and KaiC havebeen identified as being responsible for the control of the oscillations of the circadianmechanism of the cyanobacterium Synechocossus elongatus that is controlled byphosphorylation of one of the proteins (KaiC). It had been postulated that theoscillatory mechanism was controlled by assembly/disassembly of the Kai proteins
into multimeric complexes (periodosome).
The assembly/disassembly of theperiodosome was followed in real time by SAXS experiments at BL45XU, which
could indeed verify that this process was controlled by the phosphorylation of KaiC
and provided an overall picture of the periodosome in its different states. This realtime elucidation of the circadian clock mechanism by Small Angle X-ray scattering isa unique example of the application of real time SAXS experiments. Other examples
are the successful investigations of protein folding.
Thanks to recent software developments Small Angle X-ray Scattering are being
used increasingly by the structural biology community. SPring-8 contributes to thisrenaissance of SAXS and the potential of this method to give valuable information onprotein-protein interactions. One prominent example is the investigations of thefatty acid β-oxidation multienzyme complex carried out at BL40B2. The SAXS
14

experiments revealed that NAD+ binding led to significant domain rearrangement
and to a structure that was significantly different from the crystal structure.
With its long beamlines, SPring-8 offers excellent opportunities to effect the imagingof biological samples by computed tomography at different resolution levels. Amongthe highlights using this technique, are the in vivo experiments on rabbits to study
the structure of lungs during breathing. These investigations that are carried out by
an Australian user group show the excellence state of biological imaging at SPring-8.

Recommendations
The proposed improvements of the MX beamline complex, that aims at creating abeamline portfolio with each beamline fulfilling a specific role seems best suited to meetthe demands of structural biology in the future and to keep the macromolecular
crystallography at SPring-8 at an internationally competitive level.
[Chemical Science]

General Statements
SPring-8 chemical science programs presented at the review included structuralchemistry, polymer science, nanoporous materials, catalysis and soft X-ray
photochemistry.
Due to the considerable overlap between chemical science
programs with materials science programs, in particular in structural science andpolymer science, the highlights and recommendations mentioned in the materials
science section will not be repeated here.
Structural chemistry and small molecule crystallography carried out at SPring-8 areclearly world leading. The productivity of this program is extremely impressive,with ~40 publications a year from BL02B2. The program benefits enormously fromthe high energy, high brilliance and the remarkable stability of the source; as well asfrom the development in methodology and instrumentation, by the SPring-8 staff.
The structural chemistry program complements and interplays synergistically withworld class synthesis capability in Japan, and together a large number of important
new and novel structures have been solved at SPring-8. This synergy is best
illustrated by the development of Porous Coordination Polymers (PCPs) and
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs).
It would be a benefit to SPring-8 portfolio to further widen their chemical user basewithin Japan and through new international collaborations, possibly throughvisiting fellowships to overseas scientists.
15

There is a great deal of opportunity for commercial exploitation in many of theexamples that were presented in this section in a similar manner to materials
science. The best example is thst of catalysis research. This program clearlyshould be highlighted more to educate the public about the importance ofsynchrotron research (see industrial application section.) The success of thecatalysis research program is a very good example of how academic and industrial
research can work together. It should also be noted that the spectroscopic study on
fuel cells and in situ observation of catalytic reactions is clearly scientifically worldclass.
In addition to high resolution structures, most of the chemical science programs havealso been able to relate structure to function in some cases, by studying structure
evolution under different sample environments and using a variety of external
stimuli. e.g. temperature, light, electric field, pressure. The timescale of the current
data collections exceeds the time frame for any molecular structural changes or for‘normal’ chemical reactions. However, this aspect of chemistry at SPring-8 will
become increasingly important as new instrumentation and XFEL come on line, forexample, the new high resolution instrument with important time resolved
capability.
The question of time resolution was remarked upon by most subject groups inrelation to their future plans, which follows from the quality of the SPring-8 beams,
the novel instrumentation and innovation from the staff scientists. Additionallyseveral leaders mentioned their plans to exploit the XFEL, which is truly impressive
even at this prototype stage. The staff are well poised to exploit XFEL into the future;
there is no shortage of bright ideas.
This is particularly true for the soft X-ray photochemistry program. This program
focuses on fundamental spectroscopic measurements that underpin our
understanding of X-ray interactions with matter. It takes advantage of the little
known fact that SPring-8 is the superb source for soft X-rays. The activity at
SPring-8 in this area is world leading. This program has engaged in research using
the UV-FEL source and will likely be important for the SPring-8 X-ray FEL program
as well.

Highlights*Interaction of hydrogen with metal nanoparticles
The development of economically viable hydrogen storage materials is one of the key
challenges in addressing the global energy problem. In-situ high resolution powder
16diffraction was used to characterize the core-shell structure of Pd/Pt nanoparticles
under hydrogen atmosphere at BL02B2. The results revealed that most of theadsorbed hydrogen atoms are trapped to the interfacial region between the Pd-coreand Pt-shell and suggested a route to design better hydrogen storage materials.

*Visualization of adsorbed gas molecules in framework structures
At BL02B2, the combination of very high quality powder diffraction data withsophisticated data analysis methods and in-situ experimental system has allowed
the determination of the structure of adsorbed gas molecules in [Cu2(pzdc)2(pyz)]n.
The high resolution structure provided insight into the chemical bonding andmechanism of gas adsorption. The same methodology has been applied further to awide range of molecules in nano-porous framework materials and has resulted inmany important scientific findings and potential industrial applications.

*Development of Porous Coordination Polymers (PCPs) and Metal-Organic
Frameworks (MOFs)
Porous Coordination Polymers (PCPs) and Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are
new framework compounds exhibiting a wide range of structural characteristics fromthe very rigid to the very flexible, corrugated and interleaved. PCPs and MOFs
respond differently to adsorbed gas molecules and are potential gas storage media forclean and renewable energy solutions.
In-situ high resolution powder diffraction has been instrumental in determining thestructure of PCPs and MOFs as well as understanding the adsorption/desorption
mechanism.

*In-situ time-resolved study of surface reactions
Mechanism of surface reaction at the Pt/C cathode in a fuel cell under the operating
conditions of the fuel cell was revealed by a new in-situ time-resolved X-ray
absorption spectroscopy technique developed at BL01, SPring-8. The quality of thedata was extremely good, thus provided high resolution structural data for the initialstages of the reaction for the first time. This opens up the way to ‘seeing’ chemical
reactions in a wide range of industrial applications.

*Complete measurement of inner-shell excitation in N2
High resolution X-ray photoelectron, Auger electron as well as multiple electron –ioncoincidence spectroscopy were carried out for gas phase N2, at BL 27SU, to follow the
inner-shell excitation process completely.
These measurements provided
fundamental spectroscopic results that put stringent test on our understanding of17

X-ray interactions with matter. It confirmed a long standing prediction of difference
in bond length for the two core-hole states, and provided strong evidence that thecore-hole is not localized. This study has generated a great deal of interest in thecommunity.

Recommendations:*The proposed high-resolution single crystal program is very important and shouldbe implemented as soon as possible. It will further enhance the strength of thisworld class program.
*Time-resolved studies with time-resolution down to pico-second are important for
all areas in chemical sciences. These programs should take advantage of thesignificant expertise exists at SPring-8. They will also help to generate futurescientific use of the FEL.
*The programs should be encouraged to use and exploit fully the capabilities atSPring-8. For example, most of the chemical science programs could benefit fromusing both spectroscopy and diffraction.
* World class studies using high resolution powder diffraction across the chemical
sciences and exploiting the time structure of the beam should be continued.

[Materials Science]

General Statements
A longstanding cooperation well-organized among solid state physicists, chemists
and material scientists in Japan has resulted in continuous production of novel
materials and high-quality crystals of a wide variety of compounds such as
superconductors, multiferroics and molecular complexes. SPring-8 has acceptedsuch exciting themes very timely and produced excellent outputs by utilizing its fullcapability.

Highly accurate atomic and electronic structure results are produced on SPring-8’
beamlines which are of utmost importance for understanding physical properties of
newly designed materials. This is mostly due to an excellent combination of thehigh quality of the scientific and technical staff with an excellent synchrotron
machine, symbolized e.g by the top-up mode operation, and due to outstanding
instrumentation on the beamlines. Due to their quality, the experimental results
18

may deserve a more thorough theoretical approach, as for example the pioneering
works on metallofullerenes and myoglobin. The electron density modelling is only
based on MEM methods and multipole modelling which is widely, used should be
introduced and compared to MEM results.
On the other hand, systematic experimental and theoretical works have been
conducted for inelastic scattering studies particularly on strongly correlated electron
systems.
The Material Science Subfield has two components
STRUCTURE
X-ray diffraction and absorption experiments in SPring-8 are highly accurate, up todate, original and develop forefront techniques as for example demonstrated by the
benchmark powder diffraction data collected on silicon and diamond. The precise
structural description of complex materials such as thermoelectrics,
metallofullerenes, host guest crystals serves now as world structural reference. The
quality of these data permits realistic modelling of disorder and/or of electronic
structure; such a structural accuracy is a necessity to understand and designmaterials’ physical properties.

SPECTROSCOPYElectronic and Magnetic Properties
Resonant and Non-Resonant X-ray Inelastic Scattering have been largely developed
and optimized in SPring-8 in order to study the lattice/charge dynamical properties
and the electronic structure of materials in the meV to eV range. Fermiology
studies of materials are also very well recognized combining photoemission
spectroscopy, ARPES and Compton Scattering. SPring-8 has a beamline devoted tomagnetic Compton scattering applied to strongly correlated systems as for example
to probe the orbital nature of the valence band of perovkites manganites. X-ray
absorption and diffraction experiments under high magnetic fields were successfully
performed on f-electron systems to induce valence and structural phase transitions.

Highlights
STRUCTURE* Phase change mechanism of rewritable optical media
19

As selected as one of Outstanding achievements, X -ray diffraction pinpoint
measurements demonstrate the interest of time resolved X-ray diffraction for
academic and industrial use. The quality of the micro beam is the key for photo andthermo excited phase transition studies and this beam should also be applied to ultra
fast physics (BL40XU).

* 100nm single crystal data
X-ray diffraction data collected on a 100nm single crystal of BaTiO3 is a world record
and the corresponding crystal structure quality is also a world record. This shows
the possibility to move from powder diffraction to more accurate single crystal
experiments using crystalline grains. It is predicted that there will be increased
novel applications for the use of micro beams with single crystalline grains(BL40XU).

* MEM crystal structure of metallofullerenes
MEM is an excellent method of structure analysis to locate the metal atoms in thefullerene framework .The systematic use of MEM in crystal structure
determinations was introduced in SPring-8 and was of importance to visualize guest
atoms in host –guest materials in Sc2@C66. This method is now applied to more
complicated compounds for rational drug design (BL02B2).
* The liquid-liquid transition in phosphorus
The striking discovery of the phase transition in monatomic liquid (phosphorus)
between the low-density and high-density states with a change of the coordination
number as a function of pressure. SR X-rays at SPring-8 played a major role in theobservation of a high-contrast image and in analysis of liquid diffraction patterns(BL14B1).

* X-ray magnetic scattering experiments
This was used to probe the coupling between spin and orbital momentum in Sr2IrO4:
A large unexpected angular momentum of the 5 d electrons was observed which may
induce a large electromagnetic response (BL29XU, BL46XU). The first-order phasetransition in YbInCu4 was successfully observed through the lattice distortion
resulting from the valence transition of the Yb ion at magnetic field B=26T (T=32K)
with a pulse magnet reachable to 41T synchronized with X-ray diffraction (BL22XU).

* Resonant X-ray Scattering (RXS) study on ferroelectricity in charge-frustrated20

system LuFe2O4
The ordering of Fe2+ and Fe3+ on triangular lattices was distinctly observed by RXS
and thus evidenced the presence of an electric polarisation consisting of distributed
electrons arising from the repulsive property of electrons (electron correlations)acting on a frustrated geometry (BL02B1, BL22XU).
SPECTROSCOPYElectronic and Magnetic Properties* Probing bulk states of correlated electron systems by high-resolution resonancephotoemission
Selected as one of Outstanding achievements, the high-resolution photoelectron
spectroscopy using much higher photon energy than conventionally employed,probed successfully the bulk nature of electronic states and demonstrated this in the
4f electron systems in weakly hybridized Ce compounds (BL25SU).

* X-ray emission spectroscopy of 5f heavy Fermion systems
Careful experiments on UPd2Al3 have clearly shown the dual character of the felectrons going from an itinerant to a localized behaviour depending on thetemperature (BL23SU).

* Phonon measurements in superconductors by meV-resolution inelastic scattering
Forefront high-resolution inelastic scattering experiments on the phonon structurescharacteristic of a series of superconductors, namely MgB2 and its carbon-doped
compounds and boron-doped diamonds, demonstrated the significant contribution ofelectronic excitations and electron-phonon coupling to their superconductivity.
Phonon anomalies observed in high Tc superconductors are vital benchmarks fortheoretical calculations. (BL11XU, BL35XU).

* Orbital excitations in manganite by eV-resolution resonant inelastic X-ray
scattering (RIXS)RIXS tuned near the Mn K-absorption edge in the orbitally ordered LaMnO3
revealed distinct features of spectra resulting from a particle-hole excitation acrossthe Mott gap and thus agreed well with theoretical calculations. Thus RIXS
demonstrated an important tool to probe orbital dynamics (BL11XU).
* Localized magnetic moments in Au nano-particles .
21

Extremely sensitive XMCD experiments evidenced localized magnetic moments on
the surface of gold nano-particles. This is a forefront result which should lead to new
applications in nano-sciences (BL39XU).

* d-d transition in NiO :High resolution accurate non-resonant meV resolved X-ray scattering clearly
identified d-d transition and its fine structure in NiO (20meV scale); this is a frontier
experimental result which opens a new experimental way for studying electronic
correlations at the atomic scale (BL12XU).
* Supramolecular systems
Structural transition upon mixing pDNA with a cationic micelle was rationalizedusing SPring-8 SAXS measurements combined with fluorescence, CD andmicrocalorimetry techniques (BL40B2).

Recommendations* High resolution inelastic X-ray Scattering
The proposed long beamline for non-resonant meV resolved Inelastic X-ray
Scattering should be developed in the future in order to investigate atomic scalecorrelations in lattice and electronic excitations. This requires the construction of a
new beamline which will have more than an order of magnitude higher brillianceand flux in comparison with present generation of inelastic X-ray scattering
instruments in the world, and will certainly enable important higher resolution
measurements, in particular electronic excitations in strongly correlated electron
systems.

* Theoretical modeling
Due to their quality, the experimental results sometimes deserve a more thoroughtheoretical approach, as for example the pioneering work on metallofullerenes andmyoglobin. Similarly, combined with MEM, systematic use of multipolar analysis ofelectron density would allow better description of interatomic interactions andbonding. Also the forefront experimental description of the 5f localized / itinerant
electrons and the d – d observed transitions are a challenge for the theory.

* Time resolved experiments
22

The beam stability and flux of SPring-8 allow the preparation of world leading
time-resolved experiments at the pico to femto second time scale; this should be thedriving force of the quickly developing ultra fast physics.

* Nano single crystal and amorphous structure determinations
The world leading measurements on the structure of 100nm BaTiO3 single crystal
are impressive; therefore SPring-8 scientists should pursue this work and develop
tools to handle nanomaterials. New crystal structure determination methods
focusing on the Atomic Probability Density Function should also be used anddeveloped.
[Earth and Planetary Sciences]

General Statements
The Japanese high-pressure group has maintained the long-standing strong
cooperation between facility staff and outside users since synchrotron X-rays became
available in 1982 at Photon Factory, Institute of High Energy Physics (KEK). They
have developed the state-of-the-art high-pressure X-ray diffraction techniques andcarried out cutting-edge research cooperatively. Such a traditional cooperation has
become stronger and wider at SPring-8 where the Earth and Planetary Science(EPS) Forum was established recently among researchers not only in earth andplanetary sciences but also in solid state physics and environmental sciences.

Highlights* High-pressure phase transitions in mantle minerals
High brilliant synchrotron X-rays at SPring-8 incorporated with thehighly-sophisticated high pressure technology such as a large multianvil-typeapparatus and a laser-heated diamond anvil cell, made possible a reliable in-situ
measurement under high-pressure (P) and high-temperature (T) conditions
corresponding to the deep interior of the Earth. Such an excellent combination
revealed a series of structural phase transitions of minerals at the upper-to-lower
mantles and the mantle-to-core boundaries.
The P-T condition at the major seismic discontinuity at a 660km depth in the mantle
was successfully determined as 21.1GPa at 1600C through the spinel to post-spineltransition in Mg2SiO4. (BL04B1)

23

As selected as one of Outstanding achievements, the crystal structure of the
post-perovskite phase of MgSiO3 was successfully determined under the conditions(125GPa, 2,500K) corresponding to a 2,700km depth at the mantle-core boundary
where the D” seismic wave velocity discontinuity was observed. This newly-solved
crystal structure has a striking high-density layered-structure. This can successfully
solve the long-standing mystery of discontinuous seismic changes and seismic
anisotropy in the D” layer. (BL10XU)
A stable structure of silica SiO2, one of the most important oxide components not onlyin the Earth’s crust and mantle but also in other planets, was found to be apyrite-type above 268GPa and 1800K, denser than other known silica phases. This
fact implies that it is an important constituent of the core of giant planets such as
Uranus and Neptune as theoretically predicted. (BL10XU)
A combination of ultrasonic measurements and in-situ synchrotron X-ray
observation (both imaging and diffraction) in a large multianvil apparatus made it
possible to accurately determine the elastic wave velocity in the samples of pyrolite
and piclogite under high-P/T conditions corresponding to a 660km depth where themantle transition region (MTR) is observed. A large disagreement between theseismic data and the measured velocities leads to a possible presence of the different
material at MTR which may result from the subsided oceanic plate. (BL04B1)* Higher-pressure generation using advanced materials
A significant effort to develop a new hard material to be used as anvils of a highpressure apparatus is inevitable to reach higher pressure for the exploration of theinterior of the Earth and other Planets. In Japan such a systematic development
has been made by universities and industries. This fact in combination with thedevelopment of advanced X-ray optics, has led to high-pressure studies at SPring-8
being at the cutting-edge internationally.
One of the most striking developments is a successful synthesis of anano-polycrystalline diamond, named “HIME-DIA”, with a special capability of
hardness exceeding diamond and low thermal conductivity. A high-pressure cell
assembled with it has a potential to go beyond the state-of-the-art in thepressure-temperature range accessible to the center of the Earth (364GPa, 5,500K).
Also it will benefit not only earth and planetary science but also other fields such as
materials and environmental sciences.

Recommendations
24

The following are proposed for future directions:* Higher P and T accessible to the center of the Earth,* From static to dynamic experiments for earthquakes, mantle convection, plate
tectonics,* In-situ measurements (sound velocity, electrical/thermal conductivities, viscosityetc.) for chemical composition, differentiation, evolution of the Earth.
These are challenging directions to maintain the international leadership in the filedof earth and planetary sciences. We recommend that SPring-8 will support these
directions by providing higher quality beams and enough infra-structures. We also
hope that the newly-established Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) Forum will play
an important role in creating new science and technology in this subfield.
[Environmental Science]

General Statements
Environmental science program at the SPring-8 is an emergent research area.
However, it holds great promise since environmental science has become a very
important research field globally in the 21st century, and is also one of four main
fields with high priority in Basic Program for Science and Technology determined by
Japanese Government.
Furthermore, synchrotron radiation has become
indispensible for environmental research.
Currently, activities in this field in Japan are behind US and Europe. However,environmental science and technology is a growing field in Japan and there is great
potential to attract this large research community to SPring-8.
The overall goal present at the review, namely to link atomic scale structural andchemical information to macroscopic environmental phenomena, is sound andpromising. The program effectively uses the micro- XAFS and micro- XRF for
speciation, in particular high energy part of the spectrum, to study the effect of
toxicity of high Z elements.

Highlights
There are many high quality environmental science research done at SPring-8.
However due to the diverse nature of environmental science it is difficult to select a
few highlights, and we will highlight only one of them; the work of phytoremediation,
which is unique and interesting. There is a special plant, ‘fern’ which absorbs As
ions selectively. By using the micro-XRF method, they studied how As ions get into
the plant and found that they move up to leaves and concentrates at an edge of the25leaves. This work is still in a preliminary stage, but demonstrates to show how
effective micro XRF in SPring-8 works for environmental science.

Recommendation
To stimulate the growth of environmental science at SPring-8, additional micro- andnano- XAFS and XRF beamlines are needed. The brilliance of the source and thelatest development in focusing optics technology at SPring-8 will give this program acompetitive edge.

[Industrial Application]

General Statements
The outreach to Japanese industries by SPring-8 staff and management has clearly
been a very successful endeavor. This pro-active approach has resulted in that a
20% of the General User beamtime was allocated to over 150 different companies in2007. This level of industrial use is world-leading among the 3 third-generation
hard X-ray sources (Advanced Photon Source, European Synchrotron Radiation
Facility, and SPring-8), coming in at 3 to 4 times the usage levels at these otherfacilities. Below are several examples of industry-related research carried out at
SPring-8 that takes advantage of the unique properties of the SPring-8 source.

Highlights*Studies of Ceria Zirconia – a 3-Way Automotive Exhaust Catalyst
Researchers from Toyota are advancing their understanding of Ceria Zirconia – a
3-Way automotive exhaust catalyst. Automotive three-way catalysts cansimultaneously convert the three main pollutants on exhaust gases, CO, HC, andNOx to CO2, H2O and N2 respectively. Work at SPring-8 focused on the relationshipbetween the compound’s oxygen storage/release capacity (OSC) and its molecular
structure. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements weremade on the Ce K-edge (40.45 kev) and Zr K edge (18 keV) to understand the local
structure around these atoms and to develop a clearer relationship between the OSC
and the local structure. Progress has been impressive and through the end of 2006,
over 30 million Toyota vehicles have been fitted with this type of exhaust catalyst.
This (and other work) clearly has made an impact on Toyota as they are now in theprocess of constructing an insertion device beamline (BL33XU) at the SPring-8
facility.

* Development of High-Performance Exhaust-gas Catalysts
26

Scientists from Daihatsu are using BL14B1 to further their understanding of
so-called intelligent catalysts with the goal of developing a more durable exhaust gas
catalyst. Using EXAFS, they are examining the local structure around thepalladium atoms and found that precious metal ions entered and exited the ceramic
crystals repeatedly, as if they had “intelligence”, and the precious metal maintained
their catalytic activity during the redox cycle. This information has allowed Daihatsu
to achieve a substantial reduction of palladium in the automotive catalysts.

* Interfacial Magnetism Between FM/AFM Bilayers in Magnetic Sensor Heads
It is the goal of many hard disk drive manufacturers to reach a recording density of 1
Tb/in2. With this increase in density, instabilities in the exchange coupling between
the ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) bilayers have been observed where
the magnetisation in the ferromagnetic layer has changed unexpectedly. Higher
robustness is required in the fidelity of the data on hard drives and so work was
performed at SPring-8 by researchers from Hitachi to better understand themechanism of exchange coupling and control of magnetic structures at FM/AFM
interfaces. Previously, the existence of pinned interfacial AFM spins had beenreported but the mechanism that stabilizes this process was unclear. This work
verified the existence of pinned interfacial spins in the antiferromagnetic layer.

* Monitoring in Real-time the Electrochemical Reaction Inside a Fuel Cell
Fuel cells have the potential to offer a clean and highly efficient energy conversion
system. However more work needs to be carried out before fuel cells can becomecommercially viable, for example, exploring the durability and reliability of theelectro-catalysts that promote the electrochemical reactions on the cells.
Time-resolved in situ X-ray diffraction was performed at SPring-8 by researchers
from NEC to help understand the electrochemical oxidation process of platinum
electro-catalysts and how such oxides affect the performance of the cell. Using 30
keV X-rays, diffraction patterns were performed at 0.5 second intervals to study thetime-evolution of the system. The researchers found that the surface of platinum
nanoparticles was gradually transformed to amorphous-like platinum oxides.
These changes in structure of the nanoparticles should correlate with the corrosion
phenomena of Pt catalysts and provide a guide for improved performance in the
future.

Recommendations
Continued outreach will be important to effectively engage the industrial community
and maintain the high percentage of industrial usage. More user-friendly27equipment, as well as enhanced support to data analysis, will keep industrial users
coming back. Regular assessments should be made by the SPring-8 scientists andmanagement to ensure that industry has access to the beamlines and techniques it
needs to advance their technologies.
We believe it would be advantageous for SPring-8 management to require thatindustries provide a summary of their work at SPring-8 and how that work impacted
the company. The impact could be patents, internal technical memos, prototypes,
products, etc. Even proprietary users can provide such a report, albeit with lesstechnical details. These types of data will be invaluable to assist in the evaluationof the productivity/impact to society of this program.

4. Relationship to society, especially Educational Program
It is important for a facility like SPring-8, which has unique and particularcapabilities and at the same time has responsibility in international communities, tohave strong ties to society. To have educational programs on a steady basis is one of
the most effective activities in this direction.
The Open House held every year in spring is becoming an important event in thearea. In addition, there are various activities including, Science Adventure School
which consist of talks and demonstrating experiments in elementary schools nearby
6 times a year, Science summer camp for high school students, Summer School forsenior undergraduate and master course students. These activities will be highly
acknowledged, and should be further encouraged, even though they require a lot ofeffort of SPring-8 staff. Not only these interactions with domestic communities, butalso the international Cheiron School for graduate students, post-docs, young
scientists and engineers in the Asia-Oceania region, which started in 2007, will haveimportant implications in years to come on the international scene.

28

Appendix
1. Members of committee
Prof. Hidetoshi Fukuyama（Tokyo University of Science, Japan）（Chair）
Prof. Gerhard Materlik (Diamond Light Source, UK) (Co-Chair)
Dr. Chi-Chang Kao (BNL, USA)
Prof. Janos Kirz（Advanced Light Source, USA）
Prof. Sine Larsen (ESRF, France)
Dr. D. M. Mills (APS, Argonne National Laboratory, USA)
Prof. Claude Lecomte (Nancy University, France)
Prof. Judith A. K. Howard (Durham University, England)Prof. Toshiaki Ohta (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
Dr. Yasuhiko Fujii (Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Japan)
Prof. Kenji Suzuki (Tohoku University, Japan)
Prof. So Iwata (Imperial College London, England)29

2. Agenda of the committee meeting
Welcome Dinner (Sunday, November 16)
18:00

Welcome Dinner at SPring-8

20:00

Brief Meeting (Closed)

Day 1 (Monday, November 17)
08:00 - 08:45

Breakfast Meeting

Session 1: Opening
09:00 - 09:10

Welcome Address

A. Kira / Director General, JASRI

09:10 - 09:20

Opening Remarks

H. Fukuyama / Chair of SPARC

09:20 - 09:50

General Introduction

H. Ohno / JASRI

Session 2: Instrumentation and Methodology
10:00 - 10:30

Overview

SPring-8’s Impacts on Synchrotron Radiation
Instrumentation
T. Ishikawa / RIKEN SPring-8 Center

10:30 - 10:40

Q&A***** Coffee Break (10:40 - 11:00) *****

Session 3: Life Science (Structural Biology)
11:00 - 11:30

Overview

11:30 - 11:40

Q&A

11:40 - 12:00

Topics 1

Structural Biology at SPring-8
T. Kumasaka / JASRI

Model to Real Target: Lipid Structural Biology as an
Applied Science
M. Miyano / RIKEN SPring-8 Center

12:00 - 12:05

Q&A

12:05 - 12:25

Topics 2

Structure of a Biological Macromolecular Nanomachine, theBacterial Flagellum
K. Imada / Osaka University

12:25 - 12:30

Q&A***** Lunch (12:40 - 14:00) *****

Session 4: Life Science (Medical Biology)
14:10 - 14:40

Overview

Imaging and Diffraction Studies in Medical and Biological30

Sciences
N. Yagi / JASRI
14:40 - 14:50

Q&A

Session 5: Chemical Science
14:50 - 15:20

Overview

15:20 - 15:30

Q&A

15:30 - 15:50

Topics 1

15:50 - 15:55

Q&A

Structural Chemistry in Synchrotron Radiation Science & Technology
M. Takata / JASRI ・ RIKEN SPring-8 Center

Chemistry of Nanoporous Materials
S. Kitagawa / Kyoto University***** Coffee Break (16:00 - 16:20) *****
16:20 - 16:40

Topics 2

In-Situ Time-Resolved Dynamic Surface Events on the
Pt/C Cathode in a Fuel Cell under the Operating Conditions
Y. Iwasawa / The University of Tokyo

16:40 - 16:45

Q&A

16:45 - 17:05

Topics 3

17:05 - 17:10

Q&A

Soft X-ray Photochemistry at BL27SU
K. Ueda / Tohoku University

Session 6: Closed Session
17:10 - 18:00

Discussion***** Dinner (18:30 - 20:00) *****

20:30 - 22:00

Discussion

31Day 2 (Tuesday, November 18)
Session 7: Materials Science (Structure)
09:00 - 09:30

Overview

09:30 - 09:40

Q&A

09:40 - 10:00

Topics 1

10:00 - 10:05

Q&A

10:05 - 10:25

Topics 2

10:25 - 10:30

Q&A

10:30 - 10:50

Topics 3

10:50 - 10:55

Q&A

Structural Materials Science Research
M. Takata / JASRI ・ RIKEN SPring-8 Center

Structural Studies by Powder Diffraction at SPring-8
E. Nishibori / Nagoya University

Structure Science of Strongly-Correlated Electron Systems
T. Arima / Tohoku University ・ RIKEN SPring-8 Center

Recent Progress in Polymer Science at SPring-8
A. Takahara / Kyushu University***** Coffee Break (10:55 - 11:15) *****
Session 8: Materials Science (Electronic and Magnetic Properties)
11:15 - 11:45

Overview

Spectroscopy for Investigating Properties and Functions in Materials

Science
J. Mizuki / Japan Atomic Energy Agency
11:45 - 11:55

Q&A

11:55 - 12:15

Topics 1

12:15 - 12:20

Q&A

High Resolution Inelastic X-ray Scattering
A. Baron / JASRI ・ RIKEN SPring-8 Center***** Lunch (12:30 - 13:30) *****
13:40 - 14:00

Topics 2

Electronic Structure of Soft Materials by Means of Soft X-ray

EmissionSpectroscopy
S. Shin / RIKEN SPring-8 Center
14:00 - 14:05

Q&A

14:05 - 14:25

Topics 3

14:25 - 14:30

Q&A

Magnetic Materials
M. Suzuki / JASRI

Session 9: Earth and Planetary Science
14:30 - 15:00

Overview

15:00 - 15:10

Q&A

Recent Advances in Earth and Planetary Sciences
T. Irifune / Ehime University
32

Session 10: Environmental Science
15:10 - 15:40

Overview

15:40 - 15:50

Q&A

Environmental Studies at SPring-8
Y. Takahashi / Hiroshima University

Session 11: Industrial Application
15:50 - 16:20

Overview

16:20 - 16:30

Q&A

Industrial Research at SPring-8
Y. Watanabe / JASRI***** Coffee Break (16:30 - 16:50) *****
Session 12: Closed Session
16:50 - 18:00

Discussion and Drafting***** Dinner (18:30 - 20:00) *****

20:30 - 22:00

Discussion and Drafting (cont’d)33

Day 3 (Wednesday, November 19)
Session 13: Closed Session
09:00 – 14:15

Discussion and Drafting (cont’d)Session 14: Closing Session

14:15 - 14:45

Brief Review Announcement

14:45 – 15:00

Reciprocal Address

H. Fukuyama / Chair of SPARC
N. Fujishima / Director,
Harima RIKEN Institute

15:00

Adjourn34

3. Terms of SPARC(1) To measure or evaluate the peak height of academic outputs.
(2) To explain their scientific values in a manner that can convince the public
community.
(3) To advise on the future plans.

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