Photon Sciences Directorate at

Brookhaven National Laboratory

2010 ANNUAL REPORT

DISCOVERY

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Photon Sciences Directorate at

Brookhaven National Laboratory

2010 ANNUAL REPORT

Kendra Snyder

Editor

Laura Mgrdichian

Science Writer

Mona S. Rowe

Science Writer

Tiffany Bowman

Graphic Designer

Office of

Science

the photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven national laboratory operates the national Synchrotron light 

Source (nSlS) and is constructing the national Synchrotron light Source II (nSlS-II). nSlS and nSlS-II are offi ce 

of Science user Facilities supported by the u.S. Department of energy offi ce of Science.
2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Disclaimer

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. 

Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor any of their 

contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal 

liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or 

process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any 

specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not 

necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government 

or any agency, contractor, or subcontractor thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not 

necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency, contractor, or subcontractor 

thereof.

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2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

table oF

contentS

Refl ections on the Year7

Science Highilghts9

Year in Review 29

Facilities 37

Accelerator 41

Beamlines 45

Safety 57

People 59

7reFlectionS on tHe Year

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Th is is a very exciting period for 

photon sciences at Brookhaven 

National Laboratory. It is also a 

time of unprecedented growth 

for the Photon Sciences Directorate, which operates the National 

Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) 

and is constructing NSLS-II, both 

funded by the Department of 

Energy’s Offi ce of Science.

Refl ecting the quick pace of our 

activities, we chose the theme 

“Discovery at Light Speed” for the 

directorate’s 2010 annual report, a 

fi scal year bookended by October 

2009 and September 2010.

Th e year began with the news that 

NSLS users Venki Ramakrishnan 

of Cambridge University (also a 

former employee in Brookhaven’s 

biology department) and Th omas 

A. Steitz of Yale University were 

sharing the 2009 Nobel Prize in 

Chemistry with Ada E. Yonath of 

the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Every research project has the 

potential for accolades. In 2010, 

NSLS users and staff published 

close to 900 papers, with about 

170 appearing in premiere journals. Th ose are impressive stats for 

a facility nearly three decades old, 

testament to the highly dedicated 

team keeping NSLS at peak performance and the high quality of 

its user community.

Our NSLS users come from a 

worldwide community of scientists using photons, or light, to 

carry out research in energy and 

environmental sciences, physics, 

materials science, chemistry, 

biology and medicine. All are 

looking forward to the new 

capabilities enabled by NSLS-II, 

which will offer unprecedented 

resolution at the nanoscale. The 

new facility will produce x-rays 

more than 10,000 times brighter 

than the current NSLS and host 

a suite of sophisticated instruments for cutting-edge science.

Some of the scientific discoveries 

we anticipate at NSLS-II will lead 

to major advances in alternative 

energy technologies, such as 

hydrogen and solar. These discoveries could pave the way to:

•	 catalysts that split water 

with sunlight for hydrogen 

production

•	 materials that can reversibly 

store large quantities of 

electricity or hydrogen

•	 high-temperature superconducting materials that 

carry electricity with no 

loss for effi cient power 

transmission lines

•	 materials for solid-state 

lighting with half of the 

present power consumption

Excitement about NSLS-II is 

evident in many ways, most 

notably the extraordinary 

response we had to the 2010 

call for beamline development 

proposals for the anticipated 60 

or more beamlines that NSLS-II 

will ultimately host. A total of 

54 proposals were submitted 

and, after extensive review, 34 

were approved. Funding from 

both the Department of Energy 

and the National Institutes of 

Health has already been secured 

to support the design and construction of a number of these 

beamlines.

FY11 is a challenging and 

exciting year for the NSLS-II 

Project as we reach the peak of 

our construction activity. We 

remain on track to complete the 

project by March 2014, a full 15 

months ahead of schedule and 

with even more capabilities than 

originally planned. The Photon 

Sciences Directorate is well on 

its way to fulfilling our vision of 

being a provider of choice for 

world-class photon sciences and 

facilities.

Steve Dierker

Associate Laboratory Director 

for Photon Sciences

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

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Science

HigHligHtS

In FY10, Photon Sciences staff and users published 893 articles 

in journals, conference proceedings, reports, books, dissertations, 

and patents. Almost 20 percent were published in premiere 

journals (those that have an impact factor of 6 or greater). 

Th e following highlights are representative of this extensive 

and diverse research, ranging from the creation of new catalysts 

for renewable energy production to the exploration of the 

inner workings of diseases like tuberculosis and cancer.

FY10 publication count

Publication Type Total Staff 

Total Publications 893 110

Total Journals 747 84

Peer-Reviewed Journals 724 81

Peer-Reviewed Premier Journals 165 21

Conference Proceedings 68 18

Reports: Technical, Formal, Informal 2 2

Books / Book Chapters 18 4

Th eses / Dissertations 51 0

Patents 7 2

In FY10, Photon Sciences staff and users published 893 articles 

in journals, conference proceedings, reports, books, dissertations, 

and patents. Almost 20 percent were published in premiere 
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Anti-cancer Agent Stops Metastasis in its Tracks

Like microscopic inchworms, cancer cells slink away from tumors to 

travel and settle elsewhere in the 

body. Now, researchers have found 

that new anti-cancer agents break 

down the looping gait these cells 

use to migrate, stopping them in 

their tracks.

The researchers, from Cornell 

University’s Weill Cornell Medical 

College and Brookhaven National 

Laboratory, found that mice implanted with cancer cells and treated with the small molecule macroketone lived a full life without 

any cancer spread, compared with 

control animals, which all died of 

metastasis. When macroketone 

was given a week after cancer cells 

were introduced, it still blocked 

greater than 80 percent of cancer 

metastasis in mice.

These findings provide an encouraging direction for development of 

a new class of anti-cancer agents, 

the first to specifically stop cancer 

metastasis, which kills more than 

90 percent of cancer patients.

Their work started in 2003, after 

researchers in Japan isolated 

a natural substance, dubbed 

migrastatin, that is the basis 

of many antibiotic drugs. The 

Japanese researchers noted 

that migrastatin had a weak 

inhibitory effect on tumor cell 

migration. Weill scientists and 

collaborators at the Memorial 

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 

then built migrastatin analogues 

— synthetic and molecularly 

simpler versions.

In 2005, they showed that several 

of the new versions, including 

macroketone, stopped cancer cell 

metastasis in laboratory animals, 

but they didn’t know how the 

agent worked.

a) Structure of fascin shown as a 

ribbon diagram, viewed from the 

N-terminal and C-terminal plane. 

The four domains are colored 

magenta (1), orange (2), blue (3) and 

green (4). b) Surface presentation 

of fascin structure viewed in a. c)

View of fascin turned clockwise 90 

degrees along the y axis relative to 

the view in b. d) Overall structure 

of the complex of fascin and 

macroketone. The macroketone 

molecule is shown as a white 

stick model. e) Macroketonebinding site. Residues involved in 

interactions with macroketone are 

shown as surface, and hydrogen 

bonds are shown as dashed lines.

In the current study, the researchers used x-ray diffraction at NSLS 

beamlines X6A and X4C to reveal 

the mechanism. They found that 

macroketone targets a protein 

known as fascin that is critical to 

cell movement. In order for a cancer cell to leave a primary tumor, 

fascin bundles actin filaments together like a thick finger. The front 

edge of this finger creeps forward 

and pulls along the rear of the cell. 

Cells crawl away in the same way 

that an inchworm moves.

Macroketone latches on to individual fascin, preventing the actin fibers from adhering to each 

other and forming the pushing 

leading edge. Because individual 

actin fibers are soft when they 

are not bundled together, the cell 

cannot move.

— John Rodgers, Weill Cornell 

Medical College

L. Chen, S. Yang, J. Jakoncic, J.J. Zhang, X.-Y. Huang, “Migrastatin Analogues Target Fascin to Block Tumour Metastasis,” 

Nature, 464, 1062 (2010).
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Accessing the Risk of Arsenic Ingestion with Mineralogy

Canadian researchers working at 

NSLS created a method for determining how much of the arsenic 

in soil tailings — byproducts of the 

mining industry — will enter the 

bloodstream if ingested.

In order to ensure that harmful 

mining waste is properly dealt 

with, it is important to determine how much of an ingested 

chemical is absorbed by the body 

rather than passed harmlessly 

through the digestive system. 

Scientists can approximate this 

as the chemical’s bioaccessibility. Instead of feeding samples to 

a test subject, a bioaccessibility 

test runs the sample through 

conditions that simulate a digestive system, complete with mock 

gastrointestinal fluids. The percentage of arsenic that dissolves 

during this process reveals the 

sample’s bioaccessibility.

But instead of running these tests 

on numerous soil samples from 

throughout a mining site, the researchers sought to describe the 

relationship between a sample’s 

bioaccessibility and the specific 

minerals in it — its mineralogy. 

The researchers, from the Royal 

Military College of Canada, 

Queen’s University, the British 

Geological Survey, and Geological Survey of Canada, examined 

soil samples taken in the gold 

mine districts of Nova Scotia, 

Canada, to try to predict, given 

the mineralogy of a sample, 

whether it’s highly bioaccessible. 

The research team tested the 

samples’ mineralogy using 

micro-x-ray fluorescence and 

diffraction imaging techniques 

at NSLS and x-ray absorption 

near-edge structure analysis at 

Argonne National Laboratory’s 

Advanced Photon Source. 

Next, researchers compared the 

mineralogical results from NSLS 

with the samples’ bioaccessibilRight: Lead researcher 

Kenneth Reimer, director of the 

environmental sciences group at the 

Royal Military College of Canada

Left: Mineralogy, percent arsenic 

bioaccessibility and total arsenic 

concentration of samples from 

Nova Scotia mine tailings. Detailed 

mineralogical analyses of individual 

samples revealed up to seven 

arsenic species in individual samples 

(six shown here as major arsenic 

phases). Results of a physiologically 

based extraction test are for the 

< 150 μm particle size fraction. 

A weak correlation is observed 

between total and bioaccessible 

arsenic concentrations. The percent 

arsenic bioaccessibility is most 

influenced by the presence of 

a more soluble arsenic species, 

even in low concentrations. Lower 

percent bioaccessibility in the 

majority of samples is associated 

with sparingly soluble arsenopyrite 

and scorodite. Higher percent 

bioaccessibility in some samples 

is attributed to the presence of 

calcium-iron arsenates and arsenicbearing iron oxides. The star 

denotes the presence of a minor 

calcium-iron arsenate phase.

ity, and found some interesting 

connections.

Single arsenic minerals, such as 

arsenopyrite, had lower bioaccessibility — over 90 percent of the 

arsenic in the sample would pass 

through the digestive system without being absorbed by the body. 

This is due to arsenopyrite’s low 

solubility, or ability to dissolve in 

fluid. A more soluble compound, 

arsenic bearing iron(oxy)hydroxides, had 10 times the bioaccessibility of arsenopyrite.

But their findings don’t mean 

that the old bioaccessibility 

tests should be eliminated. For 

example, certain compounds can 

increase the bioaccessibility of 

the entire soil sample surrounding it. Despite knowing the 

bioaccessibility of the minerals 

in the sample, researchers still 

need a bioaccessibility test of 

the entire sample to reveal its 

higher-than-expected toxicity.

L. Meunier, S.R. Walker, J. Wragg, M.B. Parsons, I. Koch, H.E. Jamieson, K.J. Reimer, “Effects of Soil Composition and Mineralogy on the Bioaccessibility of Arsenic from Tailings and Soil in Gold Mine Districts of Nova Scotia,” Environ. Sci. Technol., 

44, 2667 (2010).
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Reducing Penalties for Creating Block Copolymer Nanostructures

How do you make a material 

that has the elasticity of a rubber 

band and the thermal insulation 

of a Styrofoam cup? Connect 

two distinct polymer chains – 

poly(isoprene) and poly(styrene) 

– end to end like a series of 

children’s building blocks. The 

result is an appropriately named 

“block copolymer” that boasts 

the properties of both materials and is commonly used in the 

tires of automobiles and the soles 

of athletic shoes. 

But the most impressive trait of 

a block copolymer is its ability 

to self-assemble. Imagine, for 

example, dropping a mixture of 

poly(isoprene) and poly(styrene) 

on the floor. The two incompatible blocks will “phase separate” 

like oil and water. However, 

connect the ends of the two polymers together and the material 

usually can assemble into a welldefined material with nanoscale 

structure.

This natural assembly is extremely 

valuable for emerging nanoscale 

applications, including materials 

for fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, 

and organic photovoltaics. 

In order to take full advantage of 

a block copolymer’s molecular architecture, researchers are looking 

for ways to control the interactions 

between polymer blocks through 

means such as high temperatures 

and selective solvents.

To do this, University of Delaware 

researchers are exploring tuning 

with tapering, which increases the 

compatibility of the polymer by 

smoothing out the chemical interface between the two blocks. 

Tapering the interface is thought 

to reduce the “penalty” of mixing 

between the two very different blocks. The result is a lower 

processing temperature, which is 

easier and cheaper to achieve, and 

greater chemical compatibility.

Left: University of Delaware 

researchers Thomas Epps (left) and 

Maeva Tureau

Right top: Cartoon of density 

profile and segment distribution 

along model polymer chains as a 

function of position, where purple 

represents isoprene and blue 

represents styrene, illustrating 

the difference between random, 

gradient, block, and tapered block 

copolymers.

Right bottom: Synchrotron-SAXS 

data for a P(I-SI-S) tapered diblock 

copolymer. Specimens were 

annealed at 210 degrees C and 

then cooled to room temperature 

for data acquisition. The integral 

moduli values are characteristic 

of two-domain lamellae. The inset 

shows a transmission electron 

microscopy image of a P(I-SI-S) 

specimen. The sample is stained by 

OsO4

 vapor to enhance contrast. 

To test this idea, the researchers 

synthesized a number of tapered 

poly(isoprene-b-styrene) block 

copolymer samples at the University of Delaware: samples with 

different taper lengths (from 15-35 

percent tapered material) with 

either normal or inverse tapering. 

The samples were then heated and 

cooled while researchers observed 

the changes in the material with 

small-angle x-ray scattering at 

NSLS and Argonne’s Advanced 

Photon Source, and transmission 

electron microscopy and dynamic 

mechanical analysis at the University of Delaware.

Their results proved that researchers can tune the compatibility of block copolymers (via 

tapering) with no detriment 

to the ordering or mechanical 

properties of the material. The 

research also revealed that inverse tapering gives the greatest 

increase in compatibility. 

N. Singh, M.S. Tureau, T.H. Epps, III, “Manipulating Ordering Transitions in Interfacially Modified Block Copolymers,” Soft 

Matter, 5, 4757 (2009).
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Clocking Ultra-fast Electron Bunches

Brookhaven researchers have 

developed a device that acts like 

a high-tech stopwatch for speedy 

packs of electrons just trillionths of 

a second long. This new diagnostic 

tool could aid in the development of x-ray free electron lasers 

(FEL), sources that produce pulses 

of light up to one billion times 

brighter and 1,000 times shorter 

than those produced at conventional storage ring light sources. 

Like a high-speed strobe light, 

the ultra-short bursts of light 

produced from an FEL allow 

scientists to take stop-motion 

pictures of chemical reactions, 

biological processes, and various other atomic-scale events. 

FELs create this valuable x-ray 

light by shooting a series of 

ultra-short bunches of electrons 

through an array of specialized magnets. The shorter the 

electron bunches, the more 

powerful the resulting light. 

In recent years, the bunch lengths 

of electrons in accelerators have 

decreased dramatically, producing 

extremely bright pulses of light 

that are on the same time scale as 

vibrations in molecules and the 

creation or breakage of chemical 

bonds. But in order to synchronize 

the time-dependent process being 

studied with the x-ray pulse, scientists need new beam diagnostics 

capable of measuring the length of 

picosecond-scale (one millionth of 

one millionth of a second) pulses.

At the NSLS Source Development 

Laboratory (SDL), Brookhaven 

researchers have demonstrated 

a high-resolution measurement 

system that’s nondestructive to the 

electron beam and can be easily 

transported among facilities. 

Left: (top) Schematic layout of 

the electro-optical arrangement. 

(bottom) The electro-optical module 

with a YAG crystal for electron 

beam position monitor. 

Right: Clockwise from front: Triveni 

Rao, Thomas Tsang, Xi Yang, Xijie 

Wang, Jim Murphy, and Yuzhen 

Shen

In the setup (first proposed by 

Brookhaven researchers in 2002), 

a beam of electron bunches is 

sent across the top edge of a 

thin, “electro-optical” crystal. 

Traveling at close to the speed 

of light, each electron bunch 

emits an electric field that travels 

downward through the crystal. At the same time, a single, 

line-focused laser pulse is sent 

straight through the broad side 

of the crystal, where sections 

of the laser line are encoded 

with spatial information from 

the electron bunches. A special 

camera at the end of the device 

collects these data.

Now, the goal is to measure 

electron pulses an order of magnitude smaller, in femtosecond 

duration, or quadrillionth of a 

second range.

X. Yang, T. Tsang, T. Rao, J.B. Murphy, Y. Shen, X.J. Wang, “Electron Bunch Length Monitors Using Spatially Encoded ElectroOptical Technique in an Orthogonal Configuration,” Appl. Phys. Lett., 95, 231106 (2009).
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DNA Repair Changes with the Flip of a Switch

The DNA blueprint in each human 

cell undergoes about 100,000 damaging events every day. Because 

a cell’s survival depends on the 

repair of these damaged molecules, each injury signals a team 

of proteins to work together to fix 

the mutated DNA. 

In pursuit of a better fundamental 

understanding of DNA repair, 

researchers from the National 

Institute of Environmental Health 

Sciences use NSLS to image a 

large, multi-part molecule called a 

scaffolding protein. The molecule, 

XRCC1, orchestrates DNA repair 

by holding the other repair proteins together in a multi-molecule 

complex.

A technique called SAXS, for 

small-angle x-ray scattering, 

allows the researchers to take 

a low-resolution picture of the 

molecule, obtaining a macroscopic 

image rather than the details of its 

fine structure. In SAXS, a protein 

in solution (the state in which it 

exists in the body) can be targeted 

with x-rays, which then scatter and 

hit a detector, allowing researchers to reconstruct an image of the 

protein’s surface.

Using SAXS, the researchers 

studied a subsection of XRCC1 

called the N-terminal domain. The 

N-terminal domain interacts with 

DNA polymerase β, a protein that 

actively repairs damaged DNA. 

Their study shows that this interaction can change with the flick of 

a biological switch.

The N-terminal domain contains a 

“disulfide switch,” a potential bond 

whose formation changes the 

molecule’s secondary structure. 

When the bond forms, the switch 

Top: Model of the complex formed 

by XRCC1’s N-terminal domain (in 

purple), damaged DNA (in orange), 

and DNA polymerase β (with 

component parts thumb, lyase, 

fingers, and palm labeled). 

Bottom: Matthew Cuneo (left) and 

Robert London (photo courtesy 

of Steven R. McCaw, Image 

Associates)

is flipped on, transforming the 

molecule from a reduced state to 

an oxidized state. In the reduced 

state, one of the amino acids that 

make up the N-terminal domain 

has electrons to spare. This makes 

the amino acid very susceptible 

to oxidation, a process in which 

it shares these electrons with 

another amino acid, forming a disulfide bond between the electron 

sharer and receiver and transforming the N-terminal domain into its 

oxidized state.

In this case, the oxidized surface 

binds more strongly to DNA polymerase β than does the surface of 

the reduced form. 

Discovering the disulfide switch’s 

role would help improve scientists’ 

understanding of how DNA repair 

works, knowledge that could lead 

to better treatments for disease. 

M.J. Cuneo, R.E. London, “Oxidation State of the XRCC1 N-terminal Domain Regulates DNA Polymerase β Binding Affinity,” 

PNAS, 107 (15), 6805 (2010).
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Cracking the Children’s Fingerprint Disappearing Act

Children’s fingerprints disappear 

faster than those of adults — a 

little-known fact that can hamper 

investigations of kidnapping cases. 

To investigate this phenomenon, a 

team of researchers used beams of 

infrared light at NSLS as a powerful detective’s microscope, finding 

that fingerprint staying power is 

based on the amount and types of 

oil in your skin.

Forensic scientists often use 

techniques like magnetic filings 

dusting, iodine, and cyanoacrylate 

fuming to see otherwise invisible, 

or latent, fingerprints. Although 

efficient, inexpensive, and relatively fast, these methods make it 

difficult to preserve trace evidence 

found in a fingerprint.

Previous research has linked 

the difference in the longevity 

of fingerprints to the type of oil 

found in a person’s skin. This oil, 

known as sebum, is just one of 

the components of a fingerprint, 

which also can contain small 

pieces of skin and sweat residue. 

The NSLS researchers wanted to 

determine how these fingerprint 

components change over time in 

adults and children.

Using a collection of latent fingerprints given by father and son 

pairs, the researchers watched for 

chemical changes over the course 

of four weeks. Twice a week, one 

fingerprint from each participant 

was dusted, lifted, and analyzed 

based on the number of features, 

or minutiae, visible. At the same 

time, a non-invasive synchrotron 

technique called Fourier transform 

infrared microspectroscopy 

(FTIRM) mapped the location and 

makeup of the skin and sebum in 

the prints.

At all points in time, the fathers’ 

prints dusted darker than those 

from their sons, remaining virtuLeft: FTIRM images generated from 

a child’s fingerprint, showing the 

a) protein in the fingerprint, and b)

the oil (sebum) in the print.

Right: Lead author Kimone Antoine

ally unchanged during the study, 

while the fine minutiae of their 

children became increasingly more 

difficult to see.

As predicted by previous studies, FTIRM showed that adults 

produce more sebum than 

children, which leads to darker 

prints. Researchers also found that 

the composition of the lipids, or 

fats, in sebum differ significantly 

between adults and children.

Adult sebum has higher concentrations of stable lipids such as 

squalene and wax esters, which are 

less likely to vaporize over time. 

Conversely, the sebum of children 

contains higher levels of cholesterol and branched chain free fatty 

acids — unstable lipids that break 

down more quickly.

The results could pave the path 

toward more advanced fingerprint 

detection techniques.

K.M. Antoine, S. Mortazavi, A.D. Miller, L.M. Miller, “Chemical Differences are Observed in Children’s Versus Adults’ Latent 

Fingerprints as a Function of Time,” J. Forensic Sci., 55(2), 513 (2010).
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The Molecular Mechanics of Hearing and Deafness

Our senses are essential for survival 

and for the exploration of natural 

environments, and much has been 

learned about the molecular basis of 

vision, olfaction, and taste. Yet only 

a few of the molecules mediating 

touch and sound perception have 

been discovered. 

Now, researchers from Harvard 

University have resolved the molecular structure of one key protein 

important for sound perception. 

They used this structure, together 

with molecular dynamics simulations, to understand the protein’s 

mechanics and function in hearing 

and deafness.

Hair cells of the inner ear are exquisite mechanoreceptors: minute motion of their apical hair bundles by 

sound becomes an electrical signal 

that is then transmitted to the brain. 

At the core of this mechanotransduction process there is a fine filament — termed the “tip link” — that 

pulls open force-gated ion channels, 

thereby causing depolarization. 

This tip link filament is made of 

two atypical cadherins, cadherin-23 

and protocadherin-15. Mutation of 

either causes hereditary deafness.

To elucidate the function of these 

proteins, the researchers determined 

the x-ray crystal structure of cadherin-23’s N-terminal end at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne 

National Laboratory and NSLS. The 

structure revealed a novel calcium 

binding site that defines a subfamily 

of cadherin adhesion molecules. 

Classical cadherins, the calciumdependent “glue” that keeps cells 

together in multicellular organisms, use a “strand-exchanged” 

mechanism to form adhesive bonds. 

However, the new structure suggests 

that cadherin-23 must use a different mechanism, perhaps through 

a calcium bridge, with calcium 

ions participating in the interface 

between cadherin-23 and protocadherin-15.

With the cadherin-23 structure 

in hand, the team used molecular 

dynamics simulations to determine 

Top: A close-up view of the linker 

region between cadherin-23 

repeats 1 and 2 is shown while 

the protein is stretched from both 

ends. The simulation mimics in 

vivo conditions in which tip-link 

cadherins are stretched during 

sound mechanotransduction at 

hair cells of the inner ear. Calcium 

ions (shown as green spheres) 

were found to be essential for the 

mechanical stability of the protein 

(shown in cartoon and sticks).

Bottom: Click image to view 

simulation movie

its elasticity. The tip link has been 

assumed to be a relatively elastic, 

spring-like molecule. However, an 

extensive set of atomistic simulations revealed a stiff cadherin-23 

molecule, with tightly-bound 

calcium ions preventing mechanical 

unfolding.

Structural information on wild-type 

and mutant cadherin-23 proteins 

can help pinpoint the mechanisms 

by which mutations cause disease. 

The team used the determined crystal structure of cadherin-23 carrying 

a mutation known to cause deafness 

in humans. Biochemical assays demonstrated that this mutation impairs 

calcium binding, and simulations 

showed that in the absence of bound 

calcium, cadherin-23 becomes a 

mechanically weak protein. The 

mutation-induced weakening of 

cadherin-23 suggests that mutant tip 

links are more prone to mechanical 

failure, causing hearing loss.

— David Corey and Rachelle 

Gaudet, Harvard University

M. Sotomayor, W.A. Weihofen, R. Gaudet, D.P. Corey, “Structural Determinants of Cadherin-23 Function in Hearing and 

Deafness,” Neuron, 66(1), 85, (2010).
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Brown-led Research Divines Structure for Class of Proteins

Most proteins are shapely, but 

about one-third of them lack 

a definitive form, at least that 

scientists can readily observe. 

These intrinsically disordered 

proteins (IDPs) perform a host 

of important biological functions, from muscle contraction 

to other neuronal actions. Yet 

despite their importance, scientists don’t know much about 

them.

Now, researchers at Brown 

University, the University of Toronto, and Brookhaven National 

Laboratory have discovered 

the structure of three IDPs — 

spinophilin, I-2, and DARPP-32. 

Besides getting a handle on each 

protein’s shape, the scientists 

presented for the first time how 

these IDPs exist on their own 

(referred to as “free form”) and 

what shape they assume when 

they latch on to protein phosphatase 1, known as “folding 

upon binding.”

Determining the IDPs’ shape 

gives molecular biologists 

insight into what happens when 

IDPs fold and regulate proteins, 

such as PP1, which must occur 

for biological instructions to be 

passed along.

For two years, the researchers 

used a variety of techniques to 

ascertain each IDP’s structure. 

Left: Researchers used a variety 

of experimental, mathematical 

and observational techniques to 

ascertain how I-2, one of a class of 

poorly understood proteins known 

as intrinsically disordered proteins, 

binds with the regulator protein 

phosphatase 1.

Right: Lead researcher Wolfgang 

Peti, associate professor of medical 

science and chemistry at Brown 

University

With I-2, which instructs cells to 

divide, they used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to 

create ensemble calculations for 

the protein in its free and PP1-

bound form. They confirmed 

I-2’s binding interaction with 

PP1 with the help of small-angle 

x-ray scattering measurements 

at NSLS.

The researchers did the same 

thing to determine the structure 

of spinophilin and DARPP-32 in 

their free-form state and to gain 

insights into their shapes when 

they bind with PP1.

— Richard Lewis, Brown 

University

J.A. Marsh, B. Dancheck, M.J. Ragusa, M. Allaire, J.D. Forman-Kay, W. Peti, “Structural Diversity in Free and Bound States of 

Intrinsically Disordered Protein Phosphatase 1 Regulators,” Structure, 18(9), 1094, (2010).
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A Hidden Magnetic Configuration in Manganite Thin Films

Complex oxide materials are 

intriguing because their properties span an enormous range of 

distinct physical states, including 

conductors, insulators, superconductors, ferromagnets, anti-ferromagnets, ferro-electrics, piezo 

electrics, and multiferroics. Part 

of the attraction of these materials 

is that their properties can be 

modified by introducing a mixed 

valence state — that is, a composition that includes metal ions with 

more than one oxidation state. 

Scientists from Brookhaven and 

Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and collaborators 

at the University of California, 

Berkeley, and the Science and 

Technology Facilities Council of 

the UK are taking a closer look at 

one such material with a particular 

composition of lanthanum strontium and magnesium oxide.

La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) is a 

mixed-valence, complex oxide 

(containing a mix of Mn3+ and 

Mn4+ ions) whose properties 

have been examined extensively. 

LSMO is thought to be a simple 

metallic ferromagnet and it has 

been used in prototype, thinfilm electrical devices (such as 

magneto-resistance junctions) that 

seek to exploit the many intriguing 

properties of complex oxides for 

new applications. 

To further explore LSMO, the scientists grew single-layer films with 

a variable number of unit cells 

epitaxially on strontium titanate 

(STO). Using a combination of 

Left: NSLS researchers Christie 

Nelson (left) and Dario Arena

Right: (a) Schematic picture of 

experimental configurations for h

x-ray magnetic circular dichroism 

(XMCD) (left) and p XMCD (right). 

(b) Thickness dependent XMCD 

results on LSMO at T=10 K. Left is h 

XMCD. Right is p XMCD.

x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, 

x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and 

x-ray reflectivity measurements 

at NSLS, the scientists discovered 

that, due to doping instabilities 

and/or charge transfer at the 

interface, an intermediate enriched 

Mn3+ layer of a few unit cells develops at the LSMO/STO interface. 

The presence of this intermediate 

layer may provide a mechanism for 

antiferromagnetic coupling across 

the interface — which, in turn, 

may lead to the reversed magnetic 

configuration observed in thicker 

LSMO films.

The findings demonstrate the rich 

variety of interfacial spin couplings 

that can occur in complex oxide 

thin films that may be utilized in 

engineering thin-film devices.

J.-S. Lee, D.A. Arena, P. Yu, C.S. Nelson, R. Fan, C.J. Kinane, S. Langridge, M.D. Rossell, R. Ramesh, and C.-C. Kao, “Hidden 

Magnetic Configuration in Epitaxial La1-xSrx

MnO3 Films,” Phys. Rev. Lett., 105, 257204, (2010).
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An Elegant Cycle: Molybdenum’s Availability in Soil Deciphered

Researchers from Princeton 

University working at NSLS have 

solved the mystery of how molybdenum, one of the elements 

needed to prepare nitrogen for 

plant consumption, is available 

in soil.

Nitrogen is key to cellular growth 

and the functioning of proteins 

and nucleic acids in plants and 

other organisms. Pure nitrogen 

molecules are plentiful in the atmosphere, but their atmospheric 

form is not usable by most 

organisms. Nature’s solution is a 

process called nitrogen fixation, 

in which nitrogen is combined 

with hydrogen or oxygen to create a new molecule that can be 

used by various organisms.

Molybdenum is one of the 

elements needed to jumpstart nitrogen fixation. Until 

now, scientists haven’t entirely 

understood how molybdenum is 

present and available in the soil 

to become a catalyst.

To solve this mystery, Princeton 

scientists collected samples from 

molybdenum-rich Arizona soil 

and a temperate hardwood forest 

in New Jersey.

After some initial troubleshooting at the Stanford Synchrotron 

Radiation Lightsource, they 

brought their samples to NSLS 

to map out, on the micro-scale, 

how molybedenum is distributed 

and in what form, as well as how 

it adheres to other minerals.

Consistent with past observations, molybdenum was found 

to stick to the surfaces of 

iron oxides. But the scientists 

also found strong evidence of 

molybdenum binding to natural 

organic matter, particularly 

in the upper soil layers, rich 

in leaf-litter and free-living 

nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

This finding suggests a molybdenum cycle: molybdenum in 

the soil is taken up by tree roots 

Left: The molybdenum (Mo) cycle 

in soil: Mo present in deep soil 

is extracted by the root network 

of trees and incorporated into 

leaves. These leaves fall to the 

ground and decompose, providing 

a Mo-enriched environment for 

nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in the 

upper soil. Binding of Mo to leaf 

organic matter reduces Mo leaching 

rates from the soil, keeping Mo in 

the soil environment where it can 

be used by the bacteria. In turn, the 

new nitrogen fixed by the bacteria 

fertilizes tree growth, resulting in a 

classic mutualistic relationship.

Right: Corresponding author 

Bhoopesh Mishra (now at Argonne 

National Laboratory), who 

conducted this study as a post-doc 

at Princeton University 

and deposited in leaves. These 

leaves fall to the ground and 

decompose, releasing molybdenum, which binds to tannins and 

tannin compounds in soil.

To understand how molybdenum transforms into a catalyst 

for nitrogen fixation, the researchers studied the nitrogenfixing bacteria in soil with 

tannin-bound molybdenum. 

They found that the bacteria excrete a compound that 

strongly attracts iron and other 

metals. Molybdenum, held in 

the upper soil by tannin, binds 

to this compound, which can 

outcompete the tannin in attracting molybdenum. This new 

molybdenum compound is one 

that nitrogen-fixing bacteria can 

access to create the enzyme responsible for nitrogen fixation.

In turn, fixed nitrogen will 

penetrate the soil, be taken up 

by the root system of plants and 

promote plant growth.

T. Wichard, B. Mishra, S.C. Myneni, J-P Bellenger, A.M.L. Kraepiel, “Storage and Bioavailability of Molybdenum in Soils 

Increased by Organic Matter Complexation,” Nature Geoscience, 2, 625-629 (2009).
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Top: In this picture, the central 

image is the optical profile of a 

water drop placed on “nanopitted” 

silicon; the right image is a 

scanning electron micrograph 

of the nanocavities; and the left 

image is a cartoon illustrating the 

nanobubbles’ shape as inferred 

from x-ray measurements.

Bottom: Brookhaven physicist 

Antonio Checco

Scientists Glimpse Nanobubbles on Super Non-Stick Surfaces

Non-stick surfaces are important 

to many areas of technology, 

from drag reduction to antiicing agents. These surfaces are 

usually created by applying coatings, such as Teflon, to smooth 

surfaces. But recently, scientists 

have realized that a bit of texture 

can help. By incorporating topographical features on surfaces, 

they’ve created extremely waterrepellant materials.

This effect, called “superhydrophobicity,” occurs when air bubbles 

remain trapped in the textured 

surfaces, drastically reducing the 

area of liquid in contact with the 

solid. As a result, water is forced 

to ball up into pearl-shaped drops, 

which are weakly connected to the 

surface and can readily roll off.

To get the first look at nanobubbles on a superhydrophobic 

surface, the scientists created 

a regular array of more than 

a trillion nano-cavities on an 

otherwise flat surface, and then 

coated it with a wax-like surfactant at Brookhaven’s Center for 

Functional Nanomaterials.

This coated, nanoscale-textured 

surface was much more water 

repellant than the flat surface 

alone, suggesting the existence 

of nanobubbles. To prove that 

these ultra-small bubbles were 

present, the researchers took 

transmission small-angle x-ray 

scattering measurements at 

NSLS beamline X6B.

They found that the cavities 

were mostly filled with air, with 

water penetrating only about 5 

to 10 nanometers into the cavities, independent of their depth. 

This provides the first direct 

evidence of the morphology of 

such small bubbles.

The researchers’ results also show 

that the bubbles are only about 10 

nanometers in size — about 10,000 

times smaller than the width of 

a single human hair — and have 

nearly flat tops.

In contrast to materials with 

larger, micrometer-sized bubbles 

(which have rounded tops), 

the surfaces fabricated by the 

Brookhaven-led team may 

exhibit more stable superhydrophobic properties.

The research could lead to a 

new class of non-stick materials for a range of applications, 

including improved-efficiency 

power plants, speedier boats, 

and surfaces that are resistant to 

contamination by germs.

A. Checco, T. Hofmann, E. DiMasi, C.T. Black, B.M. Ocko, “Morphology of Air Nanobubbles Trapped at Hydrophobic 

Nanopatterned Surfaces,” Nano Lett., 10(4), 1354 (2010).
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Water-splitting Photocatalyst Brought to Light

To produce “green” fuels, some scientists are looking for a little help 

from above. Sunlight is the key 

ingredient in photocatalytic water 

splitting, a process that breaks 

down water into oxygen and, most 

importantly, hydrogen, which 

could be used in future energy 

technologies like fuel cells. The 

problem is that the most effective 

photocatalysts, like pure titanium 

dioxide, are only activated by 

ultraviolet light. 

Recently, scientists have found a 

way alter titanium dioxide to react 

to visible light, harnessing the 

power of the entire solar spectrum. 

They do this by adding, or “doping,” a small amount of nitrogen to 

titanium dioxide.

At NSLS, scientists from 

Brookhaven, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the University of 

Delaware set out to reveal what’s 

so special about the doped form 

of the material. 

The group analyzed samples 

made at the University of Delaware with hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) 

studies at NSLS beamline 

X24A – the only facility in the 

United States that performs this 

advanced technique. HAXPES 

Left: (a) Structure of pure anatase, 

(b) N/Ti

3+/O vacancy defect 

complex with O opposite N, (c)

“Merging” of two O into central 

position. In (b) and (c), the Ti

3+ ion is 

obscured from this viewpoint.

Right: Researchers Abdul Rumaiz 

(left) and Joe Woicik

allows researchers to probe the 

electronic structure of materials 

deeper than regular photoemission studies, which are usually 

limited to surfaces. By combining 

these data with calculations carried out by the theory group at 

NIST, the researchers discovered 

that the addition of nitrogen 

changed the electronic structure 

both directly and indirectly.

Their findings: by adding nitrogen to the material, a certain 

amount of oxygen is forced out. 

The resulting oxygen vacancy, 

combined with the presence of 

nitrogen itself, explains the observed electronic structure.

A.K. Rumaiz, J.C. Woicik, E. Cockayne, H.Y. Lin, G. H. Jaffari, and S.I. Shah, “Oxygen Vacancies in N Doped Anatase TiO2: 

Experiment and First-principles Calculations,” Applied Physics Letters, 95, 262111 (2009).
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Top: Brookhaven scientists used 

DNA linkers with three binding 

sites (black “strings”) to connect 

gold nanoparticles (orange and 

red spheres) and fluorescent 

dye molecules (blue spheres) 

tagged with complementary DNA 

sequences. These units are selfassembled to form a body-center 

cubic lattice with nanoparticles 

at the corners and in the center, 

and fluorescent dye molecules in 

between.

Bottom: Brookhaven Lab 

researcher Oleg Gang

Multi-Component Nano-Structures with Tunable Optical Properties

Scientists at Brookhaven National 

Laboratory report the first successful assembly of 3-D multicomponent nanoscale structures 

with tunable optical properties 

that incorporate light-absorbing 

and -emitting particles. This 

work, using synthetic DNA as a 

programmable component to link 

the nanoparticles, demonstrates 

the versatility of DNA-based 

nanotechnology for the fabrication 

of functional classes of materials, 

particularly optical ones, with possible applications in solar-energy 

conversion devices, sensors, and 

nanoscale circuits. 

Like earlier work conducted by 

the research team, this technique 

makes use of the high specificity of 

binding between complementary 

strands of DNA to link particles 

together in a precise way.

In the current study, the DNA 

linker molecules had three binding sites. The two ends of the 

strands were designed to bind 

to complementary strands on 

“plasmonic” gold nanoparticles 

— particles in which a particular wavelength of light induces 

a collective oscillation of the 

conductive electrons, leading to 

strong absorption of light at that 

wavelength. The internal part 

of each DNA linker was coded 

to recognize a complementary 

strand chemically bound to a 

fluorescent dye molecule. This 

setup resulted in the self-assembly of 3-D body centered cubic 

crystalline structures with gold 

nanoparticles located at each 

corner of the cube and in the 

center, with dye molecules at 

defined positions in between.

The scientists also demonstrated 

that the assembled structures 

can be dynamically tuned by 

altering the salt concentration 

of the solution in which they 

are formed. Changes in salinity 

alter the length of the negatively 

charged DNA molecules, leading 

to reversible contraction and 

expansion of the whole lattice by 

about 30 percent in length.

The expansion and contraction 

of the crystal lattice allowed for 

a dramatic modulation of an 

optical response: a three-fold 

increase in the emission rate of 

the fluorescent molecules was 

observed.

These results were determined 

using a combination of small 

angle x-ray scattering at NSLS 

and time-resolved fluorescent 

methods at the CFN.

 An understanding of these interactions could be relevant for developing novel optical materials 

for photovoltaic, photocatalysis, 

computing, and light-emitting 

applications.

H. Xiong, M.Y. Sfeir, O. Gang, “Assembly, Structure, and Optical Response of Three-Dimensional Dynamically Tunable Multicomponent Superlattices,” Nano Letters, 10(11), 4456 (2010).
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Researchers Find Way to “See” Water Molecules Hidden Inside Proteins

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A team of researchers from Case 

Western Reserve University has 

discovered a way to look at water 

molecules hidden deep inside proteins, revealing a network through 

which information fl ows when 

proteins are switched “on.”

Th e team looked inside rhodopsin, 

the protein found in the retina 

at the back of the eye that is responsible for dim light perception. 

Rhodopsin is a member of a group 

of proteins called the G-protein 

coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, which physically change 

shape when turned “on,” leading 

to interactions with other proteins 

and sending information across 

cell membranes to regulate many 

important molecular pathways. 

Rhodopsin is switched on by light, 

causing it to change shape and 

start a series of molecular events 

that make night vision possible. 

The research team combined two 

techniques to investigate water’s 

role in the protein’s shape shifting. With radiolytic protein footprinting at NSLS beamline X28C 

they created hydroxyl radicals 

from the water molecules, which 

then chemically modify nearby 

amino acids inside the protein.

The researchers detected the 

chemical modifications using 

mass spectrometry and created 

molecular maps showing where 

water molecules sit inside the 

protein when it was off and on. 

They found that the water molecules rearranged in response to 

the protein being turned on and 

interacted with key areas necessary for the protein’s function.

Specifically, water makes an 

electrostatic network within the 

proteins, which mediates the 

Left: Radiolytic footprinting of 

the membrane bound G-protein 

coupled receptor rhodopsin 

demonstrates the structural 

activation of bound waters as a 

function of receptor signaling 

status. X-rays ionize water 

molecules inside and outside the 

membrane protein structure to 

radicals (•OH, glowing spheres) 

that react with adjacent amino acid 

side chains. As the protein changes 

its structure during signaling, the 

pattern of reactivity of water within 

the protein changes refl ecting the 

transmission of the signal through 

the membrane.

Right: Sayan Gupta, co-author of 

the study

flow of information from one 

side of the protein to the other 

across the cell membrane.

Genetic mutations within the 

regions of the protein found to 

associate with water are known 

to cause diseases. For example, 

mutations in these areas of the 

rhodopsin protein cause a type of 

genetic night blindness that often 

leads to complete vision loss. 

GPCRs are also the gatekeepers that jumpstart many other 

biological responses, such as the 

flight or fight response, mood, 

and even heart function. 

If scientists can learn how to 

turn these proteins and signaling 

pathways on and off, they can 

make a large-scale impact on 

biological response.

T.E. Angel, S. Gupta, B. Jastrzebska, K. Palczewski, M.R. Chance, “Structural Waters Defi ne a Functional Channel Mediating 

Activation of the GPCR Rhodopsin,” PNAS, 106 (34), 14367-72 (2009).
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Left: Ioana Gearba (right), a former 

researcher at the CFN, and Ron 

Pindak, Physical and Chemical 

Sciences Division Head at NSLS, 

display the enhanced polythiophene 

blended solar cells.

Right: Properties of polythiophene 

polymer after crosslinking with 

radical initiator ditert butyl 

peroxide. The intensity of light 

absorption (blue circles) is 

unchanged with up to 70 radicals 

per alkyl chain of crosslinker. 

Conductivity (red circles) increases, 

up to five times, as increasing 

concentrations of crosslinker are 

added. The addition of 70 radicals 

per alkyl chain of crosslinker 

immobilizes the polymer, preserves 

its absorption properties, and 

increases conductivity by three 

times (shown by solid line).

A Straightforward Solution for Increasing Solar Cell Performance

An exciting development in the 

field of solar cells has been the 

discovery of organic semiconductors, which can, in principle, 

lower the manufacturing costs 

of large-area solar devices. But 

solar cells made from semiconducting organic materials, 

based on carbon, have their 

own drawbacks. Although this 

class of solar cells may provide 

a more cost-effective manufacturing route, they also are less 

efficient.

Solar cells made from organic 

plastic materials may deform a 

little bit when put out in the hot 

sun, and their electrical properties may change as they move. 

For solar cells made out of such 

materials to really work, they 

will need to withstand significant changes in conditions.

Researchers from Brookhaven Lab 

report that one way to increase 

the stability of organic solar cells 

is “locking” in place the semiconducting base layer, the first layer 

upon which the solar cell is built. 

To do this, a chemical crosslinker, 

which interconnects the polymer 

chains in the material’s base layer, 

was added to the solution-based 

starting materials. This high 

degree of interconnection immobilizes the polymer structure 

and helps preserve its properties 

during changes in temperature, for 

example.

The crosslinker mechanically stabilizes the polymer and increases 

its conductivity by as much as five 

times. The efficiency of model 

solar cells made from the crosslinked polymer also increased, up 

to three fold. The solution-based 

process is cost-effective and allows 

for large-scale uses, such as in 

spray-on or roll-to-roll manufacturing methods.

Using x-ray diffraction at NSLS 

beamline X6B, the group investigated whether structural changes in 

the polymer film induced by crosslinking were related to the observed 

improvements in conductivity and 

device efficiency. The measurements showed that the polymer 

chains orient in such a way that 

electronic charge follows a more 

direct pathway through the film.

The new technique provides a 

way to create a stable polymer 

foundation upon which additional 

semiconducting materials can be 

layered — a necessary component 

of realizing more complex solar 

cell designs. 

I.R. Gearba, C-Y Nam, R. Pindak, C.T. Black, “Thermal Crosslinking of Organic Semiconducting Polythiophene Improves 

Transverse Hole Conductivity,” Appl. Phys. Lett., 95, 173307 (2009).
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‘Super-catalyst’ Found to Purify Hydrogen 

Hydrogen — the lightest and 

most abundant element on the 

periodic table — is also a potential 

powerhouse. Today, we use pure 

hydrogen in a range of chemical 

processes, including the synthesis 

of ammonia for fertilizers. Some 

scientists believe that hydrogen 

could power everything from 

electronics to buildings to cars in a 

model referred to as the hydrogen 

economy. In order to achieve such 

feats, however, scientists need to 

produce pure hydrogen.

Chemists can obtain pure hydrogen through the water-gas shift reaction, in which carbon monoxide 

and water yield carbon dioxide and 

pure hydrogen molecules. 

Four years ago, a group of 

Brookhaven-led researchers began 

to investigate a highly effective 

catalyst for this reaction, which 

combined gold and ceria. Their 

main objective was to understand 

exactly how each component of 

the catalyst behaved.

Beginning with this first 

catalyst, and gradually tweaking one variable after another, 

the researchers set out to find 

even better catalytic combinations. Using characterization 

techniques like photoemission, 

time-resolved x-ray diffraction 

and x-ray absorption spectroscopy at NSLS beamlines U7A, 

U12, X7B, and X19A, they 

studied details of the structural 

and electronic properties of the 

gold-ceria catalyst.

With in-situ characterization, researchers can determine two key 

factors: precisely when the active 

phase for the reaction appears on 

the catalyst and how it affects the 

reaction mechanism. These key 

factors allow scientists to refine 

the reaction, exchanging and 

adjusting its components.

Top: Production of hydrogen 

through the water-gas shift reaction 

after dispersing gold (Au), copper 

(Cu), and platinum (Pt) on TiO2(110) 

and the group’s “super-catalyst,” 

CeOx/TiO2(110)

Bottom: From left, Brookhaven 

researchers Sanjaya Senanayake, 

Jose A. Rodriguez, Laura Barrio, 

and Jonathan Hanson

Last year, the researchers tested a 

new catalyst that combines ceria 

in a mixed metal oxide, building 

upon the findings of their previous research. They found that 

this surface combination with 

a dispersion of gold, copper, or 

platinum nanoparticles revealed 

high catalytic properties.

More recently, they compared 

catalytic effects with a dispersion 

of gold, copper, and platinum 

nanoparticles. While platinum 

showed the highest catalytic 

activity, meaning it produced 

the most hydrogen for a fixed 

amount of ceria, copper was 

a close second and has the 

advantage of being a much less 

expensive metal.

Studying this next-generation 

catalyst could reveal more 

discoveries and lead to an even 

more potent super-catalyst.

J.B. Park, J. Graciano, J. Evans, D. Stacchiola. S.D. Senanayake, L. Barrio, P. Liu, J.F. Sanz, J. Hrbek, J.A. Rodriguez, “Gold, Copper, and Platinum Nanoparticles Dispersed on CeOx

/TiO2(110) Surfaces: High Water-Gas Shift Activity and the Nature of the 

Mixed-Metal Oxide at the Nanometer Level,” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 132, 356 (2010).
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Left: Ron Pindak (left) and Ivan 

Božović at NSLS beamline X21, 

which could be upgraded to 

perform COBRA measurements as a 

jump-start program for NSLS-II.

Right: The measured electron 

density in two atomic planes of the 

interfacial superconducting bilayer 

LSCO film showing the positions of 

the atoms in two metallic (M) and 

three insulating (I) unit cells Left:

in the (100) plane, the white lines 

highlight the projected shapes of 

the CuO6

 octahedra, in particular 

the elongation near the surface; 

Right: in (110) plane, the white lines 

highlight the projected profiles of 

the La-apical O planes, in particular 

the enhanced corrugation near the 

surface.

Expanding the Toolbox for Superconducting Film Investigations

Using a combination of unique 

tools to build and analyze films 

just nanometers thick, a group of 

researchers found subtle structural 

changes that are known to alter 

superconducting properties. Their 

findings stress the importance of 

studying both the superficial and 

deep features of superconducting materials, which transport 

electricity with zero resistance and 

are envisioned for use in applications like ultrafast, power-saving 

electronics or more efficient 

electricity lines. 

The study was spurred by a 

surprising discovery made in 2008 

by a Brookhaven-led research 

team: an ultrathin film — just a 

few nanometers, or billionths of a 

meter, thick — made of two nonsuperconducting cuprates (a metal 

and an insulator) actually exhibits 

superconductivity at the interface 

between the layers. This finding has 

triggered a debate about the superproperty’s origin and the possibility 

to turn the material’s transition 

temperature thermostat higher. 

But in order to reveal more information about this unique ultrathin 

film — which is made from a 

cuprate containing lanthanum, 

strontium, copper, and oxygen 

and appropriately called LSCO — 

scientists need a new set of tools 

that characterize the full film, not 

just the surface.

The researchers grew a variety 

of states of LSCO using a unique 

molecular beam epitaxy system 

at Brookhaven that allows materials to be deposited atom by 

atom, giving precise control of 

each layer’s thickness. By varying 

the concentration of strontium 

in the cuprate, the scientists can 

create LSCO that behaves in 

three different ways: like a metal, 

an insulator, or a superconductor. 

They then used x-ray diffraction 

at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source 

to determine the positions of 

the atoms inside the film. This 

was only possible by combining 

a synchrotron technique called 

coherent Bragg rod analysis 

(COBRA) with Difference Mapping, a slower but more accurate 

procedure. The result is a precise 

technique that’s two orders of 

magnitude quicker than Difference Mapping alone.

This diffraction data was used 

to map the distance of LSCO’s 

out-of-plane (apical) oxygen atoms 

from the copper-oxygen plane, a 

characteristic known to affect the 

transition temperature of hightemperature superconductors. 

The group’s results showed an 

unexpected discrepancy. The 

apical distance stays the same in 

metallic and superconducting 

LSCO films but increases in the 

metallic-insulating LSCO bilayer 

films previously studied by the 

researchers. 

These results show that the crystal 

structure of the few layers nearest 

to the surface can be very different 

from that inside the bulk — and in 

an unexpected ways.

H. Zhou, Y. Yacoby, V.Y. Butko, G. Logvenov, I. Božović, R. Pindak, “Anomalous Expansion of the Copper-Apical-Oxygen 

Distance in Superconducting Cuprate Bilayers,” PNAS, 107(18), 8103 (2010).
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Key Difference in How TB Bacteria Degrade Doomed Proteins

Scientists at Brookhaven 

National Laboratory and Stony 

Brook University discovered a 

key difference in the way human 

cells and Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, which cause 

TB, deliver unwanted proteins 

— marked with a “kiss of death” 

sequence — to their respective cellular recycling factories. 

This critical difference may help 

scientists design drugs to disable 

the bacterial system while leaving 

normal human protein recycling 

centers intact.

With tuberculosis infecting a 

third of the world’s population, 

primarily in developing countries, there is great need for new, 

effective TB treatments. This 

research seeks to understand the 

protein-recycling mechanism of 

TB bacteria, because it is one of 

the microbe’s keys to survival in 

human cells. Targeting this system with small-molecule-based 

drugs could inhibit the bacteria 

and effectively treat TB.

The catch is that human cells 

have a similar protein-recycling 

system, essential for their survival, which could also be destroyed 

by inhibitory drugs.

The researchers previously looked 

at differences in the cellular structure known as a proteasome that 

chops up the unwanted proteins. 

The current study examined the 

way proteins destined for degradation are recognized by the bacterial proteasome before entering 

that structure.

Using beams of high-intensity 

x-rays at NSLS beamlines X25 and 

X29, the scientists determined 

atomic-level structures of the 

portion of the bacterial proteasome that identifies the unwanted 

protein’s “kiss of death” marker 

sequence — as well as structures 

Top left: Side view: These 

computer-generated images 

show how the “kiss of death” 

protein marker sequence (red) is 

recognized by and binds to one of 

three long tentacle-like structures 

of an enzyme (green) that sits at 

the entrance to the TB bacterium’s 

protein-degradation chamber, or 

proteasome — shown to the right 

of the green region in the side 

view. The enzyme will unfold the 

marked protein and feed it into the 

proteasome for degradation.

Top right: Top view

Bottom: Brookhaven Lab 

researchers Huilin Li (standing) 

and Tao Wang

of the marker sequence as it binds 

with the proteasome.

Based on the structures, the 

scientists describe a detailed 

mechanism by which coiled, 

tentacle-like arms protruding 

from the proteasome identify the 

death sentence label, causing a 

series of protein-folding maneuvers that pull the doomed protein 

into the degradation chamber.

Importantly, this interaction 

between the bacterial proteasome and the marker sequence is 

unique to bacteria. Human cells 

use a different marker protein 

and a completely different 

mechanism for drawing doomed 

proteins into the proteasome. 

Thus the details of proteasomesubstrate interaction revealed by 

the current study may provide 

highly specific targets for the 

development of new anti-tuberculosis therapies.

T. Wang, K. Heran Darwin, and H. Li, “Binding-induced Folding of Prokaryotic Ubiquitin-like Protein on the Mycobacterium 

Proteasomal ATPase Targets Substrates for Degradation,” Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 17, 1352 (2010).

29

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Year in review

Th e NSLS-II construction site transformed from a fi eld of dirt 

to a fully formed steel ring half a mile in circumference, a new 

education program introduced a diff erent set of users – middle 

school and high school students – to invaluable experimental 

tools at NSLS, and three NSLS visiting scientists brought home

a couple of the world’s most prestigious scientifi c honors, the 

Nobel and Kavli prizes. Fiscal year 2010 was a busy year, to say 

the least. Here are highlights.
Year in review

30

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

october 2009

november 2009

A Nobel for Atomic-level

“Pictures” of Protein Factories

Two recipients of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry have 

strong ties to NSLS. Venki Ramakrishnan, a former employee in Brookhaven’s biology department and long-time 

NSLS user, now at Cambridge University, and Th omas 

A. Steitz of Yale University, also a long-time NSLS user, 

shared the prize with Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science for their work on the structure and function of the ribosome. In the late 1990s, Ramakrishnan and 

Steitz used protein crystallography at the NSLS and other 

light sources solve the high-resolution structures for two 

ribosome subunits crucial to understanding everything 

from how the ribosome achieves its amazing precision to 

how diff erent antibiotics bind to it.

Contracts Awarded for Production 

of NSLS-II Storage Ring Magnets

Th e last of seven contracts for the production of the NSLS-II 

storage ring magnets are awarded. A total of 826 magnets will be 

built by vendors in China, Denmark, New Zealand, Russia, the 

United Kingdom, and the United States.

NSLS Hosts First Training Session 

on Solution X-ray Scattering

About a dozen researchers from eight diff erent institutions gather 

at NSLS to learn the ways of solution x-ray scattering. Th e inaugural training session was based at X9, a newly commissioned 

beamline that specializes in taking small angle x-ray scattering 

measurements — data that are very valuable for studying biological macromolecules.

NSLS Users Take Home 

Prestigious Awards

Th ree NSLS users win a variety of honors. Th ey include: 

New York University chemist Nadrian C. (Ned) Seeman 

(top left), who shared the 2010 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for his pioneering advances in the fi eld of DNA 

nanotechnology; Javier Pulecio (bottom middle), a 

doctoral student at the University of South Florida and 

a former NSLS summer intern who received the 2010 

Hispanic Pathways Award in the student category; and 

National Institute of Standards and Technology scientist 

Joe Woicik (top right), who won a 2010 Department 

of Commerce Silver Medal for developing a novel, 

synchrotron-based x-ray spectroscopy method to accurately measure the site-specifi c nature of individual 

chemical bonds.

photo courtesy of the Kavli prize
31Year in 

Review

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Januar

y 2010

December 2009

NSLS-II Project Unveils 

New Optics R&D Laboratory

A Brookhaven Lab building is renovated to provide general lab and clean room space dedicated to optics R&D. 

This new optics area provides cutting-edge capabilities in 

both reflective and transmission multilayer optics, crystal 

diffractive optics, surface metrology over a broad range of 

spatial resolutions, nanopositioning, and other nanofabrication required for NSLS-II.

Physicist Larry Carr 

Named APS Fellow

Larry Carr, a Photon Sciences 

physicist, is among six scientists at Brookhaven Lab to be 

named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Carr was 

recognized for his applications 

of synchrotron and terahertz 

radiation to condensed-matter 

systems. 

Chi-Chang Kao Named AAAS Fellow

The American Association for the Advancement of Science awards NSLS Department Chair Chi-Chang Kao 

with the distinction of Fellow. Kao was recognized for 

“his many contributions to resonant elastic and inelastic 

x-ray scattering techniques and to x-ray spectroscopy, 

their applications to important materials, and his inspired 

leadership at the NSLS.”
Year In 

Review

32

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Februar

y 2010

Marc

h 2010

Building NYS Business Opportunities

After learning that no U.S. companies are able to manufacture a particular type of synchrotron mirror, a group 

of researchers from Brookhaven, the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology, and R. Browning Consultants 

reaches out to a New-York-based company. The group 

worked with Optimax, which specializes in optics for 

cameras and telescopes, to produce the mirror for a new 

microscope at NSLS. 

Scientist Ferdinand 

Willeke Granted 

Tenure

Photon Sciences Accelerator 

Division Director Ferdinand 

Willeke is granted tenure by 

Brookhaven Science Associates. Willeke was honored 

for his exceptional work on 

nonlinear beam dynamics; his 

contributions to the design, 

construction, operation and 

upgrade of the proton collider, 

HERA, of Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) 

Laboratory in Germany; and 

his outstanding performance 

in directing the design and 

construction of the NSLS-II accelerator systems.

First Steel Arrives for NSLS-II Ring Building

The first shipment of steel beams dedicated for the NSLS-II ring 

building arrives at the construction site, starting the assembly of 

the interior skeleton of the ring building.

NYS Funds Collaborative 

Battery Research at NSLS

The New York State Energy Research and Development 

Authority awards $8 million in energy storage research 

grants, of which a little more than $3 million involve 

studies at NSLS. A $550,000 grant will fund a partnership 

between Brookhaven Lab, SUNY’s University at Buffalo, 

and Binghamton University to develop improved batteries 

for use in stationary grid-scale energy storage applications. 

In addition, Brookhaven and Stony Brook University are 

teaming up with GE Global Research, which will receive 

$2.5 million to make improvements to its sodium metal 

halide batteries.
33Year in 

Review

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

M

ay 2010

A

Scientists Get Funding to Design 

pril 2010

Anti-Botulism Drugs

Scientists at Brookhaven Lab, in collaboration with 

researchers at Stony Brook University, are selected to 

receive up to $1.4 million in applied research funds from 

the Department of Defense Threat Reduction Agency to 

develop drugs that block the paralytic and deadly effects 

of botulinum neurotoxins.

Climate Change, Clean Energy

Define NSLS CFN Users’ Meeting

Highlighting the synergy between NSLS and Brookhaven’s 

Center for Functional Nanomaterials, government, 

laboratory, and science leaders make an urgent call for 

the development of efficient and effective clean energy 

technologies at the annual meeting of the facilities’ user 

communities. About 500 visiting scientists, staff members, 

and funding representatives gathered at Brookhaven for 

the joint meeting, which emphasized climate change and 

the tools scientists are using to combat it.

NSLS Featured in PBS Documentary

PBS affiliates across the country start airing a one-hour documentary on the trials and tribulations faced by aspiring scientists, 

filmed in part at NSLS. Recorded over three years, “Naturally 

Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist” follows a group of Columbia 

University student researchers as they study a protein that could 

reveal a new path toward the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Take Our Children to Work Day 

Highlights the Wonders of Food

A group of nearly 50 children of Photon Sciences Directorate 

employees learn about the science — and fun — of food during 

national “Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.” The crowd 

pleaser was a Mentos-soda experiment, which created a powerful 

and sticky geyser more than five feet tall.

Bringing NSLS into the Classroom

A new program launched at Brookhaven lets high school teachers 

and their students conduct experiments they devise with a major 

piece of scientific equipment: NSLS. The program, dubbed InSynC for Introducing Synchrotrons into the Classroom, allocates 

time on the multi-million-dollar machine to classrooms through a 

competitive, peer-reviewed proposal process.

Mike Caruso, Rick Greene Win 

UEC Community Service Awards

The NSLS Users’ Executive Committee awards the 2010 UEC 

Community Service Award for outstanding service, innovation, 

and dedication to users of the NSLS to two recipients, Mike 

Caruso and Rick Greene. Caruso is a mechanical technician for 

the VUV beamlines and Greene is a mechanical technician for 

the x-ray beamlines.

2010 Baumert Award 

Goes to Jonathan 

Rameau

Jonathan Rameau, a post-doctoral researcher in Brookhaven’s Condensed Matter Physics 

and Materials Science Department, receives the Julian Baumert Ph.D. Thesis Award for 

his work on high-temperature 

superconductors.

(c) 2009 ParnassusWorks. Photo by: Liza Politi
Year In 

Review

34

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

June 2010

July 2010

New Tools for NSLS-II

The U.S. Department of Energy grants CD-0 (approval of mission 

need) for a Major Item of Equipment Project known as “NSLS-II 

Experimental Tools,” or NEXT. The NEXT Project will design and 

construct 5-6 beamlines, and CD-0 authorized the start of their 

conceptual design.

Hands-on Science Draws Record Crowd

Marshmallow Peeps, water rockets, liquid nitrogen, and 

a firsthand look at what will be one of the world’s most 

advanced light sources attract a record-breaking number 

of visitors to NSLS and the NSLS-II construction site 

for a one-day open house. Nearly 1,190 people attended 

the event as part of Brookhaven Lab’s Summer Sundays 

program.

Light Sources Employees Honored 

with Prestigious BNL Awards

Five Light Sources Directorate employees are selected as 

recipients of Brookhaven’s highest accolades. The awards, 

given to 15 BNLers lab wide, were received by Andrew 

Ackerman, Nathalie Bouet, Ray Conley, Thomas Nehring, 

and Charles Spataro.

Summer Student Invasion

More than 40 college students and professors arrive at Brookhaven to spend their summer at NSLS and NSLS-II. The students 

worked with staff in areas ranging from the study of Alzheimer’s 

disease to the development of new software and instrumentation.

NSLS-II Call for Beamline Development 

Proposals Gets Huge Response

A remarkable 54 NSLS-II beamline development proposals are 

submitted by nearly 700 proposal team members from around the 

world. Each proposal was reviewed first by one of seven Science 

Advisory Committee (SAC) Study Panels and then by the full 

SAC. More than half — 34 — were approved.

Joint InSynC-INCREASE Meeting 

Brings Teachers, Professors to NSLS

More than 30 educators from two unique groups come to 

Brookhaven Lab to gain synchrotron skills for themselves and 

their students. Participants in the two groups — the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Research and Educational Access in 

Science and Engineering (INCREASE) and Introducing Synchrotrons into the Classroom (InSynC) — spent three days at NSLS 

to understand the basics of synchrotron mechanics, participate in 

hands-on demonstrations, and learn how to write a proposal for 

beam time.
35Year in 

Review

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

ASeptember 2010

ugu

st 2010

$34-Million Contract 

for Lab-Office Buildings

E.W. Howell, based in Plainview, NY, wins a $34-million 

contract to build laboratory-office buildings for NSLS-II. 

Construction is funded by the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act.

Designing the First NSLS-II Beamlines

Preliminary designs are completed for the first six NSLS-II project beamlines. The designs lay out basic beamline details, from 

the front ends, where the light is siphoned off the main ring, to 

the hutches, where research is performed.

NSLS Chair Chi-Chang Kao Steps Down, 

Takes Lead at SSRL

Chi-Chang Kao, who served as chair of NSLS for four years, 

leaves Brookhaven to serve as Associate Laboratory Director 

for the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC 

National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Kao, who made 

breakthrough discoveries in fields ranging from optics to magnetism during his 22 years at NSLS, was replaced by Interim Chair 

Erik Johnson.

Closing the Ring

The structural framework of NSLS-II becomes a complete, nearly 

half-mile ring as the final steel beam is bolted into place. The 

“topping out” ceremony collected the signatures of more than 300 

construction workers, Brookhaven and Department of Energy 

officials, invited guests, and Lab employees on the last steel beam, 

which will be visible to future research teams on the experimental 

floor.

Boom Gives Birth 

to Photon Sciences Directorate

The Light Sources Directorate spends much of the year planning for a reorganization into the Photon Sciences Directorate. 

This new structure will better manage the rapid growth of the 

directorate, which grew from 180 employees to 450 in five years 

as its portfolio expanded from operating NSLS to also include 

designing and constructing NSLS-II, designing and constructing 

additional beamlines for NSLS-II and, in coming years, transitioning to NSLS-II operations.

Moving Into Production 

for Accelerator Hardware

The Accelerator Division checks off 11 of its 14 goals for 

the year, with “in progress” noted on the balance. Design 

work on the complex hardware for NSLS-II accelerator 

systems was completed in 2010. This includes superconducting cavities, RF power sources, vacuum systems, 

power supplies, magnet systems and insertion devices. 

In addition, the division started the fabrication and assembly of aluminum vacuum chambers, finishing roughly 

25 percent of them by year’s end. Orders for all vacuum 

pumps were placed, and about 50 percent of the pumps 

were delivered.

FacilitieS

37

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

“We are ahead of schedule and within 

budget on construction of the basic 

buildings and utilities for NSLS-II. 

Teamwork is key to our success.”

- Martin Fallier

 Director, Facilities Division
Facilitie

s

38

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

The Quick Pace of Construction

Compare the pictures taken 

October 2009 and September 2010 

(below). They show the remarkable 

progress made this year on NSLSII construction, evidence of the 

hard work of everyone involved 

— from Photon Sciences staff to 

construction workers on the site.

The Facilities Division, responsible 

for the design and construction of 

conventional facilities within the 

Photon Sciences Directorate, is 

necessarily focused on NSLS-II. 

With a budget of $912 million and 

an official completion date of 2015, 

NSLS-II is the largest domestic 

capital project under construction 

by the Department of Energy’s 

Office of Science.

Construction of the facility is 

expected to create more than 

1,250 construction jobs and 450 

scientific, engineering, and support jobs, plus additional jobs at 

U.S. material suppliers and service 

providers. By the time conventional construction is complete, 

Brookhaven Lab will have purchased $120 million in labor and 

$115 million in materials for the 

basic buildings and utilities.

For fiscal year 2010, the division 

concentrated on the following:

•	 constructing the ring building, 

which will house the accelerator and the experimental 

facilities

•	 expanding the Laboratory’s 

utility infrastructure, which 

includes adding 2,500 tons of 

cooling capacity to the existing 

chilled water plant and 20 

megavolt amperes capacity 

to the Lab’s main electrical 

substation for the added 

requirements of NSLS-II

•	 issuing the contract for 

laboratory-office buildings 

(LOBs)

Because of the accelerator tunnel 

and the robust construction of 

the ring building, concrete placement was the critical path for 

much of the year. Unseasonably 

cold weather and major snowfall 

events during the winter season 

led to a frost depth of nearly 15 

inches. Despite the challenging weather, overall progress 

continued to be on or ahead of 

schedule, as the general contractor, Torcon, was able to finish key 

activities on the critical path. For 

example, Torcon placed a record 

3,854 cubic yards of concrete in 

April 2010 — 1,727 cubic yards 

more than what was planned for 

that month.

The LOB contract was awarded 

in August 2010 to E.W. Howell, 

following months of work to 

finalize the design and complete the procurement process. 

Funding for the LOBs comes 

from the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The 

NSLS-II Project received $150 

million in ARRA funding, $34 

million of which was designated 

for the LOBs.

At year’s end, the NSLS-II Project was 37 percent complete, 

and the division looked forward 

to a “topping out” celebration. 

In the construction industry, 

workers sign the last steel beam 

before it’s bolted into place, 

completing the structural steel 

framework of a building. That 

construction milestone was just 

around the corner.

Top: NSLS-II construction site, 

October 2009

Bottom: NSLS-II construction site, 

September 2010
39Facilitie

s

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

39Facilitie

s

NSLS

•	 Began operating in 1982

•	 FY10 operating budget of $38.5 million

•	 Over 2,000 scientists come each year to do experiments

•	 60 beamlines: 49 on X-Ray Ring and 11 on Vacuum 

Ultraviolet Ring

•	 VUV Ring operating energy: 800 MeV

•	 X-Ray Ring operating energy: 2.8 GeV

•	 Runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, more than 

250 days a year

•	 Injection system accelerates electrons to 

99.99998 percent light speed

About the Facilities

NSLS-II Digs up History

Left: The inscribed concrete 

boulder found on the NSLS-II 

excavation site

Right: The dig find “museum” in 

the NSLS-II Project construction 

trailer

Five years before becoming fully 

operational, NSLS-II already is 

leading to discoveries – of the 

historical kind. As earthwork 

takes place on the NSLS-II construction site, which housed part 

of Camp Upton in the World 

War I and II era, artifacts ranging 

from rusted horseshoes to nearly 

100-year-old pieces of newspaper 

are being dug up. 

tag that belonged to a solider 

who likely passed through Camp 

Upton on his way to England. 

These artifacts are a few of 

many. In fact, a makeshift museum of Sheffield milk bottles, 

railroad spikes, Coca-Cola glasses — even a delicately etched 

Ed. Pinaud hair tonic bottle 

— has been made out of a table 

in the NSLS-II Project construction trailer, where passersby can 

imagine what life was like in 

Upton nearly a century ago.

The most recent find is a large 

piece of painted concrete rock 

thought to have been part of 

a floor in a warehouse used in 

the army base in the 1940s. The 

rock, which has a hand-drawn 

emblem of a bugle, the notation “Company G” and the logo 

“Baptized by Fire,” was identified 

with the 14th regiment, known 

as the “Fighting Fourteenth” and 

the “Red-legged Devils” from 

Brooklyn.

Construction workers also 

recently discovered a WWII dog 

NSLS-II

•	 Will be 10,000 times brighter than NSLS, with 3 GeV ring 

energy and 500 mA stored current with top-off injection

•	 At full capacity, will have more than 60 beamlines

•	 Construction requires 2,900 tons of steel and 

41,000 cubic yards of concrete

•	 Will have 600,000 square feet of space total

•	 Ring building, nearing completion, has outside 

circumference of 913 meters (just over half a mile)

•	 When operating, will draw up to 20 megawatts of power

•	 Will require 2,500 tons of mechanical refrigeration 

and 1,800 tons of cooling tower capacity
FacilitieS

40

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

NSLS-II Construction Milestones

November 2008

Site prep work begins for ring 

building

January 2009

DOE approves construction start

February 2009

Torcon selected as general 

contractor for ring building

February 2009

New York State announces 

allocation of low-cost electricity

to support construction

March 2009

DOE allocates $184.3 million 

from Recovery Act to Brookhaven 

Lab, principally to accelerate 

construction

June 2009

Formal groundbreaking ceremony 

to mark construction start

(Photo 1)

July 2009

First concrete poured 

for ring building (Photo 2)

September 2009

First eight pieces of structural 

steel installed as part of utility and 

vehicle tunnels under ring building

(Photo 3)

October 2009

Cut and fi ll operations for ring 

building ends, ensuring stable 

foundation

November 2009

First high-density concrete 

poured for shielding

December 2009

Proposals solicited for design 

package for lab-offi ce buildings

February 2010

First structural steel erected 

for aboveground portion 

of ring building; continuous 

steel erection begins

March 2010

First steel arrives for ring building

(Photo 4)

August 2010

E.W. Howell selected as general 

contractor for lab-offi ce buildings 

attached to ring building (Photo 5)

12345
41

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

accelerator

“We had 14 goals for the year 

and checked off 11, with ‘in progress’ 

noted on the balance. This achievement 

is a testament to the talent and hard 

work of the Accelerator Division staff, 

our vendors, and our supporters at 

Brookhaven and elsewhere.”

- Ferdinand Willeke

 Director, Accelerator Division
Accelerator

42

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 2010 Annual Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Accelerator Division Delivers Reliable NSLS Beams, Key NSLS-II Components

The Photon Sciences Accelerator 

Division had a full workload in 2010. 

While it was generally business as 

usual at NSLS, maintaining an older 

synchrotron at a high performance 

level is not easy. The NSLS-II Project placed increasing demands on 

the division, with 2010 seeing great 

growth in construction and design, 

and preparations ongoing for the 

eventual transition from NSLS to 

the new facility.

NSLS has been operating for more 

than 30 years, but Accelerator Division staff members are still finding 

ways to keep it running reliably, 

despite the extensive preventative 

maintenance the facility needs. This 

year, the division’s efforts at NSLS 

involved aggressively maintaining 

the aged hardware system, replacing 

systems when necessary, providing spares for critical systems, and 

coming up with alternative solutions 

when replacing hardware didn’t 

make sense considering the relatively short time until NSLS stops 

running.

Among the many regular tasks involved are polishing exposed highvoltage parts, inspecting power 

supplies and electronics, cleaning 

heat exchangers and filters, and 

replacing fans and other parts that 

tend to wear out quickly. On the 

X-ray Ring, activities continued for 

the ongoing upgrade of the radiofrequency power source. And in 

early 2010 the division completed 

a major job: the removal of a corroded water-cooling tower on the 

NSLS roof and the installation of a 

new one. 

At NSLS-II, the Accelerator Division oversaw several production 

milestones. There was a great deal 

of progress in magnet production, beginning in February with a 

delivery of the first completed sextupole magnet. Several other “first 

article” magnets later arrived and 

staff began testing them for proper 

magnetic field quality and other key 

specifications. Magnet production 

and delivery was generally slower 

than expected, however, due to 

some initial manufacturing issues 

experienced by vendors.

The division awarded contracts 

for the NSLS-II linear accelerator 

and booster ring, and reviewed 

design and production schedules 

for both machines. There was also 

great progress in the production 

of girders, vacuum systems, power 

supplies, and electronic components. Staff began designing NSLSII’s many insertion devices and 

awarded a contract for the damping 

wiggler. They also awarded most of 

the contracts for the power supply 

components.

NSLS-II storage ring magnets — a 

total of 826 — include quadrupoles 

(left) and dipoles (right). The 

magnets are being built by vendors 

in six countries: China, Denmark, 

New Zealand, Russia, the United 

Kingdom, and the United States.
43

Accelerator

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 2010 Annual Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

NSLS-II’s Beam Position Monitoring System

One of the many built-in technologies that will make NSLS-II 

one of the most advanced 

synchrotrons in the world is the 

system that will monitor the 

position of the electron beam as 

it circles the main ring.

To deliver light of the highest 

quality, the beam must be ultrastable: It cannot stray more than 

200 nanometers in the vertical 

direction. This level of stability 

is unprecedented and, accordingly, requires a highly advanced 

beam position monitoring 

(BPM) system.

The mechanical requirements 

for the system’s diagnostics and 

instrumentation are extremely 

challenging. Research and development of the BPM began in August 2009 and made significant 

progress in fiscal year 2010. The 

system will consist, in part, of 

more than 300 individual monitors – 60 in the injection system 

and approximately 250 placed 

around the main storage ring. 

The monitors will each have two 

circular electrodes, known as 

“button pick-ups,” that will detect 

position-dependent electrical 

impulses from the beam. This 

information is then converted 

to digital data and distributed 

to computers in the NSLS-II 

control room to be analyzed 

and displayed. It takes only one 

10,000th of a second for a complete set of beam-orbit data to 

be collected, which allows even 

the tiniest deviation of the beam 

orbit to be corrected. It is in this 

way that the extreme orbit stability of NSLS-II is maintained.

As they design the system, the 

NSLS-II diagnostics team is 

very concerned how thermal 

effects will impact the long-term 

performance of the BPM. Powerful microwaves generated in 

the beam vacuum chamber can 

substantially heat certain BPM 

components, such as the button 

pick-ups, causing them to expand 

and the monitor to malfunction. 

The team must come up with 

solutions to these issues. For 

example, they decided to make 

the buttons from molybdenum, 

a metal with high electrical and 

thermal conductivity.

The first test of the system took 

place in June at the Advanced 

Light Source in Berkeley, California, and was successful. The test 

also showed that the system as it 

is currently designed will hold up 

well over time.

Beam position monitoring system
accelerator

44

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

X-Ray VUV-IR

Energy 2.800 GeV 0.808 GeV

Maximum Current 300 mA 1.0 A 

Photon Critical Wavelength

(Energy) for Dipole 

1.75 Å (7.1 keV) 20.3 Å (612 eV)

Photon Critical Wavelength

(Energy) for X17 wiggler at 4.2T 0.57 Å (22 keV) 

Horizontal Emittance 62 nm-rad 160 nm-rad

Vertical Emittance 0.34 nm-rad ≥ 0.35 nm-rad

(4 nm-rad in normal ops.)

Electron Orbital Period 567.2 nanoseconds 170.2 nanoseconds

Number of RF Buckets 30 9

Typical Bunch Mode 30 7

Natural RMS Energy Spread 9.2 x 10-4 5.0 x 10-4 ( Ib

< 20 mA)

RMS Bunch Length 44 mm 5 cm (Ib< 20 mA)

X-Ray and VUV-IR Parameters

NSLS reliability

Th e NSLS served up another 

excellent year, with the X-Ray Ring 

coming in at 95.4 percent reliability and 109.1 percent availability. 

Th e VUV Ring performed even 

better, at 98.2 percent and 110.1 

percent, respectively. Both reliability, the ratio of delivered beam 

time to scheduled beam time, and 

availability, which is very similar 

but also accounts for available 

beam time that wasn’t originally 

scheduled, are a measure of the 

machine’s performance. Such high 

percentages, all the more impressive considering the age of the 

facility and a tight budget, are a 

testament to a stellar staff .

FY2010 NSLS Machine Activities

User Metrics VUV/IR X-Ray

Reliability 98.2% 95.4%

Availability 109.0% 106.0%

Holidays

Interlocks Commissioning

Injection

Studies

Unscheduled

Downtime

63.3%

6.9%

11.7%

VUV-IR

18.1%

6.4%

18.4%

X-Ray

57.9%

17.3%

Scheduled Operations

Unscheduled Operations

Maintenance

Other - Studies, Com/Con, Holiday,

Injection, Unscheduled downtime, 

Interlock

Other Activities VUV/IR X-Ray

Studies 1.7% 3.8%

Com/Con 5.4% 7.0%

Holiday 2.5% 2.5%

Injection 0.7% 0.9%

Unsched. downtime 1.1% 2.7%

Interlock 0.4% 1.5%
45

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

beamlineS

“Synchrotron sources have quickly 

become an essential tool for a wide 

spectrum of research. All the action 

takes place at beamlines, each one 

consisting of a suite of sophisticated 

scientifi c instruments. The robust 

beamlines at NSLS produce remarkable 

science, and we made excellent progress 

on developing NSLS-II beamlines and 

associated science programs.”

- Qun Shen

 Director, Photon Division
Beamline

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2010 Annu

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Beamline & Optics R&D: Enhancing Tools at NSLS, NSLS-II

While keeping the existing ring 

and beamline mechanical systems 

running, Photon Sciences staff 

completed a number of R&D projects this year that will enhance the 

tools of researchers at NSLS and, in 

the near future, NSLS-II.

One of the major accomplishments 

was the installation and commissioning of NSLS beamline X17A, 

which is optimized for x-ray total 

scattering and atomic pair distribution function (PDF) experiments. 

The new beamline will alleviate 

the large demand for beam time 

on high-energy beamlines X17B1, 

X17B2, and X17B3. The scientific 

focus of X17A will be the structural 

characterization of disordered, 

nanocrystalline and complex 

nanostructured bulk materials at 

ambient and extreme conditions. 

The beamline features a novel Laue 

diffraction monochromator design 

that uses two-axis bending of the 

silicon crystal to simultaneously 

focus the beam in two orthogonal 

planes. Due to the bending, lattice 

strain increases integrated reflectivity of the Laue diffraction crystal by 

an order of magnitude compared 

to a perfect crystal. Anticlastic 

bending, a natural phenomenon for 

a crystal under strain, is typically 

considered a nuisance that must be 

“controlled.” In this case, it allows 

meridional focusing. A bender 

design, one that holds a rectangular 

crystal at the corners and bends it 

at the edges, makes slight adjustments to the “natural” anticlastic 

curvature to give the two-dimensional focusing.

Also this year, researchers developed a new method for measuring 

x-ray optics aberrations. Creating 

the very small x-ray spots used for 

The X17A monochromator 

in the X17 front end, shown 

when rolled out of the 

chamber

Lens Development for X-ray Nanofocusing at NSLS-II

NSLS-II will use a wedged multilayer Laue lens (MLL) to achieve 

an unprecedented level of x-ray 

nanofocusing. MLLs are fabricated 

by magnetron sputter deposition 

onto small silicon blanks. They 

consist of many thousands of layers, with a total growth thickness 

goal of about 100 microns. 

In 2009, the optics R&D lab designed and built a new magnetron 

sputtering system in collaboration 

with CVD Equipment Corporation 

in Ronkonkoma, NY. The system 

consists of a 23-foot, ultra-high 

vacuum chamber containing nine 

magnetron-sputtering guns, four 

cryogenic pumps, and a highprecision, linear-motion platform 

to enable the guns to deposit a 

stack of multi-film layers. The latest growths have been 43 microns 

thick with 6,510 layers and grew 

continuously for five days. All 

three metrics are records.

Multilayer Laue lens (MLL) 

deposition system, built in 

collaboration with CVD Equipment 

Corporation in Ronkonkoma, NY.

continued on next page
47

Beamline

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2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Left: Transmission x-ray microscope

Right: Brookhaven scientist Jun 

Wang at beamline X8C

synchrotron nanoscale research 

requires a specialized and nearly 

perfectly formed optic to modify 

the phase profile of the beam. To 

look for aberrations — errors in

the phase profile due to the optics 

(which can broaden and distort 

the spots) — scientists usually 

scan a slab of metal called a knife 

edge across the beam face. But to 

measure the beam size accurately 

with this method, the knife edge 

must be smaller than the beam. 

This is a problem for the types of 

nanoscience experiments planned 

at NSLS-II, where the beam is so 

small that the knife edge would 

have to be just one atomic plane 

thick — much too thin to fabricate. Photon Sciences researchers, along with colleagues at 

Argonne National Laboratory, the 

University of Rochester, and Cornell University, have figured out 

how to use an alternative called 

phase retrieval. The technique 

allows researchers to scan the 

beam with much larger feature 

sizes and then mathematically 

reconstruct the data to characterize the beam and its aberrations 

at any point along its path.

New NSLS Transmission X-ray Microscope Enhances Nanoscale Studies

A new microscope installed this 

year will give NSLS users a powerful way to image energy storage 

materials, microelectronics, and 

biofuels. The transmission x-ray 

microscope (TXM), mounted at 

beamline X8C for use with hard 

x-rays, has an application energy 

range of 5,000-11,000 electron 

volts, and a target imaging resolution of 30 nanometers. 

NSLS was awarded $2 million 

in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding 

to purchase the microscope 

— called the nanoXCT-S200. It 

was ordered from Xradia, Inc., 

headquartered in California, 

and will play an important role 

in the future of photon science 

research at Brookhaven Lab. 

With future funding anticipated, 

the microscope will be moved to 

a superconducting wiggler source 

at NSLS-II.

Other achievements made in 

2010 were the installation of a 

transmission x-ray microscope 

at beamline X8C and the use of 

a wedged multilayer Laue lens 

to reach a record level of x-ray 

nanofocusing (see sidebars), 

and the creation of a large 

scanning stage that allows 

researchers to take x-ray fluorescence images of hefty items 

like paintings in a very short 

time frame. Art historians have 

been particularly interested in 

the latter development as a way 

to test the authenticity and 

genesis of artwork.

Top: Experimental setup of 

the phase retrieval technique. 

Bottom: Measured and 

simulated lens aberrations 

(left) and their corresponding 

through-focus amplitude 

of reconstructions (right) 

for different lens angular 

misalignments. (From Manuel 

Guizar-Sicairos et al., Appl. 

Phys. Lett. 98, 111108 [2011])

continued from previous page
Beamline

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2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Project Beamlines

Much of the year was spent on 

design work for the six project 

beamlines, with each completing 

a preliminary design report (PDR) 

in September 2010. The completed designs include engineering 

details sufficiently mature to begin 

long-lead-time procurements of 

major beamline systems, such as 

radiation enclosures and optical 

systems. Motion controllers are 

being tested and specifications are 

being written for a standard unit.

The coherent hard x-ray scattering (CHX) beamline design 

is complete, with a carefully 

optimized optics layout that will 

ensure that the beam stability required for the experiments will be 

achieved. The endstation design, 

including the SAXS and WAXS 

instruments, is complete.

The coherent soft x-ray scattering/polarization (CSX) beamline 

optical design was completed 

and the beamline was ready for 

purchasing the major optical components. The specifications for the 

elliptically polarized undulators 

were approved with the insertion 

device group, and advances were 

made working with the accelerator 

group to finalize the design of the 

straight section.

The hard x-ray nanoprobe 

(HXN) team continued to develop 

nanopositioning techniques. Testing of piezo scanning stages and 

laser interferometers in the lab 

yielded encouraging results, and 

a preliminary design of an MLL 

microscope is in progress.

continued on next page

Beamline layouts from PDRs, 

September 2010.

Top: Coherent hard x-ray 

scattering 

Middle: Coherent soft x-ray 

scattering/polarization

Bottom: Hard x-ray 

nanoprobe
49

Beamline

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2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

continued from previous page

The inelastic x-ray scattering 

(IXS) team completed the mirror 

upgrade of the R&D beamline at 

NSLS, improving brightness by 10 

times. Together with improvement 

in crystal quality, the resolution 

function of the CDW-CDW 

test carried out on the beamline 

achieved extremely sharp tails, 

reaching a critical milestone. Optical metrology and x-ray tests of 

the multilayer Montel mirror were 

completed and showed expected 

performance.

The sub-mm resolution x-ray 

spectroscopy (SRX) beamline is an in-vacuum undulator 

beamline that uses K-B mirrors 

for focusing. It is designed to 

eventually accomodate a second 

in-vacuum undulator beamline 

canted by 2-milliradians and using zone plates for focusing. The 

K-B beamline design is complete 

and the endstation design is 

progressing.

The optical layout of the twobranches of the x-ray powder 

diffraction (XPD) beamline 

was modeled and optimized to 

achieve the best possible flux 

throughput, tailored to the 

high energy, large divergence 

beam delivered by the damping 

wiggler source. For enhanced 

performance, the optics includes 

a novel sagittally bent double 

Laue crystal monochromator 

similar in concept to the NSLS 

monochromators in operation at 

beamlines X17B and X7B. Special attention was devoted to the 

high power and high heat load 

management.

Beamline layouts from PDRs, 

September 2010.

Top: Inelastic x-ray scattering 

Middle: Sub-mm resolution 

x-ray spectroscopy 

Bottom: X-ray powder 

diffraction 
Beamline

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2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Detector R&D

Detectors sit at the very end of the 

intricate systems that constitute 

light sources like NSLS and NSLSII. Because detectors are where 

the science gets done, detector 

research and development can 

enable new science.

For the user community, NSLS-II 

will offer a significantly higher 

degree of coherence in its beams 

than most other synchrotrons, 

so imaging techniques that take 

advantage of that superiority are at 

the forefront of detector R&D.

The CHX beamline, one of six 

project beamlines being built for 

NSLS-II, uses photon correlation 

spectroscopy. The goal is to detect 

the arrival time of photons with 

the highest possible resolution 

over the largest possible area. Current detectors allow a time resolution in the millisecond range and 

require the full detector area to be 

read out with millisecond frame 

rate. The detector being developed 

will provide a time resolution of 10 

microseconds in the first generation and around 10 nanoseconds 

in the next. DOE is funding this 

effort, which is a collaboration 

involving Brookhaven, Fermilab, 

and AGH University of Science 

and Technology in Poland.

Another project beamline at 

NSLS-II, XPD, will enable diffraction using x-rays in the 50-100 keV 

range. At these energies, silicon 

becomes very transparent, so 

any silicon-based detector will be 

extremely inefficient. Work has 

begun on a technology based on 

germanium, which is much more 

highly absorbing in this energy 

range. Although this is extremely 

challenging, success will enable a 

range of new detectors and a new 

generation of experiments making 

use of high-energy x-rays.

Detector R&D can also help NSLS 

users to do better experiments. 

One user from the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

presented a challenge: Measure 

samples simultaneously using a 

technique known as EXAFS. The 

solution: A miniature four-channel 

ionization chamber was developed, providing an excellent way 

to do comparative experiments. 

A bonus: These devices have also 

proved useful at the Advanced 

Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

A miniature four-channel 

ionization chamber that 

was developed at NSLS
51

Beamline

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Diffraction

& Scattering 0 20

Macromolecular

Crystallogrophy 0 10

Microspectroscopy 3 6

Spectroscopy 7 9

Other 1 4

Insertion Devices

VUV-IR X-Ray

X-Ray Ring

VUV-IR Ring

U7 A

U5 UA

U4 B

U3 C

U2 A,B

U13 UB

X21

X25

U11

U12 A

U12 IR

U10 B

X1 A1, B

X4 A,C

X6 A, B

X7 B

X9

X8 A, C

X10 A, B, C

X11 A, B

X12 B, C

X13 B

X17 B1, B2, B3, C

X14 A

X15 A, B

X16 C X18 A, B

X19 A, C

X20 A, C

X22 B, C

X23 A2

X24 A, C

X26 A, C

X27 A, B, C

X28 C

X29 A

X3 A, B

X2 B

Diffraction

& Scattering 0 20

Macromolecular

Crystallogrophy 0 10

Microspectroscopy 3 6

Spectroscopy 7 9

Other 1 4

Insertion Devices

VUV-IR X-Ray

X-Ray Ring

VUV-IR Ring

U7 A

U5 UA

U4 B

U3 C

U2 A,B

U13 UB

X25

U11

U12 A

U12 IR

U10 B

X1 A1, B

X4 A,C

X6 A, B

X7 B

X9

X8 A, C

X26 A, C

X27 A, B, C

X28 C

X29 A X3 A, B

X2 B

Beamline Status

FY10 Beamline Guide

In 2010, 49 X-Ray and 11 

Vacuum Ultraviolet-Infrared 

operational beamlines were 

available for a wide range of 

experiments using a variety of 

techniques. 

There are two types of beamlines at NSLS: facility beamlines, 

of which there were 21; and 

participating research team 

(PRT) beamlines, of which there 

were 39. Facility beamlines are 

operated by Photon Sciences 

staff members and reserve a 

minimum of 50 percent of their 

beam time for general users. 

PRT beamlines are run by user 

groups with similar interests and 

reserve 25 percent of their beam 

time for general users, although 

they can grant additional time at 

their own discretion.

The following pages provide 

details on NSLS operational 

beamlines, including their 

unique characteristics.
Beamline

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2010 Annu

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Beamline Source Type of Research Energy Range Type Organization

VUV-IR Beamlines

U2A Bend

IRMS

High pressure research 

IR spectroscopy

30-10000cm-1 FB

BNL-NSLS 

Carnegie Institution of Washington 

COMPRES

U2B Bend InSynC - Education 

IRMS 500-4000 cm-1 FB BNL-NSLS

U3C Bend Metrology 50-1000 eV PRT

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

Los Alamos National Laboratory 

National Security Technologies 

Sandia National Laboratories

U4B Bend

X-ray reflectivity 

X-ray scattering, magnetic 

X-ray scattering, resonant 

MCD 

XAS 

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

20-1200 eV FB BNL-NSLS 

Montana State University

U5UA Insertion 

Device

ARPES 

UPS, spin-resolved 15-150 eV FB BNL-NSLS BNL-CFN

U7A Bend NEXAFS 

XPS 180-1200 eV PRT

BNL-Chemistry 

Dow Chemical Company 

National Institute of Standards & Technology

U10B Bend IRMS 500-4000 cm-1 FB BNL-NSLS

U11 Bend UV-CD 3-10 eV PRT BNL-Biology

U12A Bend XAS 

XPS 100-800 eV PRT Oak Ridge National Laboratory

U12IR Bend

IR spectroscopy 

Magnetospectroscopy 

THz / millimeter wave spectroscopy 

Time-resolved spectroscopy

8-20000 cm-1 FB BNL-NSLS

U13UB Insertion 

Device

UPS

ARPES 3-30 eV PRT

Boston University 

BNL-Physics 

Columbia University

ARPES Photoelectron Spectroscopy, 

Angle-Resolved PRT Participating Research Team

DAFS X-Ray Diffraction Anomalous 

Fine Structure SAXS Small Angle X-Ray Scattering

DEI Diffraction-Enhanced Imaging STXM Scanning Transmission X-Ray Microscopy

EXAFS X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy, 

Extended Fine Structure UPS UV Photoelectron Spectroscopy

FB Facility Beamline UV-CD Ultraviolet Circular Dichroism

HARMST High Aspect Ratio Microsystems 

Technology WAXD Wide-Angle X-Ray Diffraction

IRMS Infrared Microspectroscopy WAXS Wide-Angle X-Ray Scattering

MAD Multi-Wavelength Anomalous 

Dispersion XAS X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy

MCD Magnetic Circular Dichroism XPS X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

NEXAFS Near Edge X-Ray Absorption 

Spectroscopy XRD X-Ray Diffraction

PEEM Photo Emission Electron Microscopy

Beamline Guide Abbreviations
53

Beamline

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2010 Annu

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Beamline Source Type of Research Energy Range Type Organization

X-Ray Beamlines

X1A1 Insertion 

Device

STXM

NEXAFS 0.25-0.50 keV PRT

BNL-CFN 

BNL-CMPMS 

SUNY @ Plattsburgh

X1B Insertion 

Device

XAS 

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy 

XPS

0.2-1.6 keV PRT

Boston University 

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility 

University of Illinois

X2B Bend X-ray microtomography 8-35 keV PRT ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.

X3A Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 4.6-15.1 keV PRT

Case Western Reserve University 

Rockefeller University 

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research

X3B Bend XAS 

EXAFS 3.8-13.3 keV PRT Case Western Reserve University

X4A Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 3.5-20 keV PRT

Albert Einstein College of Medicine 

City University of New York (CUNY) 

Columbia University 

Cornell University 

Mount Sinai School of Medicine 

New York Structural Biology Center 

New York University 

SUNY @ Buffalo 

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research 

Wadsworth Center

X4C Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 7-20 keV PRT

Albert Einstein College of Medicine 

City University of New York (CUNY) 

Columbia University 

Cornell University 

Mount Sinai School of Medicine 

New York Structural Biology Center 

New York University 

Rockefeller University 

SUNY @ Buffalo 

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research 

Wadsworth Center

X6A Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 6-23 keV FB BNL-NSLS

X6B Bend

XRD, surface 

WAXD

X-ray reflectivity

6.5-19 keV FB BNL-NSLS

X7B Bend

XRD, single crystal 

XRD, time resolved 

WAXD

WAXS

25-50 keV PRT BNL-Chemistry 

General Electric

X8A Bend Metrology 1.0-5.9 keV PRT

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

Los Alamos National Laboratory 

National Security Technologies 

Sandia National Laboratories

X8C Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 5-19 keV PRT

Biogen Incorporated 

Biotechnology Research Institute 

Hoffmann-La Roche 

National Institutes of Health

X9 Bend

X-ray Scattering, biomolecular 

solution 

SAXS 

WAXS

2.1-20 keV FB BNL-NSLS 

BNL-CFN
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2010 Annu

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Beamline Source Type of Research Energy Range Type Organization

X10A Bend

XRD, powder 

WAXD

SAXS 

WAXS

8-11 keV PRT ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.

X10B Bend

XRD, powder 

XRD, surface 

WAXD

X-ray reflectivity 

X-ray scattering, surface 

WAXS

14 keV PRT ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.

X10C Bend

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

4-24 keV PRT ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.

X11A Bend

DAFS

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

4.5-40 keV PRT

BNL-Material Sciences 

BNL-Environmental Sciences 

Canadian Light Source 

ETH Labs - Zuerich 

Natural Resources Canada 

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) 

Naval Surface Warfare Center 

New Jersey Institute of Technology 

North Carolina State University 

Sarah Lawrence College 

Stony Brook University

X11B Bend

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

5-23 keV PRT

BNL-Environmental Sciences 

BNL-Material Sciences 

Canadian Light Source 

ETH Labs - Zuerich 

Natural Resources Canada 

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) 

Naval Surface Warfare Center 

New Jersey Institute of Technology 

North Carolina State University 

Sarah Lawrence College 

Stony Brook University

X12B Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 5-20 keV PRT BNL-Biology

X12C Bend MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 5.5-20.0 keV PRT BNL-Biology

X13B Insertion 

Device Microdiffraction Imaging 9-16 keV FB BNL-NSLS Columbia University

X14A Bend

MAD 

XRD, powder 

XRD, single crystal 

XRD, time resolved 

WAXD

X-ray reflectivity

6-22 keV PRT

New Jersey Institute of Technology 

New York State College of Ceramics 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

University of Tennessee

X15A Bend DEI 10-60 keV FB BNL-NSLS

X15B Bend

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

0.8-15 keV PRT

Corning, Inc. 

Georgia Institute of Technology 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Lucent Technologies, Inc. 

Miami University 

North Carolina State University 

Princeton University 

Stony Brook University 

University of Delaware 

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
55Beamlines

2010 Annual Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Beamline Source Type of Research Energy Range Type Organization

X16C Bend XRD, powder 6.5-25 keV PRT Stony Brook University

X17B1 Insertion 

Device XRD, powder 20-150 keV FB BNL-NSLS Rutgers University

X17B2 Insertion 

Device

XRD, powder 

XRD, time resolved 

High pressure research

20-130 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

COMPRES 

Stony Brook University - Mineral Physics 

 Institute

X17B3 Insertion 

Device

XRD, powder 

XRD, single crystal 

High pressure research

20-150 keV, 

30 and 80 keV 

monochromatic

FB

BNL-NSLS 

COMPRES 

Princeton University 

Stony Brook University

X17C Insertion 

Device

XRD, powder 

XRD, single crystal 

High pressure research

5-80 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

COMPRES 

Princeton University 

Stony Brook University

X18A Bend

XRD, powder 

XRD, single crystal 

XRD, surface 

WAXD

X-ray reflectivity 

X-ray scattering, surface 

WAXS 

XAS

5-25 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

BNL-Chemistry 

BNL-Electrochemistry 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

UOP LLC 

University of Delaware 

University of Massachusetts - Department 

 of Chemistry 

Yeshiva University

X18B Bend

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

4.7-40 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

BNL-Chemistry 

BNL-Electrochemistry 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

UOP LLC 

University of Deleware 

Yeshiva University

X19A Bend

X-ray scattering, resonant 

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

2.1-17 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

BNL-Chemistry 

BNL-Electrochemistry 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

UOP LLC 

University of Deleware 

Yeshiva University

X19C Bend X-ray topography 6-40 keV PRT

BNL-Instrumentation 

Fairfield Crystal Technology, LLC 

Kansas State University 

SUNY @ Albany 

Stony Brook University

X20A Bend

XRD, single crystal 

WAXD

X-ray reflectivity 

X-ray scattering, surface

4.5-13 keV PRT IBM Research Division

X20C Bend XRD, time resolved 4-11 keV PRT IBM Research Division

X21 Insertion 

Device

XRD, single crystal 

XRD, surface 

WAXD

X-ray scattering, magnetic 

X-ray scattering, resonant 

X-ray scattering, surface 

WAXS

6-16 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

Boston University 

University of Vermont

X22B Bend X-ray scattering, liquid 8 keV PRT BNL-CMPMSD 

BNL-CFN
Beamline

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2010 Annu

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Beamline Source Type of Research Energy Range Type Organization

X22C Bend

XRD, single crystal 

XRD, surface 

X-ray reflectivity 

X-ray scattering, resonant

3-12 keV PRT

BNL-CMPMSD 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Rutgers University

X23A2 Bend

DAFS

XAS 

EXAFS 

NEXAFS

4.7-30 keV PRT National Institute of Standards & Technology

X24A Bend

XSW 

Auger spectroscopy 

EXAFS 

X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy 

XPS

1.8-6 keV PRT National Institute of Standards & Technology

X24C Bend

X-ray reflectivity 

UV absorption spectroscopy 

XAS

0.006-1.8 keV PRT

Artep Corporation 

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) 

SFA, Inc.

X25 Insertion 

Device

MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 5-20 keV FB BNL-NSLS BNL-Biology

X26A Bend

InSynC - Education 

Microdiffraction Imaging 

X-ray microprobe

3-30 keV PRT

BNL-Environmental Sciences 

University of Chicago 

University of Kentucky

X26C Bend

MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 

Ultraviolet photo absorption 

 spectroscopy

5-20 keV PRT

BNL-Biology 

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 

Stony Brook University

X27A Bend X-ray microprobe 4.5-32 keV FB

BNL-NSLS 

BNL-Environmental Sciences 

Stony Brook University - CEMS 

University of Chicago, Center for Advanced 

 Radiation Sources

X27B Bend HARMST 8 - 40 keV PRT BNL-Nonproliferation & National Security

X27C Bend

XRD, time resolved 

WAXD

SAXS 

WAXS

9 keV PRT

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. 

Naval Surface Warfare Center 

Stony Brook University

X28C Bend X-ray Footprinting Focused White 

Beam PRT Case Western Reserve University

X29A Insertion 

Device

MAD 

Macromolecular crystallography 6-15 keV PRT BNL-Biology Case Western Reserve University
57

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

SaFetY

“We’re proud of the excellent safety record 

we earned in 2010. It would not have been 

possible without the hard work, dedication, 

and experience of the EHS staff and the 

continuing efforts of our contractors 

to work more safely.”

- Steve Hoey

 Manager, Environment, Safety and Health
Sa

fet

y

58

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Photon Sciences EHS Group Expands, Evolves in 2010

Fiscal year 2010 was busy for 

Environment, Safety, and Health 

(ESH) staff in the Photon Sciences Directorate, due in no 

small part to the year-long strategic planning leading up to the 

reorganization of the directorate 

at year’s end and the continuing 

rapid growth of NSLS-II.

Photon Sciences ESH already 

has an excellent safety record 

under its belt. In 2010, as was 

the case with the Laboratory as 

a whole, a strong emphasis was 

placed on reducing injuries. As 

a result, there were far fewer accidents among Photon Sciences 

staff and NSLS-II contractors 

than in 2009. In fact, in the 

directorate the only incidents 

were six first-aid cases, statistics 

that are well within DOE Office 

of Science goals. Among the 

contractors, the injury rates are 

far better than that of industry 

in general.

The directorate’s exemplary record 

can be partly attributed to a major 

“housekeeping” event that took 

place early in the year, in which 

staff identified hundreds of safety 

issues, both large and small. About 

a third were addressed on the spot, 

with the remaining items eventually tracked to completion — the 

most successful housekeeping 

effort at Brookhaven. Additionally, 18 safety audits conducted 

throughout the year yielded few 

findings.

Another notable event was the replacement of a large water-cooling 

tower on the NSLS roof. The tower 

needed a new support structure, 

and staff decided to take the opportunity to swap out the aging 

tower. This difficult and potentially 

dangerous task was completed 

swiftly and without incident.

Radiation safety at NSLS-II was 

a focus, with a third radiation 

safety workshop held in June 

2010. Experts from Brookhaven 

and other synchrotrons came 

together to discuss safety design 

at the new facility. The design 

has evolved tremendously since 

2008; among its many components will be an advanced system 

of radiation monitors.

Key steps in the process to ready 

NSLS-II for operations included 

completing the Fire Hazards 

Analysis and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air 

Pollutants assessment, the latter 

showing that the radiation dose 

to staff will be well below federal 

standards. Members of the general public are not expected to be 

exposed to any radiation when 

NSLS-II is operating.

Overall, Photon Sciences ESH 

continues to adapt to the challenges of a new and rapidly 

growing directorate.

Non-Construction Injury Cases

16

10

4

14

8

2

12

6

0

1997 1999 2001 2003

Fiscal year

Number of injuries

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2005 2007 2009

First aid

Recordable

Days away, restricted, or transferred
59

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

people

Over 3,000 people carried out the activities of the Photon Sciences 

Directorate during FY10. Th is included more than 380 Photon 

Sciences staff members, 36 employees from other Brookhaven Lab 

organizations, nearly 340 contractors, and more than 2,200 visiting 

scientists – or “users” – who came to NSLS during the year to run 

experiments in fi elds ranging from biology to materials science.

Among the Photon Sciences staff , 22 percent were scientists, 32 

percent were professionals (including engineers), 31 percent were 

technicians, 11 percent were support staff , and 4 percent were 

managers.

Staff from other Brookhaven Lab organizations, who typically 

worked 50 percent or more of their time on Photon Sciences 

activities, came from groups including the Human Resources 

Division; the Procurement and Property Management Division; 

the Community Relations, Education, Government, and Public 

Aff airs Directorate; and the Superconducting Magnet Division.

Th e largest group among the contractors numbered about 300, 

who worked on the NSLS-II construction site.

We the People
people

60

2010 AnnuAl RepoRt Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

1: users’ Meeting poster 

session winners with nSlS 

ueC Chair Bruce Ravel (left): 

erik Muller, louis piper, 

Kathryn Dorst, Zhihua Xu, 

Yimin Mao, and Andrew Ying

2: photon Sciences employees 

demonstrate the wow-factor 

of a Mentos-soda geyser at 

take our Sons and Daughters 

to Work day

3: university of Chicago 

geochemist tony lanzirotti 

explains the basics of 

synchrotrons to local 

teachers participating in the 

Introducing Synchrotrons Into 

the Classroom program.

4: Beamline scientist Allen 

orville takes Flat Stanley on a 

tour of nSlS

5: physicist Cecilia SanchezHanke and safety engineer 

Keith Klaus, “winners” of the 

nSlS-CFn users’ Meeting 

pledge drive, enjoying their 

prize: a dip in the shark tank 

at Atlantis Marine World in 

Riverhead, nY.

1

2

3

4

5
61

People

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Close-up: NSLS Users

From Alabama to Australia, more 

than 2,200 visiting scientists from 

over 400 institutions came to 

NSLS to conduct their research in 

FY10. Exactly 700 were new to the 

facility.

These scientists, known as “users,” are awarded beam time by 

submitting a general user proposal through a peer-reviewed, 

web-based system. The proposal 

is rated based on various scientific criteria and can remain active 

for up to six cycles of operation 

(about two years). 

In FY10, about 1,000 requests for 

beam time were submitted, with 

about one-third of those requests 

on new proposals. Beam time is 

given without charge, as long as 

the research results are published 

in open literature. Work that is 

proprietary in nature is charged 

on a full-cost recovery basis consistent with U.S. Department of 

Energy guidelines. 

The majority of NSLS users (74 

percent) come from academic 

institutions, and about one third 

(33 percent) come from New 

York State. Another third come 

from locations nearby in the 

northeastern states. About half 

of the users are U.S. citizens and 

almost 27 percent are women. 

The greatest number of users 

works in the life sciences field 

(42 percent), followed by materials science (29 percent). When 

the number of days spent on 

experiments is considered, materials science studies make up 

the largest portion of beam time 

used (42 percent). 

In FY10, almost 40 percent of 

the researchers working at NSLS 

were students in undergraduate 

or graduate programs. About 

23 percent of the users were 

post-doctoral researchers, with 

faculty members, professional 

staff, or research scientists making up the balance.

NSLS Users by Affiliation

Academic 

74%

BNL Employees 

9%

DOE Employees 

(non-BNL) 

2%

Federal Agencies 

(non-DOE) 

2%

Industry / Corporate 

7%

Other Labs and 

Affiliations 

6%

Beamtime Used*

Materials 

Sciences 

42%

Life

Sciences 

19%

Environmental & 

Geosciences 

9%

* Based on running times from Safety Approval Forms

Applied Sciences 

& Engineering 

12%

Optical/Nuclear/ 

General Physics 

4%

Chemical 

Sciences 

9%

Other 

5%

NSLS Users by Field of Research

Geographical User Distribution

Life Sciences 

42%

NSLS

Northeast 

33%

Materials 

Sciences 

29%

New York 

Only 

33%

Foreign 

15%

NonNortheast 

19%

Geosciences 

and Ecology 

13%

Applied Science 

and Engineering 

3%

Optical / Nuclear / 

General Physics 

5%

Unknown 

3%

Chemical Sciences 

5%
People

62

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Aspiring Scientists and Engineers Spend Summer at NSLS, NSLS-II

More than 40 college students 

and professors spent their summer at Brookhaven Lab to work 

on a wide variety of science and 

engineering projects at NSLS 

and NSLS-II. The visitors — 26 

students and two Faculty and 

Student Teams (FaST) program 

professors at NSLS and 14 

students at NSLS-II — worked 

alongside Photon Sciences employees in areas ranging from the 

study of Alzheimer’s disease to 

the development of new software 

and instrumentation. Students 

also had the opportunity to 

attend scientific lectures, tour 

Brookhaven’s research facilities, 

and participate in numerous 

social activities.

The Laboratory was especially 

delighted to host 13 students 

from the GEM program, which 

is by far the largest number of 

GEM students ever at BNL. Of 

these, 11 worked at NSLS-II, 

one at the Center for Functional 

Nanomaterials, and one in the 

Collider-Accelerator Department. GEM stands for National 

Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, Inc. 

In the GEM Fellow Technical 

Presentation Competition in 

Virginia at the end of the summer, two NSLS-II GEM students 

took top honors: Rafael Lozano, 

a first-year graduate student in 

aerospace engineering at the 

Georgia Institute of Technology, 

came in first overall, and Niaja 

Farve, who started graduate 

school at the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology in 

the fall, came in third. Under 

the supervision of Evgueni 

Nazaretski, Lozano worked on 

nanopositioning R&D for the 

hard x-ray nanoprobe beamline 

at NSLS-II, designing the new 

end station microscope. Farve 

worked with scientists Juergen 

Thieme and Vincent DeAndrade 

to perform ray tracing for the 

future submicron-resolution 

x-ray spectroscopy beamline at 

NSLS-II.

Left: 2010 Photon Sciences 

Directorate summer students

Right, top: Rafael Lozano, firstplace winner in the GEM Fellow 

Technical Presentation Competition

Right, bottom: Niaja Farve, 

third-place winner in the GEM 

competition
63

People

2010 Annu

al Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Top: Science Advisory Committee

Bottom: Users’ Executive 

Committee

A Little Help from our Friends

The Photon Sciences (PS) 

directorate frequently seeks 

advice from a number of external 

committees made up of users, 

reviewers, and experts in a wide 

range of scientific fields.

The Users’ Executive Committee provides a forum for ongoing, 

organized discussions between 

representatives of the NSLS user 

community and the management 

and administration of PS, Brookhaven National Laboratory, funding 

agencies, Congress, and other 

synchrotron user groups. Its goal is 

to communicate current and future 

needs, concerns, and trends, and to 

disseminate information about plans 

for NSLS, NSLS-II, and Brookhaven 

Lab. In addition to regular members, 

the UEC appoints Special Interest 

Group (SpIG) representatives, who 

are divided into areas of common 

concern. 

In March, two of the directorate’s 

committees, the NSLS Science Advisory Committee and the NSLS-II 

Experimental Facilities Advisory 

Committee, were replaced with 

the Photon Sciences Science Advisory Committee (SAC). The SAC 

advises the Associate Laboratory 

Director for Photon Sciences on all 

scientific and policy issues related 

to the full and effective use of 

NSLS and NSLS-II and on future 

developments required to achieve 

the highest possible scientific 

productivity of both facilities.

As part of the peer-review process of general user proposals, the 

Proposal Review Panels (PRPs) 

review and rate the proposals 

within their scientific area. Members are drawn from the scientific 

community and usually serve a 

two-year term. Each PRP has an 

appointed chair, who is part of the 

Proposal Oversight Panel, or POP, 

with a few other select members. 

The POP reviews proposals that 

might need special attention due 

to use of multiple techniques or 

conflicts in scores.

In addition to the SAC, staff 

members working on the NSLSII Project consult with three 

groups: the NSLS-II Project 

Advisory Committee (PAC), the 

Accelerator Systems Advisory 

Committee (ASAC), and the 

Conventional Facilities Advisory 

Committee (CFAC). 

The PAC reviews the progress of 

the NSLS-II Project on matters related to project planning, 

execution, management, and 

safety. It identifies issues whose 

resolution is critical to the success 

of the project in meeting project 

performance, cost, and schedule 

goals, and provides continuity of 

oversight until the completion of 

the project.

The ASAC is composed of external 

experts trained in accelerator 

physics and engineering who are 

familiar with the design, construction, and operations of major 

accelerator systems. This group 

provides guidance on technical 

choices, trade-offs, and decisions; 

value engineering; measures to 

improve availability and reliability 

of operations; diagnostics and controls; and other related issues.

The CFAC is comprised of 

external experts trained in 

conventional construction, most 

of whom have had extensive experience in designing and constructing conventional facilities and 

the supporting infrastructure 

associated with major scientific 

user facilities. This group provides 

advice on the development of the 

improvements to land, conventional construction, and utilities 

systems required to deliver the 

maximum benefit to users.

The members of these valuable 

groups are listed in the following 

pages.
People

64

2010 Annual Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Users’ Executive Committee

Chair Tony Lanzirotti, University of Chicago

Vice Chair Simon Billinge, Columbia University

Past Chair Bruce Ravel, National Institute of Standards and 

 Technology (NIST)

General Member Jay Bass, University of Illinois

General Member Jen Bohon, Case Western Reserve University

General Member Dan Fischer, NIST

General Member David Mullins, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Ex-Officio Lisa Miller, BNL

Ex-Officio Kathy Nasta, BNL

Ex-Officio Qun Shen, BNL

UEC Special Interest Group

Representatives

Bio. Crystallography 

& Diffraction Annie Heroux, BNL

High Pressure Michael Vaughan, Stony Brook 

 University (SBU)

Imaging Paul Northrup

Industrial Users Jean Jordan-Sweet, IBM Research

 Division

Infrared Users Randy Smith, BNL

Magnetism Cecilia Sanchez Hanke, BNL

Students & Post Docs Alvin Acerbo, SBU

Topography Michael Dudley, SBU 

UV Photoemission 

& Surface Science Sanjaya Senanayake, BNL

EXAFS Anatoly Frenkel, Yeshiva University

Science Advisory Committee

Simon Bare, UOP, LLC 

Murray Gibson, Northeastern University 

Ernie Hall, General Electric Global Research 

Jerry Hastings, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 

Russell Hemley, Carnegie Institution of Washington

John Hemminger, University of California, Irvine 

Keith Hodgson (Chair), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Leemor Joshua-Tor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Steve Kevan, University of Oregon 

Sine Larsen, University of Copenhagen 

Gerd Materlik, Diamond Light Source 

Simon Mochrie, Yale University 

Harald Reichert, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility 

Janet Smith, University of Michigan 

Friso van der Veen, Swiss Light Source 

Pierre Wiltzius, University of California, Santa Barbara

Proposal Review Panels

IR/UV/Soft X-ray Spectroscopy: Chemical 

Sciences/Soft Matter/Biophysics

Benjamin DeKoven, X-Lubes, Inc.

Daniel Fischer (Chair), NIST

Mary Gilles, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Joseph Lenhart, Army Research Laboratory

Robert Lodder, University of Kentucky

Gary Mitchell, Dow Chemical Company

IR/UV/Soft X-ray Spectroscopy: Magnetism/

Strongly Correlated Electrons/Surface

Robert Bartynski (Chair), Rutgers University

Alexander Moewes, University of Saskatchewan

David Mullins, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Robert Opila Jr, University of Delaware

Boris Sinkovic, University of Connecticut

Jiufeng Tu, City University of New York

Tonica Valla, BNL

Imaging & Microprobes: Biological & Medical 

Fulvia Arfelli, University of Trieste/INFN

Leroy Chapman, University of Saskatchewan

Paul Dumas, Soleil Synchrotron

Meghan Faillace, Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Barry Lai (Chair), Argonne National Laboratory 

Andreana Leskovjan, SBU

Irit Sagi, Weizmann Institute of Science

Franz Stefan Vogt, Argonne National Laboratory

Samuel Webb, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 

Gayle Woloschak, Northwestern University

Imaging and Microprobes: Chemical 

and Material Sciences

Harald Ade (Chair), North Carolina State University

David Black, Topographix 

Darren Dale, Cornell University

Paul Evans, University of Wisconsin

Mark Rivers, University of Chicago

Paul Zschack, Argonne National Laboratory

Imaging and Microprobes: Environmental 

and Geosciences

Don Baker, McGill University

David Black, Topographix

Darren Dale, Cornell University

George Flynn, State University of New York at Plattsburgh

Matthew Ginder-Vogel, Calera

Keith Jones (Chair), BNL

Mark Rivers, University of Chicago

Donald Ross, University of Vermont

InSynC – Education 

Scott Calvin, Sarah Lawrence College

Jonathan De Booy, Australian Synchrotron

Tracy Walker, Canadian Light Source

Industrial IR/UV/Soft X-ray Spectroscopy 

Benjamin DeKoven, X-Lubes, Inc.

Daniel Fischer, NIST

Gary Mitchell, Dow Chemical Company

Industrial Imaging & Microprobes 

Michael Feser, Xradia Inc.

Jeffrey Gillow, Arcadis G&M Inc.

Matthew Ginder-Vogel, Calera 

Karina Lange, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Christopher Ryan, Commonwealth Sci.& Indust. Research Org.

Industrial Powder/Single Crystal Crystallography 

Thomas Blanton, Eastman Kodak Company

James Kaduk, Poly Crystallography Inc.

Peter Stephens, SBU

Industrial X-ray Scattering 

Benjamin Hsiao, SBU

Christian Lavoie, IBM Research Division

Paul Stevens, ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.

Industrial X-ray Spectroscopy 

In Tae Bae, Dura Cell Technical Center

Simon Bare, UOP, LLC

Douglas Hunter, Westinghouse Savannah River Co.

Bruce Ravel, NIST
65People

2010 Annual Report Photon Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory 

Macromolecular Crystallography 

Steven Almo, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Alex Bohm (Chair), Tufts University

Olga Boudker, Cornell University

Barnali Chaudhuri, Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Inst.

Ashley Deacon, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 

Annie Heroux, BNL

Xiangpeng Kong, New York University 

Steven Roderick, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Brenda Schulman, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Methods and Instrumentation 

Kenneth Finkelstein, Cornell University

Ali Khounsary, Argonne National Laboratory

Ralf Hendrik Menk, Sincrotrone Trieste

Thomas Rabedeau, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Ruben Reininger, BNL

Anthony Warwick, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Powder / Single Crystal Crystallography 

Emil Bozin, Columbia University

Andrew Campbell, University of Chicago

Karena Chapman, Argonne National Laboratory

Yu-Sheng Chen, University of Chicago

Przemyslaw Dera, University of Chicago

James Kaduk (Chair), Poly Crystallography Inc.

Volker Kahlenberg, University of Innsbruck

Peter Khalifah, BNL

Stefan Kycia, University of Guelph

Peter Lee, Argonne National Laboratory

Wendy Panero, Ohio State University

Peter Stephens, SBU

Structural Biology in Solution 

Joanna Krueger (Chair), University of North Carolina

Bryan Nixon, Pennsylvania State University

Peter Prevelige, University of Alabama

Steven Roderick, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Bianca Sclavi, Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique 

Brian Shilton, University of Western Ontario

Hirotsugu Tsuruta, Stanford University

X-ray Scattering: Magnetism / Strongly 

Correlated Electrons / Surface

Peter Abbamonte, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Kenneth Finkelstein, Cornell University

Karl Ludwig (Chair), Boston University

Peter Hatton, University of Durham

Christopher Marrows, University of Leeds

George Srajer, Argonne National Laboratory

Trevor Tyson, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Gerrit Van Der Laan, Diamond Light Source

X-ray Scattering: Soft Matter and Biophysics 

Masafumi Fukuto, BNL

Randall Headrick, University of Vermont

Benjamin Hsiao (Chair), SBU

Huey Huang, Rice University

Detleff-Matthias Smilgies, Cornell University

X-ray Spectroscopy: Biological, Environmental 

and Geosciences

Martine Duff, Westinghouse Savannah River Co.

Graham George, University of Saskatchewan

Douglas Hunter, Westinghouse Savannah River Co.

Keith Jones, BNL

Satish Myneni (Chair), Princeton University

Bruce Ravel, NIST

X-ray Spectroscopy: Chemical and 

Material Sciences 

Simon Bare, UOP, LLC

Scott Calvin, Sarah Lawrence College

Anatoly Frenkel, Yeshiva University

Steve Heald, Argonne National Laboratory

Jean-Pascal Rueff, Synchrotron SOLEIL

Tsun-Kong Sham, University of Western Ontario

Trevor Tyson (Chair), New Jersey Institute of Technology 

Stephen Wasserman, Eli Lilly and Company

Proposal Oversight Panel Members

Keith Jones, BNL

Jonathan Hanson, BNL 

Subramanyam Swaminathan, BNL

Harald Ade, North Carolina State University 

Robert Bartynski, Rutgers University

Alex Bohm, Tufts University

Daniel Fischer, NIST

Benjamin Hsiao, SBU

James Kaduk, Poly Crystallography Inc. 

Karl Ludwig, Boston University

Barry Lai, Argonne National Laboratory

Antonio Lanzirotti, University of Chicago

Joanna Krueger, University of North Carolina

Peter Stephens, SBU

Trevor Tyson, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Satish Myneni, Princeton University

NSLS-II Project Advisory Committee

Ken Stanfield (Chair), Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (retired) 

Gene Desaulniers (retired) 

Michael Harrison, BNL 

Suzanne Herron, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

Michael Rowe, NIST (retired) 

Les Price, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired) 

Albin Wrulich, Paul Scherrer Institute

Accelerator Systems

Advisory Committee

John Galayda, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Caterina Biscari, LNF, INFN 

Richard Boyce, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 

Glenn Decker, Argonne National Laboratory

Kenneth Finkelstein, Cornell University 

Don Hartill, Cornell University 

Robert Hettel, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Peter Kuske, BESSY 

Dennis Mills, Argonne National Laboratory 

Conventional Facilities

Advisory Committee

Jack Stellern, Chair, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

Joe Harkins, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Marvin Kirshenbaum, Argonne National Laboratory 

Douglass Rowland, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

Elaine McCluskey, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 

John Sidarous, Argonne National Laboratory

Jim Yeck, University of Wisconsin