Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “beamlines”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

APS: High-Energy X-rays Expediting Applied and Fundamental Research

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) was designed and built as one of the first large 3rd generation synchrotrons operated at 7 GeV. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science funded the construction and continues to fund the operation of this national facility. Furthermore, the beamlines were originally operated by Collaborative Access Teams (CAT), which allowed a strong involvement of research institutes, universities, and industry. Today 43 of 68 beamlines are operated by the X-ray Science Division (XSD) and 35 beamlines are directly funded by the DOE Office of Science. The APS became operational in 1995, and was planned right from the beginning with 4 beamlines dedicated to high-energy x-rays above 40 keV: 1-ID designed to study engineering materials science, 6-ID-D for magnetism and condensed matter research, 11-ID-B dedicated to magnetic Compton scattering using an Elliptical Multipole Wiggler, and 11-ID-C for materials science and condensed matter physics. These stations were later joined by the bending magnet beamlines 6-BM for white beam studies and 17-BM for rapid powder diffraction. CAT operated beamlines such as 15-ID for crystallography or 16-ID for high-pressure studies also use the high-energy x-ray regime frequently. The program in Compton scattering ended in 2004 and the wiggler was replaced by an undulator. 11-ID-B became the first dedicated station for Pair Distribution Function (PDF) Analysis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Next generation experimental data access at NSLS-II

The NSLS-II network and computing infrastructure has been significantly updated recently. The re-IP process in 2020-2021 enabled the NSLS-II network to be routable to the rest of the BNL campus. Then, standardization of the operating systems and deployment procedures helped to deliver a consistent environment to workstations and servers used by all NSLS-II beamlines. In particular, the RedHat Enterprise Linux 8 was deployed to 700+ machines using the RedHat Satellite infrastructure management product, and all critical services (IOCs, databases, etc.) were migrated to the new OS. NFS users’ home directories are consistent across all of the machines, which eliminates the need for the individual configuration of the user environment on each host. The standard suite of software packages is available to the beamline staff and users, which includes the system packages (deployed via RPM) as well as the conda environments for data acquisition and analysis. Security measures were implemented to comply with the industry standards, which include multi-factor authentication (using Duo), secure screen lock for the beamline machines, and advanced access control to the experimental data that is stored in shared central storage available on all hosts. These major enhancements facilitated sharing the experimental data (currently for a number of selected beamlines, with a plan to extend it to the whole facility in the nearest future) with the users via an externally facing JupyterHub instance. The beamlines keep using the Bluesky data acquisition framework to orchestrate their experiments, and the new infrastructure enabled them to use a next-generation data access library called tiled.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering using a miniature dispersive Rowland refocusing spectrometer

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) beamlines worldwide are steadily increasing their emphasis on full photon-in/photon-out spectroscopies, such as resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS), resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy (RXES) and high energy resolution fluorescence detection XAS (HERFD-XAS). In such cases, each beamline must match the choice of emission spectrometer to the scientific mission of its users. Previous work has recently reported a miniature tender X-ray spectrometer using a dispersive Rowland refocusing (DRR) geometry that functions with high energy resolution even with a large X-ray spot size on the sample. This instrument has been used in the laboratory in multiple studies of non-resonant X-ray emission spectroscopy using a conventional X-ray tube, though only for preliminary measurements at a low-intensity microfocus synchrotron beamline. This paper reports an extensive study of the performance of a miniature DRR spectrometer at an unfocused wiggler beamline, where the incident monochromatic flux allows for resonant studies which are impossible in the laboratory. Here, the results support the broader use of the present design and also suggest that the DRR method with an unfocused beam could have important applications for materials with low radiation damage thresholds and that would not survive analysis on focused beamlines.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Toward a fully coherent tender and hard X-ray free-electron laser via cascaded EEHG in fourth-generation synchrotron light sources

Free-electron-laser-based beamlines utilize fully coherent laser pulses with extremely narrow bandwidth allowing direct use of X-rays without monochromators. This could be very beneficial for all users of current and future fourth-generation diffraction-limited synchrotron light sources (DL-SLSs) who need narrowband full-coherence high-brightness X-ray pulses. Based on our previous finding, i.e. that separating the two stages of echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) with a few extra bending-magnet sections provides an effective way to increase the momentum compaction of chicane 1, one can simultaneously achieve adequate prebunching at extremely high harmonics as well as keep the energy modulation to the ideal minimum. This could open the door for cascaded EEHG, toward fully coherent tender and hard X-ray wavelengths. Built on our compact design of a twin-pulse seeding electron beam with an adjustable delay and timing jitter at the level of a few femtoseconds, a cascaded EEHG can be implemented, which includes two EEHG beamlines, where the radiation pulse generated by the first beamline with harmonic $h$ 1 could be used as the input seed laser pulse to the second beamline with harmonic $h$ 2 . Hence, the second radiator could potentially reach very high harmonics [$h$ = $h$ 1 (20)$h$ 2 (25–100)] from 500 to 2000, corresponding to tender and hard X-ray wavelengths. It is demonstrated that the cascaded EEHG scheme is compatible with almost any current or planned fourth-generation DL-SLS, with significant benefits for space-limited storage rings in particular. The main advantage is that this scheme requires almost no change of the storage-ring lattice and is fully compatible with other beamlines. Current proposals for rings with much longer straight sections would add self-amplified spontaneous emission as another viable option for storage-ring-based free-electron lasers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

AutoFocus: AI/ML-driven real-time wavefront diagnostics to autonomously align and optimize X-ray optics

We present an integrated system that combines advanced wavefront diagnostics with artificial intelligence (AI) to automate and optimize X-ray optics at synchrotron beamlines. This system couples real-time wavefront sensing with AI-driven control algorithms to achieve precise beam alignment, stabilization, and performance optimization. A key feature is the use of multi-fidelity transfer learning, which enables knowledge gained from both real-world beamline optimizations and ultra-realistic digital twin simulations to be effectively applied to in situ optimization. By leveraging multi-objective bayesian optimization, the system continuously refines its performance, reducing optimization time and minimizing the need for manual adjustments. Designed for seamless deployment, it operates with existing beamline hardware and provides an intuitive graphical interface. Initial deployments at the advanced photon source beamlines have demonstrated its ability to enhance beam stability, improve reproducibility, and significantly streamline alignment procedures. This AI-enhanced control framework represents a significant step toward fully autonomous beamline operation in next-generation synchrotron facilities.

Rebuffi, Luca [Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), ↗
DOE OSTI2020

FOFB-compatible AC Local Bump as a Potential New Operations Mode for NSLS-II

AC local bumps of the beam orbit developed at NSLS-II are successfully used for accelerator physics studies. Recently, AC bumps localized at light-generating insertion devices (ID) are considered by NSLS-II beamline scientists as a possible user operation mode. The AC perturbation of the X-ray beam in a controllable way will provide a possibility to investigate the effects of the source size and temporal evolution on the coherence of the photon beam. It also can be used to average out the spatial non-uniformity of the beam intensity caused by the beamline optics. Before the implementation of the AC orbit bumps into user operations, we must investigate if the electron beam perturbation affects the other beamlines. A proof-of-principle experiment was carried out: an AC bump was created and well localized in the CSX and/or FXI beamline. Transparency of this AC bump to other beamlines has been studied, the results are discussed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Explainable Graph Learning for Particle Accelerator Operations

Particle accelerators are vital tools in physics, medicine, and industry, requiring precise tuning to ensure optimal beam performance. However, real-world deviations from idealized simulations make beam tuning a time-consuming and error-prone process. In this work, we propose an explanation-driven framework for providing actionable insight into beamline operations, with a focus on the injector beamline at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF). We represent beamline configurations as heterogeneous graphs, where setting nodes represent elements that human operators can actively adjust during beam tuning, and reading nodes passively provide diagnostic feedback. To identify the most influential setting nodes responsible for differences between any two beamline configurations, our approach first predicts the resulting changes in reading nodes caused by variations in settings, and then learns importance scores that capture the joint influence of multiple setting nodes. Experimental results on real-world CEBAF injector data demonstrate the framework’s ability to generate interpretable insights that can assist human operators in beamline tuning and reduce operational overhead.

Wang, Song [Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA↗
DOE OSTI2021

Heat and mass transfer during a sudden loss of vacuum in a liquid helium cooled tube - Part III: Heat deposition in He II

A sudden loss of vacuum can be catastrophic for superconducting particle accelerators. In such an event, air leaks into the liquid-helium-cooled accelerator beamline tube and condenses on its inner surface, causing rapid boiling of the helium and dangerous pressure build-up. Understanding the coupled heat and mass transfer processes is important for the design of the beamline cryogenic system. Our past experimental study on nitrogen gas propagating in a copper tube cooled by normal liquid helium (He I) has revealed a nearly exponential slowing down of the gas front. A theoretical model that accounts for the interplay of the gas dynamics and the condensation was developed, which successfully reproduced various key observations. However, since many accelerator beamlines are actually cooled by superfluid helium (He II) in which the heat transfer is via a non-classical thermal counterflow mode, we need to extend our work to the He II cooled tube. This paper reports our systematic measurements using He II and the numerical simulations based on a modified model that accounts for the He II heat-transfer characteristics. By tuning the He II peak heat-flux parameter in our model, we have reproduced the observed gas dynamics in all experimental runs. The fine-tuned model is then utilized to reliably evaluate the heat deposition in He II. Finallly, this work not only advances our understanding of condensing gas dynamics but also has practical implications to the design codes for beamline safety.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

A rotor-based multileaf collimator for beam shaping

We introduce a new style of multileaf collimator which employs rotors with angularly dependent radius to control the masking aperture: a rotor-based multileaf collimator (RMLC). Using a padlock-inspired mechanism, a single motor can set dozens of rotors, i.e. leaves, independently. This is especially important for an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) compatible MLC, since this reduces the number of actuators and vacuum feedthroughs required by more than an order of magnitude. This new RMLC will complement previous work employing a UHV compatible MLC with an emittance exchange beamline to create arbitrarily shaped beams on demand. A feed-forward control system which abstracts away the complexity of the RMLC operation, and is adaptable to real beamline conditions, is discussed and demonstrated in simulation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Element- and Time-Resolved Measurements of Spin Dynamics Using X-ray Detected Ferromagnetic Resonance

Although XFMR experiments have been carried out at a number of synchrotron radiation facilities since 2004, only a few facilities currently have XFMR setups available for user operation. Here in this review, we mainly focus on recent developments and work that has been carried out using time-resolved XFMR at beamline 4.0.2 of the Advanced Light Source and at beamline I10 of the Diamond Light Source. The experimental setup and the sample holder used at beamline I10 and beamline 4.0.2, respectively, are shown in Figure 1. We will first introduce the working principle of XFMR and then provide examples of the capabilities of this technique. Finally, we will briefly describe an outlook for the future development of and new opportunities for XFMR.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Characterizing Hidden Structures at NSLS-II: Strongly Correlated Electron Systems, Functional Ceramics, Batteries, and Beyond

Brookhaven National Laboratory (New York) launched its highenergy X-ray science program at the inception of the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility. Built in the 1980s, the NSLS X17 beamline was the world’s first super-conducting wiggler facility and remained in service for more than 30 years. The NSLS facility was decommissioned in October 2014 and a third-generation synchrotron machine, DOE’s National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), took over. Six years after completing construction, NSLS-II has a portfolio of 29 beamlines that includes two operating high-energy powder diffraction beamlines (XPD and PDF) and one high-energy imaging and diffraction beamline under construction (HEX).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simulating and benchmarking neutron total scattering instrumentation from inception of events to reduced and fitted data

In the design and realization of modern neutron scattering instrumentation, particularly when designing beamline concepts from the ground up, it is desirable to fully benchmark against realistically simulated data. This is especially true for total scattering beamlines, where the future deliverable data is to be analysed in both reciprocal- and real-space representations, and needs must be carefully balanced to ensure sufficient range, resolution and flux of the instrument. An approach to optimize the design of neutron scattering instrumentation via a workflow including ray-tracing simulations, event-based data reduction, heuristic analysis and fitting against realistically simulated spectra is demonstrated here. The case of the DISCOVER beamline concept at the Spallation Neutron Source is used as an example. The results of the calculations are benchmarked through simulation of existing instrumentation and subsequent direct comparison with measured data. Finally, on the basis of the validated models, the ability to explore design characteristics for future beamline concepts or future instrument improvements is demonstrated through the examples of detector tube size and detector layout.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

A cantilevered liquid-nitrogen-cooled silicon mirror for the Advanced Light Source Upgrade

This paper presents a novel cantilevered liquid-nitrogen-cooled silicon mirror design for the first optic in a new soft X-ray beamline that is being developed as part of the Advanced Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA). The beamline is optimized for photon energies between 400 and 1400 eV with full polarization control. Calculations indicate that, without correction, this design will achieve a Strehl ratio greater than 0.85 for the entire energy and polarization ranges of the beamline. With a correction achieved by moving the focus 7.5 mm upstream, the minimum Strehl ratio is 0.99. This design is currently the baseline plan for all new ALS-U insertion device beamlines.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

In situ synchrotron X-ray total scattering measurements and analysis of colloidal CsPbX 3 nanocrystals during flow synthesis

In situ X-ray scattering measurements of CsPbX 3 (X = Cl, Br, I) nanocrystal formation and halide exchange at NSLS-II beamlines were performed in an automated flow reactor. Total scattering measurements were performed at the 28-ID-2 (XPD) beamline and small-angle X-ray scattering at the 16-ID (LiX) beamline. Nanocrystal structural parameters of interest, including size, size distribution and atomic structure, were extracted from modeling the total scattering data. The results highlight the potential of these beamlines and the measurement protocols described in this study for studying dynamic processes of colloidal nanocrystal synthesis in solution with timescales on the order of seconds.

nucleation↗
DOE OSTI2020

Analytical expressions of the surface shape of ‘diaboloid’ mirrors

Modern deterministic polishing processes allow fabrication of x-ray optics with almost any arbitrary aspherical surface shape. Among these optics, the so called "diaboloid"mirror is of special interest. The diaboloid mirror that converts a cylindrical wave to a spherical wave would improve focusing in x-ray beamlines implementing a diffraction element between a parabolic cylinder and a toroidal mirror. The replacement of the toroidal mirror in existing beamlines by the diaboloid mirror would mitigate aberrations. The shape of the diaboloid mirror is usually calculated numerically based on a truncated polynomial solution of the optical path problem. Here, we present an exact analytical solution for the shape of a diaboloid mirror as a function of the conjugate parameters of the mirror placed in a beamline. The derived analytical expressions for the diaboloid mirror in both the canonical and mirror-based coordinate systems are implemented in ray-tracing simulations to verify the beamline performances.

Yashchuk, Valeriy V.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Lightfall v0.0.1

Lightfall is a desktop application for synchrotron beamline instrument control, data acquisition, and live analysis at the Advanced Light Source (ALS). Built on Python and Qt, it provides a native graphical interface for operating beamline hardware, configuring and executing experimental scans, and visualizing results in real time. Key features include direct integration with EPICS control systems, a built-in electronic logbook, remote beamline access over secure tunnels, and an interprocess communication (IPC) architecture that coordinates with external analysis applications via ZMQ and EPICS process variables. This IPC approach allows Lightfall to orchestrate specialized analysis tools—including GPU-accelerated streaming correlators—without embedding them, avoiding the dependency conflicts common in monolithic scientific software platforms. Compared to prior approaches such as Xi-CAM's plugin-based architecture, Lightfall's design cleanly separates instrument control from domain-specific analysis, enabling feedback-driven acquisition where live analysis results can adjust scan parameters during an experiment. Its native Qt interface provides responsive performance for real-time data visualization that web-based alternatives struggle to match. Lightfall is designed for use by beamline scientists and staff operating synchrotron instruments at national user facilities.

Pandolfi, Ronald [Lawrence Berkeley National Labor↗
DOE OSTI2024

FY24 accomplishments in preparation for startup of Activated Materials Laboratory (AML)

The Activated Materials Laboratory (AML) will be a new radiological facility at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), adjacent to the high-energy x-ray microscopy (HEXM) beamline in the long beamline building (LBB) constructed under the APS-upgrade (APS-U) project. The AML is a centralized facility to facilitate the safe conduct of experiments on activated materials at the APS. This report provides an overview of the status of the AML as a Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) partner user facility in preparation for the general user access in 2025 upon the commissioning of the APS-U beamlines. The AML's scope, functionality and components are detailed. The NSUF partner beamlines’ commissioning status in the post-APS-U era is provided, along with the AML’s operational updates and operational plan.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reconstruction of the 4D beam matrix

The widely used transverse parameters characterizing particle beams are the Twiss parameters. These parameters can be measured experimentally but they do not fully characterize the beam since they do not account for possible correlations in particle distribution between two transverse coordinates. These correlations may occur due to uncompensated magnetic field at the cathode or misalignment of focusing quadrupoles in the transport beamline. We test a novel diagnostic for diagnosing full 4D beam matrix which may be used to identify such imperfections. The diagnostic is based on transporting the beam through the beamline which includes a quadrupole and a skew quadrupole magnets and measuring the resulting 2D beam distribution at the screen downstream. Such a measurement can be viewed as measuring a 2D projection of the 4D distribution. Different settings of the quads provide measurements of different slices of the phase space. The reconstruction of the original beam matrix from a number of measurements is done using machine learning algorithm, which provides a fast and reliable way of reconstruction for an arbitrary configuration of the scanning beamline. In August 2024, we set up the diagnostic beamline to perform a quadrupole scan of the beam. The setup includes a skew quadrupole, a regular quadrupole, and a screen. The images on the screen were post-processed to remove experimental artifacts and enhance contrast by eliminating background noise outside the core of the distribution=. The rms parameters of the distribution were then calculated and used as inputs for the reconstruction algorithm. This algorithm attempts to determine the initial beam matrix that produces expected images on the screen closely matching the observed images across all quadrupole settings. The algorithm found a solution in which the expected rms parameters closely align with the observations. Validation of the results is planned for FY25.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗