NECAT Beamline

The Northeastern Collaborative Access Team (NE-CAT) facility at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory is managed by Cornell University and consists of seven member institutions:

  • Columbia University
  • Cornell University
  • Harvard University
  • Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Rockefeller University
  • Yale University.

    • Primary funding for this project comes from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additional financial support for NE-CAT comes from the member institutions.

    Status of NE-CAT Sector 24 Activities

     

    August 2009

    Run 2009-2 ended very successfully on August 19 and APS is scheduled to resume user operations on October 6. During 2009-2, as for 2009-1, both beamlines were heavily used. 664 researchers visited the beamlines during 2009-2, bringing with them some 5300 crystals to study. Beamline utilization for runs 2009-1 and 2 (calendar year 2009 to date) is shown in the following pie chart.

     

    As can be seen, utilization was very high with only 3% of the beamline time left unscheduled. General Users used 42% of the available time (total time minus development time). “Development Time” at 15% was abnormally higher than in the past due to the need to commission the new MD2 microdiffractometer on 24-ID-C as well as implement a number of new capabilities on the beamlines.
    The sample placement robotic system installed on 24-ID-C at the beginning of this year has proven to be very successful. During 2009-1, 23 % of the users used the robot. In 2009-2, robot usage increased to 50%. Installation of the remotely controlled aperture size capability has also proven to be successful with 50% of the users on both beamlines now using more than one aperture size during their run- matching the size of the beam spot to their crystal sizes in order to reduce backgrounds or using small beams to irradiate “sweet spots” of the crystals.

    With the success of the automated sample placement robot on 24-ID-C, we are now completing assembly of an advanced version of the robot to be installed on the 24-ID-E beamline during the current shut down. A picture of the new robot being tested is shown to the left.

     

     


     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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    Webmaster: Cyndi Salbego