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 Construction Project

    February 2006

    24-ID Phase 1 Beam Line Commissioning and User Operations :

    Accelerator operations resumed in February following the January APS scheduled shut down for maintenance. The first week was devoted to bringing the beam line back into operation and successfully testing the many hardware and software upgrades that were made during the shut down period. Beam time for the remainder of the month was allocated to institutional user groups from Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Sloan-Kettering, Rockefeller, and Yale. All these user runs went very smoothly. Users reported very stable trouble-free operation, more user friendly interfaces, very fast data collection, good staff support, etc- recognition that the upgrading of capabilities continues to be very beneficial to the user program.

    Probably the most recent and notable upgrade to the beam line capability as viewed by the users has been in the area of data storage and analysis. Conversion from the earlier implemented NFS-distributed file system to the General parallel File System (GPFS) developed by IBM now enables all computer nodes interfaced to the HP EVA-5000 SAN to directly and concurrently access stored data without mediation by a file server. The speed of data acquisition and storage, already exceptionally fast, was improved modestly, now capable of acquiring an impressive 30 binned-images per second. Even more dramatic, a major gain has been achieved in the speed of data reduction and analysis of data residing on the SAN -up to a factor of four times faster.

    24-ID Phase 2 Fixed-Energy Beam Line :

     

    The welding repairs to the monochromator vacuum vessel have been successful and the required level of vacuum has been achieved. The monochromator internal liquid nitrogen distribution system and new cryo-cooler were successfully tested. During the next month, all the motor motions will be tested and calibrated. All preparations are now in place to install the monochromator, horizontal focusing mirror tank, and photon shutter in the 24-ID-B enclosure during the late April- May APS scheduled shut down period to avoid negatively impacting the Phase 1 user operation. With these key components installed in the 24-ID-B enclosure, the radiation integrity 24-ID-E will be promptly validated upon resumption of APS accelerator operations. Beginning in June all the Phase 2 end station equipment can then be promptly installed with minimum disruption to the Phase 1 beam line operations.

    Acquisition of a Microdiffractometer at 24-ID:

     

    With the current Phase 1 beam line defining optics, sample imaging, and goniometry, we have been able to successfully solve structures using crystals as small as 20 microns. However, we envision that soon an ever increasing number of our users will be routinely bringing even smaller crystals to the NE-CAT beam lines and we must prepare for this eventuality. We have assessed development of a microdiffraction capability in house using a APS designed goniometer with a sphere of uncertainty of substantially less than 2 microns, developing a high-magnification co-axial sample imager, and upgrading the beam optics to provide a clean micro focus. We are confident that this can be achieved but at a very protracted time scale because all our available effort must be directed to bringing into operation three additional beam lines. Therefore, in order to provide such a capability to our users on the earliest time scale possible, we have decided to purchase a unit commercially. We have made an award to ACCEL to acquire the MD2 microdiffractometer manufactured by Maatel. The design for this microdiffractometer originates from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), units of which are being successfully used at the ESRF and SLS. With this microdiffractometer we will be able to routinely study crystals with dimensions of a few microns using beams tailored to similar dimensions in order to reduce scattering contamination and backgrounds. Ours will be the first such unit operating in the US. A model of the microdiffractometer showing the internal components is shown in this figure. A detailed description of this microdiffractometer can be found at the following web site: http://www.maatel.fr/download/md2-11a.pdf . Delivery is expected during September 2006, the scheduled APS maintenance shut down period. The MD2 will be initially installed on the Phase 2 beam line so that both the beam line and the MD2 can be commissioned at the same time, not impacting the heavily scheduled Phase 1 user program. Eventually, both the Phase 1 and 2 beam line endstations will be configured such that the MD2 can be easily moved between the two beam lines, depending upon user needs.

     

    Phase 3, 24-BM Bending Magnet Beamline:

    Construction of the Phase 3 bending magnet radiation enclosures is nearing completion. The main shielding structure has been erected and painted and currently the utility infrastructure is being installed. Beneficial occupancy, completion of construction, is scheduled for March 14. During April we will verify the radiation integrity of the enclosure. In preparation of moving the optical components from 8-BM to 24-BM, a number of upgrade projects are underway on the existing hardware and software. The monochromator first crystal has a known design defect creating a bulge in the crystal surface due to pressure from the water cooling. The first crystal has been recently replaced with a new design that eliminates this defect. Changes have also been made to the gear ratioing of the second crystal to improve its performance. In addition, a new version of the control software will be shortly installed.

    In addition to supporting an active user program, there is a great deal of development activity being conducted at the Sector 8-BM beam line developing a Blu-ICE like graphical user interface and a sample placement robot system in preparation for full implementation of these systems in the future at 24-BM and the 24-ID beam lines.
     

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