On-Site Data Collection

General Information

NE-CAT is located at the Advance Photon Source on the campus of Argonne National Laboratory in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. You can fly into either O’Hare International Airport or Midway International Airport. Argonne is a controlled-access facility and you will need documentation (REAL ID) as well as a gate pass. You will also need a prox card to access the beamline during off-hours and dosimetry. These are usually obtained at the User’s Office in Building 401.

User Access to the APS – Information from the APS, including on domain accounts and dosimetry.
Dosimetry – Requests for dosimeters must be submitted 3 business days in advance of your visit.
Transportation – Argonne’s transportation information.
United Limosine – We have the most experience with this car service.
- 800.826.0341 (Outside of Illinois)
- 800.331.9037 (Within Illinois)
401 Grill – The 401 Grill is located on the ground level of the APS Conference Center and serves a variety of sandwiches, soups, salads, and beverages. From NE-CAT, enter Building 401 from the Experimental Hall, go through both sets of doors and then take a left past the eating area to find the Grill.
Hours:
- Monday- Friday:
  - Hot Breakfast: 7:30–10:30 a.m.
  - Lunch: 11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
  - Starbucks Kiosk: 8:30a.m.–1:30p.m.
Food deliveries from DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and local restaurants can now be picked up in the vestibule of Building 224, the Argonne Welcome Center.
Argonne Guest House – An on-site hotel that gives special rates for APS Users. Please contact them (1-630-252-6000 | anlghreservation@anl.gov) for reservations.

Driving Directions

From O’Hare Airport: Drive east (toward Chicago) on Interstate 190 to the exit for Interstate 294 south (toward Indiana). Go south on Interstate 294 to the exit for Interstate 55 south (toward St. Louis); then take the southbound Cass Avenue exit (273A) off Interstate 55. Northgate Road, the entrance to the Laboratory’s main gate, is on the right.

From Midway Airport: Take Cicero Avenue north to the entrance to Interstate 55 south (toward St. Louis), which will be on your left, then proceed as described above.

Getting Around Campus

If you choose to use a rideshare such as Uber or Lyft, to drive you around campus, the driver must obtain a gate pass which can be issued at the Argonne Welcome Center (AWC) @ Northgate during business hours or at the security gate after hours. Without a gate pass, the driver will be unable to enter. From AWC, you can walk or take LabCab.

Visitors staying at Argonne’s Guest House can catch a ride upon arrival to the Lab from the Northgate entrance to the Argonne Guest House or at departure from the hotel to the Northgate entrance on the ‘Sodexo shuttle,’ a pick-up/drop-off service which runs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

LabCab

On-Site User Policy

General Users are responsible to make sure that they are current in all mandatory APS training requirements and have on-site access. APS training must be completed before coming to the beamline.
General Users should follow the mandatory APS dress code (no open-toe shoes, no shorts, no exposed legs).
It is user’s responsibility to ensure that all ESAF information have been entered.
All participants from a group must arrive at the start of the time slot for coordinated training at the beamline. The group spokesperson should promptly inform the beam line administrator of any possible delays in arrival. Any beam time cancellation notices should be given at least two weeks before the beam time.
The users are solely responsible for timely arrival at the beamline of all shipped materials, e.g., sample shipping Dewars. The users should prepare the return FedEx label.
Each group must send at least two personnel (of which at least one must have prior experience in using synchrotron beamlines) for the entire time slot. Inexperienced users may not operate the beam line alone. Single person operation, except for short periods of time, will be strongly discouraged. If any damage is caused to the beamline components due to improper handling the cost of repair or procurement will be charged to the users. If it is absolutely necessary for a single person to be operating the beamline, that person should notify in advance the NE-CAT support personnel as well as the floor coordinator.
General Users are required to fill out a short “End of Run” summary form before they finish using the beamline. This form is used to summarize their experiments, their experience using the beam line, and providing any suggestions they may have for improvements.

Sector Orientation

When you come to NE-CAT as an on-site user, beamline staff will show you the Sector 24 facilities, discuss safety and highlight important rules from our user policy. This is your Sector Orientation and will be conducted prior to your use of the beamline. Sector orientation occurs before beamline training in using the hardware and software to collect data.