Scientific module “Opportunities of using Synchrotron Light Source Facilities for your Research“

Schedule:

Preparation ahead of the workshop

Prepare a 3 min elevator-pitch

1. what problem do you want to solve
2. what experiment, you think would help the problem
3. what related work is done so far
4. who would work with you
5. what are the efforts to prepare such experiment and what are the most limiting factors according to your opinion). Leave questions open which you cannot answer and we will try to answer them within the group discussion (you may prepare a few slides).

Make sure that your prepared material can be presented within 3 minutes!

Description of the individual units

1. Introduction to Synchrotron Light Source Facilities and their operation

A first introduction in synchrotron light sources will explain the fundamental processes which are creating the light and how the accelerator parameters influence the experimental conditions for the experiments. In addition, we will also discuss the most important experimental techniques and how they are used in material sciences. The focus is on the needed knowledge for a user to make educated decisions of how, and where she/he may apply for beamtime. We will also discuss the general operation of facilities and the process of acquiring beamtime. Finally, we will also discuss how one can get additional training and how a specific experimental plan can be optimized by seeking expert advice.

Discussion forum 1: This is a platform which allows you to ask specific questions in connection with your research need. In Forum 1, we will focus on general questions about how you can get the necessary information and how to create a successful experimental plan.

2. Optimizing film and device structure

As you may have experienced, X-rays provide a wide range of spectroscopic, scattering and microscopic tools to characterize the structure of films, their interfaces, and 3D objects; the true power of synchrotron light experiments is used for understanding the underlying processes during the growth and the different pre- and post-treatments. Using some examples, we will see how ex-situ and in-situ experiments can be combined to develop fundamental new processes for materials and structures of interest.

Discussion forum 2: This part will allow you to ask specific questions correlating to your own research reality. Please prepare ahead of the meeting background information about the problem you are interested. I expect that not everybody will have problems in this area so that a detailed discussion of about 3-4 projects can be achieved.

The following information should be prepared ahead of the workshop (if you have a growth issue which is important to your project):

1. Describe the system you will need to grow and the exact problems you are phasing.
2. Is your issue a fundamental growth challenge or do you work on a yield issue?
3. Sum the characterization tools you are using already to control your growth but also to characterize the structure of the system you are growing.
4. What kind of observations indicate a failure during growth?

3. Magnetic moment and band structure

This session will focus on the methods to use synchrotron light to determine the spin and orbital magnetic momentum as well measure the band structure of systems. After a short introduction of the light-matter interaction and the corresponding scattering and spectroscopic features reflecting the magnetic state and band structure of the system, we will learn on some examples what it will take to make the experiments.

Discussion forum 3: Most likely only a limited number of people will have examples from their own work where X-rays may help to understand the electronic and magnetic behavior. However, it would be great to have at least one example where the magnetic behavior is in the center and one in which the band structure is in focus. You will prepare a few slides on the 4 points mentioned below similar to discussion forum 2:

1. Describe the system you will need to characterize (and explain what magnetic or electronic behavior you are interested); don’t use highly specialized terms but explain it so that all participants with a good physics understanding can follow.
2. Explain why you are interested in the behavior (device idea or more fundamental).
3. Sum the characterization tools you are using already.
4. What is your knowledge so far about the behavior and what would you need to learn to achieve your goal?

4. Imaging magnetic structures

Using tools, we had learned about in session 3, we will develop imaging tools which are based on the contrast resulting from dichroic light interaction. Using different spectroscopic methods, we will understand how surface and bulk features can be imaged, what resolution limits may apply, and how the polarization dependence of the absorption can be used to image the complete magnetic vector. Besides the fundamental aspects we will also discuss specific examples.

Discussion forum 4: This forum will follow the template of the others. Please analyze if one of your research needs can be solved by magnetic imaging (or at least contribute to the final solution). Prepare slides discussing the questions 1-4 following the Discussion forum 3.

5. Proposal discussion

Each group will select one of the proposal ideas discussed in the discussion forums 1-4 and will develop a full proposal; in addition, the groups will make some ppt-slides which explain all essential points they will make in the proposal. These slides will be presented to the other groups who will evaluate the proposal. We will discuss at the end both, the proposal as well as the evaluation to understand what aspects are important and ultimately to understand, how to write a good proposal.