APS 9ID USAXS/SAXS/WAXS

Ultra-Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Facility

Access

How to get beamtime

General User Program (after November 2024):

This instrument is available either through the APS General User program, through mail-in program, or through collaboration with instrument scientist. Collaboration time is limited, access through General user program as primary means of getting access to USAXS instrument. Users from a wide range of scientific fields are encouraged to contact instrumental scientist and use this valuable facility. To apply for beam time, please follow these steps: 

    Review the documentation provided by this WWW site
    Discuss your needs with the instrument-responsible
    Submit a proposal for beam time 

Note: 

  • Typical allocation of beamtime is ~3 shifts (24 hours), minimum is 1 shift and maximum, well, rarely more than 9 shifts (3 days). 
  • For static standard samples users can plan on collecting ~10-12 samples/hour when using whole range (USAXS/SAXS/WAXS). This includes survey and sample mounting. 
  • We are oversubscribed by ~2x, so only half or slightly more of users get beamtime in any given cycle. Most well scoring proposals will get beamtime in subsequent cycle due to "aging" APS does for its proposals.  

Collaboration with staff - e-mail to staff. 

On site experiments preferred, remote users only when justified.

Mail-in program

We make available about 2-3 days of beatime per cycle to users, who have smaller sets of samples (typically less than 20 samples). Typical use is exploratory research (before applying for beamtime) or when project requires limited number of samples. No beamtime proposal is necessary and users cannot come for experiments to the APS. Samples will be handled by USAXS staff and reduced data will be sent back to users. We accept only samples which are safe, easy to handle, require no processing at the APS, and can be measured at room conditions. Samples MUST be first approved by the beamline staff, so send first e-mail to our e-mail address and describe your needs. If the beamtime is available and experiment is acceptable, we will will provide further instructions including dates. Beamtime is available on first-come first-serve basis. Sample preparation and shipping instructions are on this web page. Publication of data from this program requires beamline staff to be co-authors and must include proper acknowledgement of the use of USAXS and APS resources. More details on dedicated page.