Since 2004, NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers
Recently in X-ray Spectrometry News Category
Extended X-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) is a powerful tool for the analysis of atomic-scale structure around specific atoms. In addition to the determination of the atomic distance for the nearest neighboring atoms, it can give some information on the local dynamical properties of crystals. Recently, Dr. A. Sanson (Universita degli Studi di Verona , Italy
Professor M. A. Castro (Instituto de Ciencia de los Materiales de Sevilla, CSIC-Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
Argentinian scientists have recently published a paper on the emission of X-rays in the Kβ region of Mg, Al, Si, Sc, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Zn induced by electron bombardment. The research includes the KβIII and KβIV spectator hole transitions, the 1s→3s quadrupole decay, the Kβ2 and Kβ5 diagram transitions, the structures related to radiative Auger processes, and the Kβ' and Kβ" lines. For more information, see the paper, "Kβ satellite and forbidden transitions in elements with 12<Z<30 induced by electron impact", S. P. Limandri et al., Phys. Rev. A81, 012504 (2010).
So far, it has been understood that the only way to realize hard-X-ray mirrors with near 100% reflectivity is the use of total external reflection at grazing incidence to a surface. Dr. Y. V. Shvyd'ko (Argonne National Lab,
A research group led by Professors Y. Takanishi (Kyoto University, Japan) and A. Iida (Photon Factory, KEK, Japan) has recently published its successful investigation into the local layer structure of bent-core liquid crystal, 4-Br-14-O-PIMB, which includes Br atoms. The group employed a monochromatic X-ray microbeam (3 μm × 4 μm), and observed X-ray scattering from the cell near the Br K absorption edge. They were able to discover some satellite peaks reflecting the superlattices. For more information, see the paper, "Microbeam resonant x-ray scattering from bromine-substituted bent-core liquid crystals", Y. Takanishi et al., Phys. Rev. E81, 011701 (2010).
Laser sources in the hard X-ray region have already become a reality at some free electron laser (FEL) facilities. However, typical hard X-ray FELs use an accelerator that is several km long to generate a ~10 GeV electron beam with ~kA peak current to drive the FEL. Dr. D. Xiang (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA
X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) is a novel technique which reveals the slow dynamics of equilibrium and non-equilibrium processes in condensed matter systems. A group led by Professor N. P. Balsara (
The UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has announced its withdrawal from the European XFEL project. Due to financial restrictions, the Council had to reprioritise its budget of ca. 2.7 billion Euro over the next five years. For more information, visit the
Dr. G. J. Havrilla (Los Alamos National Lab.,
For many years, substantial effort has been devoted to developing a good mirror for preparing a small X-ray beam. Professor K. Yamauchi (
Dr. I. Han (Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University , Turkey
Foamlike, cellular structures of the monolayer of organic capped nanoparticles can sometimes be observed on liquid surfaces. Professor M. K. Sanyal (Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics,
So far, X-ray microscopy with many types of lens has achieved great success in the observation of biological cells. In order to extend the limits of spatial resolution and efficiency, X-ray diffraction microscopy (also called coherent X-ray diffraction imaging), which uses coherent X-rays and some image reconstruction algorithms instead of an optical lens system, is now considered as a promising procedure to see whole cells at once and pick out much smaller features, down to around 10 nm or even less. A research group led by Professor C. Jacobsen (
Nanometer scale dipole moments in the polarization clusters in BaTiO3 are believed to be thermally excited and thermally relaxed within a picosecond time scale. However, so far, there have been no reports on the direct observation of the dynamics of these dipole moments in such a very short time scale. The limitation here is mainly due to the low spatial coherence of the X-ray beam, in particular when synchrotron radiation is used as a light source. Professor K. Namikawa (Tokyo Gakugei Univ, Japan
Professors T. Narayanan (ESRF, Grenoble, France), M. Giglio (XFEL, Hamburg, Germany) and their collaborators have recently published an interesting paper on a novel method to map the two-dimensional transverse coherence of an X-ray beam. The technique uses the dynamical near-field speckles formed by scattering from colloidal particles, which are executing Brownian motions. It is possible to measure the change of the interference fringes, and consequently the fluctuation of speckles. It was found that the coherence properties of synchrotron radiation from an undulator source are obtained with high accuracy. For more information, see the paper, "Probing the transverse coherence of an undulator X-ray beam using Brownian particles", M. D. Alaimo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 103, 194805 (2009).
The recipient of the 4th Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, is Dr. Akiko Hokura (Tokyo Denki Univ., "Study on accumulation of heavy metals in phytoremediation plant by synchrotron radiation micro XRF imaging and XAFS analysis"). From this year, the Discussion Group of X-ray Analysis, the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry decided to establish the special award to recognize scientists who exhibit outstanding achievement and make a substantial contribution to the advancement of the X-ray analysis field. The recipient of the special award 2009 is Dr. Toshio Shiraiwa, who contributed greatly in the early days of X-ray absorption spectroscopy by means of his short-range order theory ("The theory of the fine structure of the X-ray absorption spectrum", J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 13, 847 (1958)) and also provided the basis of the fundamental parameter method in X-ray fluorescence by Fujino-Shiraiwa's formula ("Theoretical calculation of fluorescent X-ray intensities in fluorescent X-ray spectrochemical analysis", Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 5, 886 (1966)) The ceremony was held during the 45th Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, at Osaka City University, Osaka.
From right to left: A. Hokura, T. Shiraiwa, S. Ikeda, H. Wakita and H. Hayashi.
The discovery of X-rays was named the most important modern scientific achievement in a poll conducted for the Science Museum London, beating the Apollo spacecraft and DNA. Nearly 50,000 members of the public voted in the museum or online. The emblem of the
One of the most important applications of X-ray spectroscopy is chemical state analysis. A research group led by Dr. M. Jaksic (Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Croatia
X-ray absorption microscopy is simple, but has low sensitivity in biological samples that are made of light elements. X-ray phase contrast imaging can provide contrast that is 3 orders of magnitude greater than X-ray absorption. However, phase contrast imaging has not been that widely used so far mainly because of the unusual requirements of the experimental setup. Dr. W. Yashiro (The University of Tokyo, Japan) and his colleagues have recently proposed a novel setup that is feasible. The research group simply added a transmission grating to the setup for conventional X-ray absorption microscopy with a Fresnel Zone Plate (FZP) objective lens. Because of the self-imaging phenomenon in Talbot effects, a phase difference image can be produced by the transmission grating placed at the downstream of the back focus of the FZP. The experiment was done at beamline BL20XU, SPring-8. For more information, see the paper, "Hard-X-Ray Phase-Difference Microscopy Using a Fresnel Zone Plate and a Transmission Grating", W. Yashiro et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 180801 (2009).
A recent edition of Nature News featured the international race to build X-ray free electron laser facilities. At the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS),
Some readers might remember the news article, "A compact synchrotron light source driven by pulse laser", in X-ray Spectrometry, Vol. 37, No.2 (2008). The essential point is that a table top pulse laser can be used as an alternative to a linear or circular electron accelerator. The article above reported the first successful synchrotron radiation generation from laser-plasma-accelerated electrons, but the wavelength was only in the visible to infrared region. Recently, an international team led by Professors S. Karsch and F. Grunera achieved a new breakthrough. The team belongs to Munich 's Cluster of Excellence "Munich Centre for Advanced Photonics" (MAP), in the Laboratory for Attosecond Physics (LAP) of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat (LMU) in Munich
Professor D. Sparks (University of Delaware , USA
It is known that sulfide sometimes play a significant role in the geochemistry of arsenic under reducing conditions. So far, it has been assumed that sulfide primarily reduced the solubility and mobility of arsenic by precipitation of arsenic-sulfide minerals, As2S3, but recent studies indicate that under certain conditions, significant concentrations of soluble As-S compounds can exist in sulfidic waters. Thus, the question is whether they are As(III)-S species ("thioarsenites") or As(V)-S species ("thioarsenates"). A research group led by Dr. B. Planer-Friedrich (
At Stanford's linac coherent light source (LCLS), a great deal of effort has been devoted since April this year to initial scientific tests of an X-ray laser. In September, scientists attempted to strip all ten electrons from an atom of neon. They were able to adjust the proportion of different neon species, from non-ionized Ne (no missing electrons) to Ne10+ (lacking all 10 electrons), by fine-tuning the powerful LCLS X-ray beam. For more information, visit the Web page, http://today.slac.stanford.edu/
Dr. C. T. Chanter and his colleagues have published a paper on the unresolved quantitative discrepancies between experimental and theoretical Cu Kα spectra. For more information, see the paper, "Theoretical Determination of Characteristic X-Ray Lines and the Copper Kα Spectrum", C. T. Chantler et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 123002 (2009).
Nearly $19 million in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is supporting the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) and ongoing efforts to plan and build a new linear accelerator, the Energy Recovery Linac (ERL). So far, Cornell has received more than 90 ARRA grants, totally about $76 million. For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.news.cornell.edu/
In the film Star Trek IV (1986), transparent aluminum is used for the exterior portals and windows of spacecraft. Now transparent aluminum has become a hot topic for real, rather than in science fiction. An international team, led by Oxford University scientists, has recently reported that a short pulse from the FLASH laser (wavelength 13.5 nm) knocks out a core L-shell electron from every aluminium atom in a 50 nm Al thin film without destroying the metal's crystalline structure. This rendered the aluminium almost invisible for this wavelength. This phenomenon is called saturable absorption. The transient state of aluminium produced in this way is as dense as ordinary matter but can only exist for an extremely short period of time of 40 femtoseconds. For more information, see the paper, "Turning solid aluminium transparent by intense soft X-ray photoionization", B. Nagler et al., Nature Physics 5, 693 (2009).
So far, diffusion in solids has been investigated by profiling the depth dependence of tracer atoms diffused into the sample. Although one can obtain the diffusion constant from this, the question is how diffusion takes place on the atomic scale, rather than on the micron scale. Sometimes quasielastic neutron scattering as well as Mobauer spectroscopy can be used in a very limited number of fortunate cases. A research group led by Professor G. Vogl (
Chandrayaan-1 was a lunar probe launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It was equipped with advanced X-ray spectrometers for investigation. After suffering from several technical problems including failure of the star sensors and insufficient thermal shielding, Chandrayaan stopped sending radio signals on August 29, 2009 shortly after which the ISRO officially declared the mission over. Chandrayaan operated for 312 days from October 2008. For more information, visit the Web page,http://www.isro.org/Chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm
When a strong laser beam hits the surface of a material, plasma is produced there, subsequently leading to the emission of a short burst of X-rays. It is believed that the electrons in the surface plasma are accelerated by the strong electric field of the laser and then penetrate the solid behind. There, they knock out electrons from inner electronic shells, which subsequently undergo inner-shell recombination, leading to characteristic line emissions such as Kα and Kβ spectra. A research group led by Professor U. Teubner (
In X-ray diffraction experiments, one measures the intensity (amplitude) of the diffracted X-rays as a function of position in the reciprocal space, and the information on the phase is always missing. For many years, this so-called phase problem has been thought as one of the biggest problems in X-ray crystallography. Professor E. Wolf (
X-ray phase-contrast imaging is extremely powerful for visualizing internal structures with low-Z matrices, which are most likely in bio-medical specimens. The use of an X-ray interferometer is one of the most promising ways forward for this imaging technology, but resolution has been limited to the micrometer scale so far. A research group led by Dr. A. Snigirev (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility,
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 58th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2009 Barrett Award was presented to Robert Von Dreele, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL.
The 2009 Jenkins Award was presented to Tim Fawcett, International Centre for Diffraction Data, Newtown Square, PA.
There was no winner for the 2009 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award.
A recent edition of Nature News featured the successful application of a carbon nanotube (CNT)-based X-ray source to medical imaging. A group led by Professor O. Zhou (
It is well known that the physical properties of semiconductor nanostructures, which have been grown in most cases by the Stranski-Krastanow (SK) mechanism, depend on their size, shape, strain and composition. In the case of the growth of Ge on Si(001), where the 2D-3D transition is driven by the 4.16% lattice mismatch between Ge and Si, the increase of Ge coverage above a critical thickness of around 4 ML can make coherent islands. First, square pyramids appear, and then dome-shaped islands are formed. At about 9 ML, the misfit strain can no longer be accommodated coherently and larger islands called superdomes are present. This raises detailed questions as to dependence on the growth rate, temperature etc. To provide answers to such questions, in-situ X-ray studies are extremely important. Professor G. Bauer (
Professor H. Dosch (Director of Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Germany
Since 1984, laboratory-scale X-ray lasers have been extensively studied. The shortest wavelength achieved so far is 3.6 nm, with a weak intensity. On the other hand, X-ray free-electron lasers (XFEL) based on self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) from a long undulator in the linear electron accelerator will be available in near future. The next idea is the use of XFEL to pump a photoionization inner-shell X-ray laser in an atomic gas. Dr. R. London (Lawrence Livermore National Lab) and a colleague have recently published their theoretical calculations. For more information, see the paper, "Atomic inner-shell X-ray laser pumped by an x-ray free-electron laser", N. Rohringer et al., Phys. Rev. A 80, 013809 (2009).
The 2009 workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held at Akihabara campus,
Imaging individual objects of several nanometer resolution in space and several femtosecond resolution in time, is now one of the most exciting experiments in X-ray physics. Over the past decade, coherent X-ray diffraction has overcome a lot of limits in imaging noncrystalline objects at a resolution in the order of X-ray wavelength. So far, X-ray free electron lasers (or, in the mean time, 3rd generation synchrotron sources) have been considered as a promising source, but the table-top source is no doubt extremely important for many new sciences. Recently, Dr. H. Merdji (CEA Saclay, France) and his colleagues reported the feasibility of a laser-driven soft X-ray source, which uses the 25th harmonics (32 nm wavelength, 20 fs pulse width) of a Ti:sapphire laser. They succeeded in observing diffraction patterns from isolated nano-objects with a single 20 fs pulse. Images were reconstructed with a spatial resolution of 119 nm from the single shot and 62 nm from multiple shots. For more information, see the paper, "Single-Shot Diffractive Imaging with a Table-Top Femtosecond Soft X-Ray Laser-Harmonics Source", A. Ravasio et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 028104 (2009).
Dr. P. Glatzel (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF),
In January 2006, NASA's Stardust spacecraft brought comet coma particles and interstellar grains from Comet 81P/Wild2. Synchrotron facilities all over the world have been used for extensive analysis of the chemical composition and crystal structures of the matter. Recently, Professor L. Vincze (X-ray Microspectroscopy and Imaging Group,
As reported here previously, in April this year, the first 1.5 Å wavelength laser light was generated at
Eu is one of the most interesting lanthanides, compounds of which often exhibit remarkable optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. Therefore, it is extremely important to develop a technique for chemical state analysis. The X-ray emission spectra of Eu had not been thought to exhibit significant chemical effects. A research group led by Professor H. Hayashi (Japan Women's Univ) firstly found a large chemical shift (~5 eV) in Eu Lγ4 emission line, depending on the valence state. They discussed the feasibility of using this as a probe for spin- and valence-selective X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. For more information, see the paper, "Probe for spin- and valence-selective X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy: EuLγ4 emission", H. Hayashi et al., Anal. Chem., 81, 1522 (2009).
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced that two
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted "Critical Decision 3" (CD-3) status to the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, approving the start of construction in fiscal year (FY) 2009 and scheduling completion in FY 2015. A total project cost for NSLS-II of $912 million has been approved. NSLS-II is expected to be the world's first storage-ring-based synchrotron light source that combines nanometer spatial resolution with high brightness, coherence, and beam stability, enabling nanometer-scale characterization of materials, with powerful applications in nanotechnology and biotechnology. For more information about the NSLS-II project, visit the website at http://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/
Laser generation in the X-ray region has become realistic because of the construction of free electron laser facilities, which will be available in the near future (Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at Stanford in 2009; European XFEL in 2014). Another significant route is the extension of existing laser technologies such as high-order harmonic generation (HOHG), particularly from relativistically oscillating plasma mirror-like surfaces. Professor M. Zepf (Queens University Belfast, UK) and his colleagues recently published an interesting paper showing that it is possible to achieve a near-diffraction-limited focal spot size that is also controllable. For more information, see the paper, "Diffraction-limited performance and focusing of high harmonics from relativistic plasmas", B. Drome et al., Nature Physics, advanced online publication doi:10.1038/nphys1158
Professor T. Rayment (
Lyncean Technologies, Inc., which was founded in
A method for realizing sub-angstrom spatial resolution in diffractive imaging of single nanocrystals
Diffractive imaging is a technique for so-called lens-less microscopy, and uses diffraction intensity (image) and phase retrieval calculations rather than focusing systems such as lenses, which are not free from aberrations. The spatial resolution is basically limited only by the amount of high-angle scattering. Therefore, the technique has been considered as having the potential to achieve atomic resolution for hard X-rays or other short-wavelength particle beams. However, so far, the reported results have been still at the level of several nanometers. Recently, a research group at the
Eugene P. Bertin, author of the most famous XRF textbooks and a very popular instructor in XRF courses, has died at the age of 86, in his apartment in
A new website dedicated to job offers at synchrotron radiation sources has been started by a joint initiative of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and Institute of Physics (IOP). So far, job seekers have had to regularly scan the websites of many different facilities in the world. The objective of the new website is to cluster as many offers as possible into a single resource. It will also allow those interested to subscribe to weekly mailings of new positions. Visit the following site, http://www.synchrotronjobs.com/
Neuromeranin (NM) is a dark colored pigment synthesized within specific catecholamine-producing neurons in the human brain. It is of uncertain origin and exists as amorphous granules with a heterogeneous structure called NM granules. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, the microchemical environment of NM in whole neurons from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded human substantia nigra sections was recently analyzed. It was found that concentrations of NM-associated elements increase in the developing brain, and that iron-rich microdomains colocalized with other elements within the pigment. Furthermore, intracellular speciation of sulfur in NM has revealed the presence of reduced sulfur compounds and various forms of oxidized sulfur compounds which have not previously been reported. For more information, see the paper, "Intracellular Chemical Imaging of the Developmental Phases of Human Neuromelanin Using Synchrotron X-ray Microspectroscopy", S. Bohic et al., Anal. Chem., Article ASAP, DOI: 10.1021/ac801817k
Recent progress in synchrotron X-ray microscopy has opened up extremely attractive applications. A group led by Professor B. M. Weckhuysen (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) recently watched heterogeneous catalysts in action at high temperature. Solid catalysts have been widely used in the chemical industry, and accelerate the production of many important compounds. They are typically composed of nanometre-sized metal or metal oxide particles attached to a solid support with a high surface area. As complex structural and chemical changes take place during catalytic reactions, direct observation of the reacting catalyst is extremely important. The team employed X-ray microscopy at the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley, United States, to study the catalytic Fischer-Tropsch reaction where a solid catalyst of iron oxide particles mounted on silica is used to convert carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons that can be used as fuels. By the use of Fe LII, III and C K absorption edges, scanning transmission X-ray imaging has revealed that during the reaction the iron oxide underwent several transformations; the initial iron oxide (Fe2O3) is converted into another oxide (Fe3O4), before iron silicates (Fe2SiO4) and metallic iron begin to form. Iron carbides (FexCy) appear in the final stage. For more information, see the paper, "Nanoscale chemical imaging of a working catalyst by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy", E. de Smit et al., Nature 456, 222-225 (2008).
Professor L. Natarajan (University of Mumbai, India) recently published a paper calculating the energies and electric dipole rates of X-rays from the empty K shells of atoms in the range of Z=12 to 56. For more information, see the paper, "Relativistic fluorescence yields for hollow atoms in the range 12<Z<56", L. Natarajan, Phys. Rev. A78, 052505 (2008).
Professor S. Putterman (University of California, Los Angeles, USA) and his colleagues recently demonstrated that simply peeling ordinary sticky tape in a moderate vacuum can generate sufficient X-rays to take an image of a human finger. The phenomenon has long been known as tribo-luminescence (or mechano-luminescence), but their report (including online video accessible from the Nature News page) has impressed many. Nanosecond, 100-mW X-ray pulses as well as radio and visible light have been clearly confirmed to be correlated with stick-slip peeling events. They observed a 15-keV peak in X-ray energy spectra, and attempted to explain it by various models. For more information, see the paper, "Correlation between nanosecond X-ray flashes and stick-slip friction in peeling tape", C. G. Camara et al., Nature, 455, 1089-1092 (2008), and the news article, "Sticky tape generates X-rays - How weird is that?", Katharine Sanderson, Nature News, http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081022/full/news.2008.1185.html as well as readers' comments thereon. A very old and pioneering report describing how peeling tape can be a source of X-rays is "Investigation of electron emission on tearing away highpolymer film from glass in vacuum", V. Karasev et al., Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR, 88, 777-780 (1953).
Dr. R. Fernandez-Ruiz (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain) recently published a theoretical paper on the expanded uncertainty associated with TXRF measurements. For more information, see the paper, "Uncertainty in the Multielemental Quantification by Total-Reflection X-ray Fluorescence: Theoretical and Empirical Approximation", R. Fernandez-Ruiz, Anal. Chem., 80, 8372-8381 (2008).
Chandrayaan-1 is the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) mission to the moon, with the main scientific objectives of photo-selenological and chemical mapping of the lunar surface. It was successfully launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota on October 22nd, 2008. The total mission is expected to last for two years. One of the most important activities is X-ray measurements by the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray spectrometer (C1XS). The primary goal of the C1XS instrument is to carry out high-quality X-ray spectroscopic mapping of the Moon, in order to constrain solutions to key questions on the origin and evolution of the Moon. C1XS will use X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (1.0-10 keV) to measure the elemental abundance, and map the distribution, of the three main rock-forming elements: Mg, Al and Si. To record the incident solar X-ray flux at the Moon, which is needed to derive absolute lunar elemental surface abundances, C1XS also includes an X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM), which is provided through collaboration between the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and University of Helsinki. With its wide field-of-view of ± 52 degrees, XSM provides observation of the solar X-ray spectrum from 1-20 keV with good energy resolution and fast spectral sampling at 16 s intervals. The total mass of C1XS and XSM is 5.2 kg. For more information about Chandrayaan-1, visit the Web page, http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/Home.htm Wikipedia gives further info as well, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrayaan-1
The joint recipients of the 3rd Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, are: Dr. Shuji Maeo (Osaka Electro Communication Univ., "Development of multi excitation type X-ray tube") and Dr. Hajime Tanida (Japan Synchrotron Radiation Institute, SPring-8, "Instrumentation on total-reflection XAFS for liquid-liquid interface studies"). The ceremony was held during the 44th Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan, at Japan Women's University, Tokyo.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectra for a number of rock samples from Mars, the Moon, and Mercury have been measured at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) beamline in the BESSY II electron storage ring. In the future, both ESA and NASA will send spacecraft to Mercury. Remote X-ray sensing is planned to obtain chemical composition mapping on the planetary surface. The present synchrotron XRF spectra will be used as valuable reference for the analysis. For more information, see the paper, "Measuring and Interpreting X-ray Fluorescence from Planetary Surfaces", A. Owens et al., Anal. Chem., 80, 8398-8405 (2008).
A research group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently reported an interesting application of ultrafast X-ray spectrometry to studies on the compression and heating of shocked matter. Here, the sample is 300 μm thick LiH, which is heated by a 450 J nsec laser, and the X-ray used is Ti Kα X-ray fluorescence (4.51 keV) from Ti foil heated by another pulse laser of 5 psec. X-ray photons produced at the Ti foil are estimated as a 2 × 1013/pulse. The energy spectra of X-ray scattering by the LiH sample during compression were taken by a spectrometer consisting of a large curved graphite (HOPG) crystal in van Hamos geometry and an Imaging Plate (IP) detector. It was found that the X-ray scattering spectrum from shocked LiH shows elastic Rayleigh scattering and inelastic plasmon scattering features. Whereas earlier in time only elastic scattering was observed, at 7 nsec, a plasmon energy shift of 24 eV was detected. This indicates the transition to metallic free electron plasma in the solid phase. For more information, see the paper, "Ultrafast X-ray Thomson Scattering of Shock-Compressed Matter", A. L. Kritcher et al., Science, 322, 69 -71 (2008).
Professor A. Cupane (University of Palermo , Italy
It is well known that nanoparticles often enhance catalytic activity. However, it is still an open question as to whether the metallic or the oxidized state of the particle is the catalytically more active phase. It is therefore significant to study the oxidation/reduction process of metallic nanoparticles. A group led by Professor H. Dosh (Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung , Germany
The J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, Tokai , Japan
X-ray microscopy is continuing to make significant progress in two directions, through the use of advanced X-ray optical elements and through the combined use of coherent X-rays and image analysis. Currently, the typical spatial resolution available at major synchrotron radiation facilities is the order of tens of nm. Professor C. Schroer (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Some of the most well known self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are alkyl sulfides on gold surfaces. They have many potential applications in molecular electronics, biosensors, and nanopatterning. However, there have still been unsolved problems in basic research regarding Au-S interaction. Recently, Professor A. Morgante (Universita' di Trieste, Italy) and his colleagues published the results of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and density functional theory-based molecular dynamics simulations for hexanethiol and methylthiol. The research group demonstrated surface complexes wherein two S atoms are joined by an intermediate Au adatom (RS-Au-SR) for longer chain cases. It was found that the sulfur atoms of the molecules bind at two distinct surface sites, and that the first surface layer contains vacancies as well as gold adatoms that are laterally bound to two sulfur atoms. Competition between SAM ordering and disordering of interfacial Au atoms takes an important role in the system. For more information, see the paper, "X-ray Diffraction and Computation Yield the Structure of Alkanethiols on Gold(111)", A. Cossaro et al., Science, 321, 943-946 (2008).
At Brookhaven , USA
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 57th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2008 Birks Award was presented to Professor Rene Van Grieken (the chief editor of X-Ray Spectrometry journal), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
The 2008 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award was presented to Mr. Sterling Cornaby, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for work entitled, "Bifocal miniature toroidal shaped X-ray mirrors
The 2008 McMurdie Award was presented to Dr. Jeffrey Dann, Osram Sylvania, Towanda, PA
The 2008 Birks Award was presented to Professor Rene Van Grieken (the chief editor of X-Ray Spectrometry journal), University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
The 2008 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award was presented to Mr. Sterling Cornaby, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for work entitled, "Bifocal miniature toroidal shaped X-ray mirrors
The 2008 McMurdie Award was presented to Dr. Jeffrey Dann, Osram Sylvania, Towanda, PA
Proferssor Rene Van Grieken was awarded the Birks Award.
The world's first dedicated X-ray synchrotron radiation storage ring, the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS), Daresbury, Warrington, in the UK has closed down after 27 years of operation. Since 1980, it has played a key role in enabling and performing cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry and materials science and opened up many new areas of research in fields such as medicine, geological and environmental studies, structural genomics and archaeology. It has hosted over 11,000 users, leading to the publication of more than 5,000 research papers. The baton now passes on to the new Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, the UK's direct successor to the SRS. For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.scitech.ac.uk/PMC/PRel/STFC/SRS.aspx Another interesting account by Professor Geaves is found in the following article, "Two million hours of science", G. N. Greaves et al., Nature Materials 7, 827 - 830 (2008).
A French research group has reported the application of X-ray fluorescence microscopy to the analysis of macrophages exposed to unpurified and purified single-walled (SW) and multiwalled (MW) carbon nanotubes (CNT). During this research, elemental mapping at cell level was performed for P, Cl, K, Ca and Fe. For more information, see the paper, "Carbon Nanotubes in Macrophages: Imaging and Chemical Analysis by X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy", C. Bussy et al., Nano Lett., 8, 2659-2663 (2008).
It is well-known that Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) often reused canvases and painted over his older works. Specialists estimate that about one third of his early paintings conceal other compositions under them. Recently, an international team led by Professor K. Janssens (University of Antwerp, Belgium) and Dr J. Dik (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) successfully applied synchrotron radiation induced X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to the painting entitled Patch of Grass (painted by Van Gogh in Paris in 1887 and owned by the Kroller-Muller Museum). The research group recorded X-ray fluorescence intensity maps of several tens of square cm and, in particular, the distribution of Hg and Sb, which corresponds to red and light tones, respectively. In this way, it could analyze an approximate color reconstruction of the flesh tones. Accordingly, a portrait of a woman was discovered behind the painting. The measurement was done at DESY in Hamburg, Germany. For more information, visit the Website, http://www.vangogh.ua.ac.be/, and see the paper, "Visualization of a Lost Painting by Vincent van Gogh Using Synchrotron Radiation Based X-ray Fluorescence Elemental Mapping", J. Dik et al., Anal. Chem., ASAP Article, 10.1021/ac800965g (2008).
Aerogel is a form of nanofoam, an engineered material designed for its high strength-to-weight ratio for application wherever lightness and strength are needed. Now, the internal structure is within the scope of X-ray analysis. Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley scientists have successfully applied the coherent X-ray diffraction technique to Ta2O5 nanofoam, the density of which is 1.2 % to the bulk, and have reconstructed 3D images to determine its strength and potential new applications. Combining the obtained structural information with detailed simulations, the research team showed that the blob-and-beam network structure explains why the materials are weaker than expected. For more information, see the paper, "Three-Dimensional Coherent X-Ray Diffraction Imaging of a Ceramic Nanofoam: Determination of Structural Deformation Mechanisms", A. Barty et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 101, 055501 (2008).
Scanning diffraction microscopy, or ptychography, was first developed for the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). In the same way, by using an X-ray nano beam, one can use a STXM. The X-ray beam is focused onto the sample via a lens, and the transmission is measured. The image is obtained by plotting the transmission as a function of the sample position, as it is rastered across the beam. The analysis is straightforward, but its resolution is limited by the beam size. On the other hand, coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) now reaches resolutions below 10 nm, but the reconstruction procedures are not always easy due to the influences of data quality, sample conditions etc. A Swiss research group led by Drs. C. David and F. Pfeiffer (Paul Scherrer Institut) recently demonstrated a ptychographic imaging method that bridges the gap between STXM and CDI by measuring complete diffraction patterns at each point of a STXM scan. The group employed an advanced large-area pixel detector, Pilatus, to obtain the diffraction pattern efficiently. These diffraction data were then treated with an image reconstruction algorithm developed by the team. Several tens of thousands of diffraction images were processed to obtain one super-resolution X-ray image. The algorithm not only reconstructs the sample but also the exact shape of the light probe resulting from the X-ray beam. The 6.8 keV X-ray beam was focused using a zone plate, and the beam size was 300 nm. The spatial resolution achieved was about five times higher. For more information, see the paper, "High-Resolution Scanning X-ray Diffraction Microscopy", P. Thibault et al., Science, 321, 379 - 382 (2008).
The corrosion of steel-based mechanical components is said to be responsible for the loss of about 3% of annual global GDP. Cracks can appear in stainless steel components when stress or strain is combined with a corrosive environment that attacks sensitive grain boundaries. In nuclear power plants, certain grain boundaries can become sensitive during heat treatments or during fast neutron irradiation. It is important to observe how these cracks grow in detail, because they have been identified as the primary cause of several critical system failures. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, Dr. A. King and his colleagues recently revealed how growing cracks interact with the 3D crystal structure of stainless steel. The sample was a wire of 0.4 mm in diameter, and 40 keV X-rays were employed. By using diffraction contrast tomography, the research group could observe the shapes, positions, and orientations of 362 different grains with some 1600 grain boundaries without destroying the sample. They put the wire into a corrosive liquid, K2S4O6, and applied a load to cause microcracks to grow between the grains. As the cracks grew, 3D tomographic scans (of 30 minutes each) were made at intervals of between several minutes and two hours to follow the progress of the cracks. It was found that the cracks grew along the boundaries between the grains. The technique has enabled visualization of the cracks as they grow and of certain special boundaries that resist cracking. Information on this method is given in the following papers; "X-ray diffraction contrast tomography: a novel technique for three-dimensional grain mapping of polycrystals. I. Direct beam case", W. Ludwig et al., J. Appl. Crystallogr. 41, 302 (2008) and "II. The combined case", G. Johnson et al., J. Appl. Crystallogr. 41, 310 (2008). For more information on the present research, see the paper, "Observations of Intergranular Stress Corrosion Cracking in a Grain-Mapped Polycrystal", A. King et al., Science, 321, 382 - 385 (2008).
When X-rays satisfy Bragg's law for a perfect crystal, a significant transparency to X-ray beams is observed. This is the so-called Bormann effect, and is caused because the X-ray electric field approaches zero amplitude at the crystal planes, corresponding to almost no scattering by atoms. Recently, Dr. S. P. Collins (Diamond Light Source, United Kingdom) and his colleagues attempted several very interesting experiments - X-ray spectroscopy under the Bormann transmission condition. The main idea is that the electric quadrupole absorption transitions could be effectively enhanced under conditions of absorption suppression. The measured sample is gadolinium gallium garnet (Gd3Ga5012) cut parallel to the (100) planes, and some new spectral features were observed in the LI (8,376 eV), LII (7,930 eV) and LIII (7,243 eV) edges for gadolinium, at different temperatures. They are basically additional peaks on the low energy side, and correspond to an electric quadrupole transition from 2s, 2p1/2 and 2p2/3 to the narrow, half-filled 4f states, respectively. For more information, see the paper, "Quadrupole transitions revealed by Borrmann spectroscopy", R. F. Pettifer et al., Nature, 454, 196-199 (2008).
Recently, Professor I. Nakai (Tokyo University of Science, Japan) and his colleagues published a very interesting report on synchrotron X-ray fluorescence analysis of the cadmium hyper-accumulating plant, Arabidopsis halleri ssp. gemmifera. To investigate the Cd accumulation mechanism, they analyzed the spatial distribution and chemical form of Cd at a cellular level. At Japanese synchrotron facility, SPring-8, a tiny beam of 3.8 × 1.3 μm2 with 37 keV X-rays was used to see Cd K X-rays. For more information, see the paper, "Micro X-ray fluorescence imaging and micro X-ray absorption spectroscopy of cadmium hyper-accumulating plant, Arabidopsis halleri ssp. gemmifera, using high-energy synchrotron radiation", N. Fukuda et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 23, 1068-1075 (2008).
Andrew Lang, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the
Vadim Ivanovitch Nefedov, a member of the
The Helmholtz Association and the Humboldt Foundation have announced the 2008 recipients of the Helmholtz Humboldt Research Award; Professors Roberto Bassi (Universita degli Studi di Verona, Italy) and Shigemasa Suga (Osaka University, Japan). The award amounts to 60,000 Euros, and an additional amount of 25,000 Euros is made available by the Helmholtz Association if the awardee accepts the invitation to undertake research in Germany. In the X-ray field, in addition to this year's award winner Professor Suga, Professors Charles S. Fadley and Ian Robinson were previous recipients of this award. For more information, visit the Web page,
http://www.helmholtz.de/en/research/research_awards/helmholtz_humboldt_research_award/
Zeolites are microporous crystalline materials, and in the unit cell, the tetrahedrally coordinated Si and Al atoms occupy the so-called crystallographic T-sites. In addition to their pore size, Al's occupancy in the specific T-sites is extremely important in catalytic activity. So far, however, the distribution of Al has remained an unresolved problem. Recently, Professor J. A. van Bokhoven (ETH Zurich , Switzerland
Recently, Professor K.-J. Kim (Argonne National Lab., USA) and his colleagues published a very interesting proposal for the world's brightest X-ray source. In most currently on-going X-ray free electron laser (FEL) projects, self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) is employed. It is known that SASE-FEL creates extremely brilliant, coherent X-ray pulses of 0.1 ps duration. Due to the low repetition rate, the average brightness is only about 10,000 times compared with existing 3rd generation synchrotron sources. On the other hand, future X-ray sciences will require other types of X-ray laser source, with an even smaller number of photons in one pulse (to reduce radiation damage to the sample) and with much greater average intensity via a high repetition rate. In Professor Kim's X-ray source based on a FEL oscillator (X-FELO), a pulse of electrons is carried into an undulator as ordinary FEL, but in order to reflect back the generated X-rays into the undulator entrance, there is an optical cavity consisting of two or more Bragg reflectors with low-Z atoms and with low Debye temperature, such as diamond, beryllium oxide and sapphire crystals. In the next step, the X-ray photons connect with the next electron bunch and again travel back along the undulator. This pattern is repeated indefinitely with the X-ray intensity growing each time until equilibrium is reached. As the spectral bandwidth is extremely narrow, at three to four orders of magnitude finer than those produced by SASE-FEL, the intensity of an individual X-ray pulse from an X-FELO is rather low. But the average X-ray intensity is higher than that of SASE-FEL. Over the past 5 years, highly advanced electron beam technologies, which can be used, for example, for a multi-GeV class energy recovery linac (ERL), have become available. One of the key elements of Professor Kim's idea is combination with ERL. This is predicted to produce X-ray pulses with 109 photons at a repetition rate of 1-100 MHz. The pulses are temporarily and transversely coherent, with a rms bandwidth of about 2 meV, and rms pulse length of about 1 ps. To gain an understanding of the original concept of X-FELO, see the paper, "Proposal for a free electron laser in the X-ray region", R. Colella and A. Luccio, Optical Commun., 50, 41-44 (1984). For more information on the proposed X-ray source, see the paper, "A Proposal for an X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Oscillator with an Energy-Recovery Linac", K.-J. Kim et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 244802 (2008).
The molecular structure of liquid water has been the subject of intense debate for decades. In 1892, German physicist W. C. Röntgen, who became famous for his discovery of X-rays, published a paper proposing a "mixture model" according to which liquid water consists of two kinds of molecules: a tetrahedral ice-like structure, and another more loosely arranged structure. In 1933, J. D. Bernal and R. H. Fowler successfully analyzed early X-ray diffraction data on water in terms of a disordered quartz-like structure, and concluded that the unique properties of water are due to the tetrahedral geometry. Since then, a number of experimental and theoretical studies have been published. Nevertheless, scientists have not yet captured a clear picture of liquid water. The debate is far from settled. Very recently, an international collaborative team led by Dr. A. Nilsson (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory) and Professor S. Shin (RIKEN & The University of Tokyo) succeeded in obtaining X-ray spectroscopic evidence to support Röntgen's mixture model. Thanks to the brilliant synchrotron beamline at the SPring-8, the research group obtained some high resolution oxygen K-edge X-ray emission spectra of liquid water. The team found that there are two distinct narrow lone-pair derived peaks assigned, respectively, to tetrahedral and strongly distorted hydrogen-bonded species. For more information, see the paper, "High resolution X-ray emission spectroscopy of liquid water: The observation of two structural motifs", T. Tokushima et al., Chem. Phys. Lett., 460, 387-400 (2008).
Advanced high-intensity laser systems can be used to drive electrons to velocities close to the speed of light. A fair degree of research is now being devoted to the generation of high-energy beams that are extremely brilliant, ultra-short pulses, and have excellent spatial quality as well. The following recently published review paper is useful for those wishing to ascertain the current status of research. "Principles and applications of compact laser-plasma accelerators", V. Malka et al., Nature Physics 4, 447-453 (2008).
In May 2007, NASA's Mars rover Spirit found that Martian soil has a high concentration of silica. This is considered as very strong evidence that water could have existed on ancient Mars, because certain hydrothermal reactions are most likely to produce silica. The discovery was announced in brief at the time (see http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/mer-20070521.html), but scientists led by Professor S. Squyres (Cornell University, United States) have now had time to fully analyze the mineral deposits. In addition to the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES), the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) contributed significantly to the analysis. Analysis of the elemental composition of the deposits revealed that Si is strongly enriched relative to typical soil, and there are weaker enrichments in Ti, Cr, and Zn. Other major elements appear to be depleted. For more information, see the paper, "Detection of Silica-Rich Deposits on Mars", S. W. Squyres et al., Science, 320, 1063 (2008).
Analysis of X-ray and neutron reflectivity is usually done by modeling the scattering length density profile (such as multilayers) of the sample and performing a least square fit to the measured, phaseless reflectivity data. Professor T. Salditt (Institute for X-ray Physics, Universitat Gottingen) and his colleague recently attempted to extend the inversion technique. The research group discussed conditions for uniqueness, which are applicable in the kinematic limit (Born approximation), and for the most relevant case of box model profiles with Gaussian roughness. They also demonstrated that an iterative method to reconstruct the profile based on regularization works well. For more information, see the paper, "Iterative reconstruction of a refractive-index profile from x-ray or neutron reflectivity measurements", T. Hohage et al., Phys. Rev. E77, 051604 (2008).
There appears to be increasing demand for learning analytical techniques for surfaces and interfaces. In Japan, the 2nd tutorial course on the analysis of thin films and multilayers by X-ray reflectivity was held on March 26. Although a similar school was run only 4 months earlier, an additional 50 young participants came to Tsukuba for the course. In France, the 3rd school was held at Giens on May 4-8. The organizers were Professors A. Gibaud (Université du. Maine), R. Lazzari (Institut des NanoSciences de Paris) and J. Daillant (Institut Rayonnement Matière de Saclay). Of particular note is that SAXS, GI-SAXS and In-plane XRD have been newly included in the program, in addition to ordinary X-ray reflectivity. Further information is available at http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/ref/ (in Japanese only) and http://www.univ-lemans.fr/~gibaud/ecoledegiens/ (in French only), respectively
Spintronics is now one of the most important keywords in modern sciences and technologies. The currently employed method for magnetic recording uses electrical current pulses, and there appear to be limitations for extremely high density devices (e.g., G-bit level MRAM). One of the most promising solutions is the use of spin polarized current in a ferromagnetic medium, which can provide a spin-transfer torque to the magnetization, resulting in its motion. To develop high-density and very fast devices, it is indispensable to obtain a fundamental understanding of what really takes place there. Recently, a research group led by Dr. G. Meier (Hamburg University, Germany) succeeded in visualizing spin-torque-induced vortex gyration in micrometer-sized permalloy squares using a 30nm-resolution X-ray microscope at the Advanced Light Source (ALS), Berkeley, United States. The phases of the gyration in structures with different chirality have been analyzed considering alternating spin-polarized currents and the current's Oersted field. For more information on the present experiments, see the paper, "Time-Resolved X-Ray Microscopy of Spin-Torque-Induced Magnetic Vortex Gyration", M. Bolte et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 1701 (2008).
The Japanese government has released the list of recipients of this year's spring decorations, comprising 3,973 Japanese and 51 foreign nationals, for their contributions to the nation and public in politics, business, culture and the arts. Readers of X-Ray Spectrometry would be interested to know that Sir Martin Wood, one of the founders of Oxford Instruments, received The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. An official explanation of Japanese decorations and medals can be found at http://www8.cao.go.jp/english/decoration/index.html Wikipedia carries a comprehensive introduction at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Rising_Sun
Progress in nano sciences requires further development of local structural probes, particularly for the study of non-uniform materials. As material functions are often concerned with heterogeneity and some hierarchical orders of the structures, some kind of zooming from low to high resolution will become crucial in the future. Furthermore, in addition to two-dimensional (2D) imaging of an object with a lateral resolution determined by the beam size, some depth resolution is important for a better understanding of materials. So far, X-ray techniques have had several limitations with respect to such points. Recently, French scientists led by Professor J-L. Hodeau (CNRS, Grenoble, France) have reported an interesting development. They are trying to combine pencil-beam tomography with X-ray diffraction to examine unidentified phases in nanomaterials and polycrystalline materials. The experiments were for a high-pressure pellet containing several carbon phases and a heterogeneous powder containing chalcedony and iron pigments. For more information, see the paper, "Probing the structure of heterogeneous diluted materials by diffraction tomography", P. Bleuet et al., Nature Materials, 7, 468 (2008).
X-ray Bragg diffraction can determine crystal structures. So far, however, distinguishing between right- and left-handed crystals has not been done by ordinary X-ray diffraction. Japanese scientists led by Professor S. Shin (RIKEN & The University of Tokyo) recently succeeded in revealing the chirality of crystals by measuring Bragg diffraction near the absorption edge, using circular polarization of synchrotron X-rays at the SPring-8. Reflections only allowed at resonant conditions have been well interpreted for the α-quartz case. For more information, see the paper, "Right Handed or Left Handed? Forbidden X-Ray Diffraction Reveals Chirality", Y. Tanaka et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 145502 (2008).
A very useful XRS booklet has recently been published in Argentina. Seven chapters are contribution of the authors from South America (Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina) and the rest three are from Europe (Austria and Belgium). This booklet could be used as a textbook in tutorial workshops for newcomers to XRS, because it covers a lot of ground ranging from the fundamental aspects of XRS right through to almost all the important applications, as well as providing key knowledge for practical analysis such as sample preparation. In addition, it is full of comprehensive figures, photos and tables that are large enough to view even if one is simply flipping through the pages. The booklet covers not only XRS in general, but also detailed information on TXRF, which has become particularly popular in South America. In the preface, the editor of the book, Professor Cristina Vazquez, comments on the long history of X-rays after their discovery by Roentgen in 1895. Nowadays, X-ray analysis is one of the most widely used scientific tools. Synchrotron sources are available worldwide (except unfortunately in Africa - in South America, one synchrotron is operating in Sao Paulo, Brazil). The publication of such an excellent XRS textbook (as well as the holding of good conferences and tutorial workshops) is significant in preparing the way for the next generation of students so that they too can go on to create history.
Cadmium is one of the most ecotoxic metals. A Spanish and Belgian research group led by Dr. M. Hidalgo (University of Girona, Spain) has recently reported the determination of trace Cd in complex environmental liquid samples. The method employed is basically a combination of a pre-concentration technique and Cd Kα XRF analysis with a high-energy polarized beam (PANalytical Epsilon 5 with a Gd tube, 100kV-6mA, and a Ge detector). In order to collect trace Cd effectively, the research group used Aliquat 336 (trademark of Cognis Corp.), which is tricaprylmethylammonium chloride (C25H54ClN), as an extractant. The typical detection limit is 0.7 μg/L, and the accuracy was investigated by using spiked seawater samples and a synthetic water sample containing, besides Cd, high amounts of other metal pollutants such as Ni, Cu, and Pb. For more information, see the paper, "High-Energy Polarized-Beam Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Analysis Combined with Activated Thin Layers for Cadmium Determination at Trace Levels in Complex Environmental Liquid Samples", E. Margui et al., Anal. Chem., 80, 2357 (2008).
As an X-ray free-electron laser (X-FEL) provides extremely strong pulses, it is necessary to understand the photon-induced damage processes for biological samples. A research group led by Dr. Chapman (DESY, Germany and Lawrence Livermore National Lab, USA) has discussed how several aspects of existing continuum damage models can be tested during early operation of X-FEL at lower X-ray energies in the range of 0.8-5 keV and low fluences, focusing particularly on macroscopic collective effects such as particle charging, expansion, and average ionization of nanospheres. For more information, see the paper, "Modeling of the damage dynamics of nanospheres exposed to x-ray free-electron-laser radiation", S. P. Hau-Riege et al., Phys. Rev. E77, 041902 (2008).
It is known that a helical undulator does not generate any higher-order harmonics on the central radiation axis. As such, off-axis radiation in higher-order harmonics has been considered useless, but so far this problem has not been discussed further. Professor S. Sasaki and his colleagues (Argonne National Lab, USA) have recently published an interesting paper about this problem. They found that all the harmonics except the fundamental from a variable polarizing undulator, such as an Advanced Planar Polarized Light Emitter (APPLE) device, are expressed by Laguerre-Gaussian modes carrying orbital angular momentum, when it is phased to deliver circularly polarized radiation. As the advent of polarized X-ray sources has dramatically expanded the understanding of magnetism, the availability of intense X-ray beams carrying orbital in addition to spin angular momentum could open the door to new condensed matter research via X-ray scattering and spectroscopy methods. For more information, see the paper, "Proposal for Generating Brilliant X-Ray Beams Carrying Orbital Angular Momentum", S. Sasaki et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 124801 (2008).
Daniel S. Chemla, a world-leading physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA has died at the age of 67 at his home in Kensington. Dr. Chemla had been ill for four years after suffering a stroke. He had been director of the Materials Science Division, and also of the Advanced Light Source. He also held an appointment as a professor of physics at UC Berkeley. Dr. Chemla was French, born in 1940 in Tunisia, and was a graduate of France's prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications. He received his Ph.D. in non-linear optics from the University of Paris in 1972. Dr. Chemla came to the United States in 1981 to work at AT&T's famed Bell Laboratories. In 1991, he was recruited to Berkeley Lab by then director Charles Shank, to become the first director of a newly formed Materials Sciences Division. Dr. Chemla earned particular praise because of his great leadership and contribution in resolving the Advanced Light Source's budget crisis. His achievements with the lab's nanoscale work also led the Department of Energy to select the Berkeley Lab for the opening of the first of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers in the US. Dr. Chemla named it "The Molecular Foundry." Dr. Chemla's great talents were not limited to science. He was a master of Karate - he won the 5th degree black belt in karate, the highest rank awarded in Shotokan Karate of America. He translated Master Gichin Funakoshi's "Karate-do Kyohan", the widely accepted karate master text (Kodansha International Ltd. ISBN 0-87011-190-6) into French. Dr. Chemla was elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received the R.W. Wood prize of the Optical Society of America, and the Quantum Electronics Award of the IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society, and a Humboldt Research Award. Dr. Chemla is survived by his wife Berit, two children, Yann, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Britt Chemla Jones, an Art History lecturer in Houston, Texas. His biography was released by Berkeley Lab.
http://www.lbl.gov/today/2008/Mar/21-Fri/chemla-jump.pdf
The San Francisco Chronicle (March 24, 2008) carries an obituary written by David Perlman.
http://www.lbl.gov/today/2008/Mar/21-Fri/chemla-jump.pdf
The San Francisco Chronicle (March 24, 2008) carries an obituary written by David Perlman.
Issue 6, vol. 23 (2008) of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy (JAAS) is devoted to the theme of synchrotron radiation. As guest editors, Professors A. von Bohlen and M. Tolan (Technische Universitat Dortmund, Germany) compiled 1 critical review and 7 regular papers. The title and the first authors are as follows: "Synchrotron radiation induced TXRF", C. Streli et al., 792, "Synchrotron radiation and cultural heritage: combined XANES/XRF study at Mn K-edge of blue, grey or black coloured palaeontological and archaeological bone material", I. Reiche et al., 799, "The barium giant dipole resonance in barite: a study of soft X-ray absorption edges using hard X-rays", C. Sternemann et al., 807, "Non-destructive, depth resolved investigation of corrosion layers of historical glass objects by 3D Micro X-ray fluorescence analysis", B. Kanngieser et al., 814, "Applications of synchrotron-based micro-imaging techniques to the chemical analysis of ancient paintings", M. Cotte et al., 820, "A combination of synchrotron and laboratory X-ray techniques for studying tissue-specific trace level metal distributions in Daphnia magna", B. De Samber et al., 829, "Sodium sulfate heptahydrate: a synchrotron energy-dispersive diffraction study of an elusive metastable hydrated salt", A. Hamilton et al., 840, "Reference-free X-ray spectrometry based on metrology using synchrotron radiation", B. Beckhoff, 845. In the editorial column, the editors point out some very interesting facts on the number of publications in the field of synchrotron radiation applications. They investigated the ISI Web of Science database and found that 1991 was a critical year. The relevant Figure shows a big jump in the number of publications, somewhat resembling an absorption edge. This jump no doubt correlates to the several year delayed big pulses, i.e., the advent of the 3rd generation sources, ESRF (1994), APS (1996) and SPring-8 (1997).
Recent advances in highly brilliant synchrotron sources including soft X-ray free-electron lasers have ushered in many new methods of microscopy. Coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) is one of the most promising ways of determining the nanoscale structures of non-crystalline materials. However, to enable phase determination, the intensity distribution must be sampled at a spacing finer than its Nyquist frequency, which in turn requires the sample to be finite. In other words, there are some limitations in the sample size. Recently, an Australian group led by Professor K. A. Nugent (University of Melbourne) proposed a new method, 'keyhole' CDI, which can reconstruct objects of arbitrary size. In this case, a beam is focused and the object is placed downstream of the focal point so that it is illuminated by a diverging wave. The geometry looks similar to that of in-line holography, but the requirements placed on the source and detector are different. The group attempted imaging by visible light and X-rays, and, using the latter, part of an extended object was imaged with a detector-limited resolution of better than 20 nm. For more information on the present experiments, see the paper, "Keyhole coherent diffractive imaging", B. Abbey et al., Nature Physics, advanced online publication, DOI: 10.1038/nphys896
The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) announced that Dr. Leroy Hood (Co-director of the Nano Systems Biology Cancer Center (NSBCC) and President of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington) received the seventh annual Pittcon Heritage Award. Jointly sponsored by the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and CHF, this award recognizes outstanding individuals whose entrepreneurial careers have shaped the instrumentation community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of the modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted the role of analytical chemistry in world economies. Dr. Hood pioneered the techniques that made the rapid pace of the Human Genome Project possible.
Beryllium has exceptional material properties, and because of this, it is an essential element used in the aerospace, computer, electronics, and nuclear industries. For X-rays, it has been widely used as a window material. Dr. B. Zawisza (Silesian University, Poland) has recently reported the determination of beryllium by X-rays. One would think that it is not easy to determine such an extremely light element by XRF. The novel simple idea is indirect determination of cobalt in the precipitates, [Co(NH3)6][Be2(OH)3(CO3)2(H2O)2]・3H2O, fove rmed from hexamminecobalt(III) chloride and ammonium carbonate-EDTA solution. The detection limit of the proposed method is 0.2 mg of beryllium. For more information, see the paper, "Determination of Beryllium by Using X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry", B. Zawisza, Anal. Chem., 80, 1696 (2008).
Fast liquid jets and sprays, which are complex multiphase flow phenomena, have been one of physics' veiled mysteries ever since the pioneering work by Rayleigh in the 19th century (See, W. S. Rayleigh, "On the stability of jets", Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 4, 10 (1878)). The main reason is simply that standard microscopy and visible light imaging techniques cannot peer into the dark and murky centers of dense-liquid jets. Recently, Dr. K. Fezzaa and his colleagues (Argonne National Lab, USA) have succeeded in revealing for the first time the morphology and velocity fields of high-speed and highly turbulent jets generated by a gasoline direct injection system. The research group employed ultrafast synchrotron-X-ray full-field phase-contrast imaging. The spatial and time resolutions in the experiments were 5-30 micron and 472 ns, respectively. For more information on the present experiments, see the paper, "Ultrafast X-ray study of dense-liquid-jet flow dynamics using structure-tracking velocimetry", Y. Wang et al., Nature Physics, advanced online publication, DOI: 10.1038/nphys840
The international union of crystallography (IUCr) announced that Professor D. Sayre (Department of Physics, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA) has been awarded the eighth Ewald Prize for the unique breadth of his contributions to crystallography, which range from seminal contributions to the solving of the phase problem to the complex physics of imaging generic objects by X-ray diffraction and microscopy, and for never losing touch with the physical reality of the processes involved. The presentation of the Ewald Prize will be made during the Osaka Congress Opening Ceremony in August 2008. Former recipients of the Ewald Prize are P. Coppens (USA, 2005), Michael M. Woolfson (UK, 2002), G. N. Ramachandran (India, 1999), M. G. Rossmann (USA, 1996), N. Kato (Japan, 1993), B.K. Vainshtein (Russia, 1990), J.M. Cowley (USA) and A.F. Moodie (Australia) in 1987.
A coherent X-ray beam produces a speckle pattern when it impinges on a sample. Usually the size and shape of the speckle do not depend on the sample at all, but a group led by Professor M. Giglio (Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italy) recently found significant effects, observed when the detector is placed in the near field. Conventional far-field techniques, because of the van Cittert and Zernike theorem, have limitations in the statistical analysis of speckles, but it has now become possible to generate static and dynamic X-ray-scattering data. In addition, the present technique permits an increase of around four orders of magnitude in beam size and power. The measurements were done at BM05, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The peak energy was 12 keV and the beam size at the sample position was 1 mm × 1 mm. For more information, see the paper, "X-ray-scattering information obtained from near-field speckle", R. Cerbino et al., Nature Physics, advanced online publication, DOI: 10.1038/nphys837
A joint research group from the USA and Australia, led by Dr. J. Miao (University of California-Los Angeles) recently published the first results of resonant X-ray diffraction microscopy for element specific imaging of buried structures with a pixel resolution of ~15 nm by exploiting the abrupt change in the scattering cross section near electronic resonances. They performed nondestructive and quantitative imaging of buried Bi structures inside a Si crystal by directly phasing coherent X-ray diffraction patterns near the Bi-MV edge. For more information, see the paper, "Nanoscale Imaging of Buried Structures with Elemental Specificity Using Resonant X-Ray Diffraction Microscopy", C. Song et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 025504 (2008).
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced that three US scientists have been named as laureates of the 2008 (24th) Japan Prize. Dr. Vinton Gray Cerf, 64, Google Inc., and Dr. Robert Elliot Kahn, 69, Corporation for National Research Initiatives, have received the prize in this year's category of "Information Communication Theory and Technology". Dr. Victor A. McKusick, 86, the Johns Hopkins University, has been selected in another prize category of "Medical Genomics and Genetics." They will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of fifty million Japanese yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Wednesday 23rd April, 2008. The prize categories for the 2009 (25th) Japan Prize will be "The transformation towards a sustainable society in harmony with nature" and the "Technological integration of medical science and engineering". For further information, contact Masaaki Ueda, The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-5545-0551, Fax: +81-3-5545-0554, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
A German group led by Dr. B. Kanngiesser (Technische Universitat Berlin) has recently reported the significant extension of 3D micro X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. Conventional XRF mapping is likely to remain a non-absolute analysis, since it just gives the spatial distribution of elements in the viewing region. On the other hand, most realistic analytical applications require much greater quantitative imaging of chemical composition, density, thickness of layers etc. The research group attempted to introduce a reliable quantification procedure, and obtained successful results in the case of stratified material. For more information, see the paper, "Reconstruction of Thickness and Composition of Stratified Materials by Means of 3D Micro X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy", I. Mantouvalou et al., Anal. Chem. ASAP Article, DOI: 10.1021/ac701774d
Ultrashort X-ray photon pulses are powerful tools for time-resolved studies of molecular and atomic dynamics. Free electron lasers remain the most promising source. However, in the future, developing much more compact sources will become significant in widening the field of application. A group led by Professor D. A. Jaroszynski (University of Strathclyde, UK) has recently reported the first successful combination of a laser-plasma wakefield accelerator, producing 55-75 MeV electron bunches, with an undulator to generate visible synchrotron radiation. Here, the key would be the laser wakefield accelerator, which produces electron beams with energies from tens of MeV to more than 1 GeV within a few cm, with pulse durations of several fs. Further improvements, particularly in the energy of electrons, could contribute to the generation of X-ray photons with ultrashort pulse-width as well as extremely high peak power. For details on laser-plasma wakefield acceleration, see, for example, "Accelerator physics: Electrons hang ten on laser wake", T. Katsouleas, Nature, 431, 515-516 (2004). For more information on the present experiments, see the paper, "A compact synchrotron radiation source driven by a laser-plasma wakefield accelerator", H.-P. Schlenvoigt et al., Nature Physics, advanced online publication, DOI: 10.1038/nphys811
The lattice dynamics of materials under high strain is of great interest in materials science. Japanese scientists led by Professors S. Adachi (KEK, Tsukuba) and S. Koshihara (Tokyo Tech Institute, Tokyo) have recently succeeded in observing the irreversible deformation process of CdS single crystal by single-shot time-resolved Laue diffraction. The time-resolution here is 100 psec, which is a single-bunch X-ray pulse-width, available at the Photon Factory-Advanced Ring (6.5 GeV). The data was obtained with various time delays in the order of nsec. As the observed pattern exhibits six-fold symmetry of the wurtzite structure at 10 ns, corresponding to a shock pressure of 3.92 GPa, i.e., above the threshold pressure of phase transition to a rocksalt structure, they suggest a transient wurtzite structure. For more information, see the paper, "Shock-induced lattice deformation of CdS single crystal by nanosecond time-resolved Laue diffraction", K. Ichiyanagi et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 231918 (2007).
For many years, the simultaneous mapping of phases and chemical compositions subjected to extreme conditions has been one of biggest challenges in materials science. Professor J. M. Howe (Virginia University, USA) and his colleagues have reported the successful study of partially molten Al-Si-Cu-Mg alloy particles, for automobile and aerospace applications, during in situ heating by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope. They have discovered some significant results, for instance, Al and Si concentrations change in a complementary and symmetric manner about the solid-liquid interface as a function of temperature. They also obtained direct evidence for homogeneous nucleation of the Al-rich solid. For more information, see the paper, "In Situ Determination of the Nanoscale Chemistry and Behavior of Solid-Liquid Systems", S. K. Eswaramoorthy et al., Science, 318, 1437-1440 (2007).
The 1st tutorial course on the analysis of thin films and multilayers by X-ray reflectivity was held in Tsukuba, Japan, on November 29-30. The first and second days were for beginners and experts, respectively, but most of the total of 63 participants attended both of them. The textbook distributed at the school will be published in 2008. The 2nd course will take place in March 2008. Further information is available at http://www.nims.go.jp/xray/ref/ (in Japanese only).
At the TOMCAT beamline of the Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute, a phase-contrast X-ray tomographic microscope was recently applied to some very interesting research - the identification and classification of small fossil seeds (0.5~1.8 mm long) of the Early Cretaceous in Portugal and North America. The conclusion is that these seeds belong to Gnetales and to Bennettitales. The experiment used a very fast tomography method, the algorithm of which was introduced by Bronnikov, and refined by Gureyev. For more information, see the paper, "Phase-contrast X-ray microtomography links Cretaceous seeds with Gnetales and Bennettitales", E. M. Friis et al., Nature, 450, 549-552 (2007).
The Pittsburgh Conference has released the topics for the Conferee Networking Sessions (CNS) which will be offered at Pittcon 2008, March 2-7, 2008, in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The sessions were first introduced at Pittcon 2007, and the number has been increased to 27 for Pittcon 2008. Some of the topics included in the 2008 program are "Management and Certification of Reference Standards", "Analysis of Explosives and Energetics: From Forensic/Trace to Production Support", "Green Chemistry/Green Chemists in the Office, Lab and Schools: What Can I Do to Make our World "Greener"", " Information Management and Data Handling in the Laboratory", " Chemical Imaging: Instrumental and Analysis" etc. For further information, visit http://www.pittcon.org/
Lensless Fourier transform holography (FTH) is known as an imaging method suitable for high resolution X-ray microscopy with coherent X-rays. In FTH, there had been a limit on the spatial resolution, mainly because of the contradiction between the requirement on the numerical aperture and the realistic resolving power of high spatial frequency fringes that appeared in the hologram. Multiplexing, i.e., the use of multiple object and reference signals, can be one promising solution, because it extends the effective field of view. Recently, a research group led by Professor J. Stöh, a director of Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), has developed the technique further so that the measurement can be done by a single shot. Using patterned masks to provide multiple X-ray sources, the team demonstrated the ability to record images simultaneously at different parts of the sample. 3D imaging of ultrafast processes could become a reality if the method is combined with so-called pump-probe experiments. For more information, see the paper, "Extended field of view soft x-ray Fourier transform holography: toward imaging ultrafast evolution in a single shot", W. F. Schlotter et al., Optics Letters, 32, 3110-3112 (2007).
Dr. B. Beckhoff (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Berlin, Germany) and his colleagues have successfully performed a reference-free quantitation by total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis in the soft X-ray region. So far, element determination by XRF has been usually done with a calibration curve, which requires some reference samples. However, there have been increasing demands for reference-free analysis, particularly in cases where stable and reliable reference samples are not easily obtained. The fundamental parameter method, which is one of the most promising ways of performing such reference-free analysis, uses the theoretical XRF intensity expressed by Sherman's equation (or Fujino-Shiraiwa's formula), but appears to be highly dependent on geometrical factors, the spectral distribution of primary X-rays, and atomic fundamental constants etc. In TXRF, the intensity is affected by additional conditions. The experiments were done with monochromatic synchrotron radiation, at BESSY II. The research group has developed a feasible sample chamber specially designed for quantitative XRF. In addition, several calibrated detector systems have been employed to obtain reliable results. For more information, see the paper, "Reference-Free Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Semiconductor Surfaces with Synchrotron Radiation", B. Beckhoff et al., Anal. Chem. 79, 7873 -7882 (2007).
FLASH, which is the European free-electron laser (FEL) facility located in DESY's campus in Hamburg, recently achieved a world first by generating flashes of laser light at the wavelength of 6.5 nm, which is much shorter than the previous record of 13.5 nm that the same facility established one year ago. During the past several months, the linear accelerator (260 m) has been extended by a further 12 m by installing the 6th superconducting module. This has enabled the acceleration of the electron beam up to 1 GeV, the designed energy. The FLASH facility has been available for user experiments since August 2005. Until 2009, it will be the only facility in the world that can provide FEL in the soft X-ray region. The next user run will begin in mid-November this year and last 13 months. The international expert committee has already selected 32 projects. The present 6.5 nm soft X-ray laser will be used for the experiments. For further information, contact Petra Folkerts, Phone: +49 40-8998-4977, Fax: +49 40-8998-2020, presse@desy.de, http://www.xfel.eu
The Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has been declared fully operational. The CNM building opened for research in May 2006 and, since then, approximately 50 user projects have been able to take advantage of the facility. Very recently, the hard X-ray nanoprobe beamline was completed, and a Beowulf-class supercomputer array with 12 teraflop capacity installed. For further information, contact Steve McGregor, Phone: +1-630-252-5580, media@anl.gov, http://www.anl/gov/
Generally, the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth's lower mantle are influenced by the electronic state of iron within minerals at high pressure and temperature. For instance, if this electronic state leads to a change in the density of minerals, it would alter the travelling velocity of sound waves. Dr. Jung-Fu Lin (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA) and his colleagues recently determined the spin state of iron in ferropericlase [(Mg0.75,Fe0.25)O] at lower-mantle pressures and temperatures using an X-ray emission spectrometer with in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction in a laser-heated diamond cell. They found that the transition between high and low spin happens at temperatures ranging from 1,900 to 2,300 K and pressures of up to 95 GPa: conditions found between 1,000 and 2,200 km below the surface. Through integrated absolute difference (IAD) analysis of FeKb spectra, they obtained the ratio of the high-spin to low-spin states in the sample. An energy shift of 1.6 eV in the main emission peak was interpreted as evidence of the spin transition. X-ray spectroscopists might find further significant spectral changes, e.g., Kb' satellite, in their data. For more information, see the paper, "Spin Transition Zone in Earth's Lower Mantle", Jung-Fu Lin et al., Science, 317, 1740-1743 (2007).
The recipient of the 2nd Asada Award, which is presented in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) to promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields in Japan, is: Dr. Hiromi Eba (one of previous members of our lab, present affiliation, Musashi Tech. Institute, "Site occupancy determination and magnetic evaluation of MnZn-ferrites using MnKb X-ray fluorescence spectra"). The ceremony was held in Kyoto, during the international conference on X-ray optics and microscopy (ICXOM 2007) and the 43rd Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan.
Since 2005, the APEC "Technological Cooperative Framework of Nano Scale Measurement and Analytical Methods" has been aiming to share the most recent advances in nanometer analytical and measurement methods from representatives of government, the private sector, R&D organizations and academia. To this end, the 2007 APEC nanoscale measurement forum was organized by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan, and was held at Taipei, on September 5-7, 2007. The invited speakers were as follows; Peter Hatto (IonBond Ltd., Chairman of ISO/TC 229), Chanchana Thanachayanont (National Metal and Materials Technology Center, Thailand), Wen-Li Wu (NIST, USA), Michael Garner (Intel, USA), Chih-Ming Ke (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), Aleksandar Stefanovic (PANalytical, Singapore), Sang-Hee Suh (Center for Nanostructured Materials Technology, Korea), Kenji Sakurai (NIMS, Japan), Laura E. Depero (University of Brescia, Italy), Chun Zhang (Nano and Advanced Materials Institute, Hong Kong), Keiji Takahata (AIST, Japan), and Keh-Chyang Leou (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan). For further information, contact Wei-En Fu, Center for Measurement Standards, ITRI, Taiwan, Phone +886-3-573 2220, WeienFu@itri.org.tw, http://www.nml.org.tw/en/APECNanoForum/
X-rays have been used as a tool for probing atomic-scale structures. Used in combination with pump by laser (usually from the infra red to visible light region), time-resolved X-ray (or soft X-ray) analysis is pushing back the frontiers in the world of materials. Recently, a further way of performing pump-probe experiments, i.e., an X-ray pump and infra-red probe, has been successfully applied to clarify the dynamics of N2 molecules. A research team led by Professors H. Kapteyn and M. Murnane (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA) employed 43 eV soft X-rays with ca. 5 fs pulse width, which are laser-generated high-order harmonics, and an intense IR laser pulse (1.5 eV, 30 fs, 1013 W/cm2). The team found that substantial fragmentation occurs through an electron-shakeup process, in which a second electron is simultaneously excited during the soft X-ray photoionization process. During fragmentation, the molecular potential seen by the electron changes rapidly from nearly spherically symmetric to a two-center molecular potential. For more information, see the paper, " Soft X-ray-Driven Femtosecond Molecular Dynamics", E. Gagnon et al., Science, 317, 1374-1378 (2007).
The use of coherent X-rays makes it possible to replace lenses by signal processing in X-ray imaging techniques, as demonstrated for the first time in 1999 (See, J. Miao et al., Nature, 400, 342 (1999)). The current state-of-the-art technique uses radiation produced by a free-electron laser, which, in a single shot, images with a temporal resolution of 25 fs and a spatial resolution of 90 nm. Very recently, a group led by Professors H. Kapteyn and M. Murnane (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA) has succeeded in performing this kind of measurement in an ordinary laboratory, instead of at a synchrotron facility, using 29 nm soft X-rays generated as 25-31th order harmonics from a 1.3 mJ, 25 fs, Ti:S laser. The team collected scattering from the sample by means of an X-ray CCD camera. The spatial resolution of the reconstructed images is 214 nm. For more information, see the paper, "Lensless Diffractive Imaging Using Tabletop Coherent High-Harmonic Soft-X-Ray Beams", R. L. Sandberg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 098103 (2007)
Dr. H. Chapman (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) and his colleagues recently published their new imaging technique, which is a new type of X-ray holography, and some successful data obtained at the free electron laser source, FLASH, Hamburg, Germany. Their technique employs soft X-ray laser pulses which pass through a small hole in a detector mirror, and then encounter a thin, translucent membrane that has been covered with a sample material (140 nm-diameter polystyrene balls) lying just in front of a backing mirror. In the present case, the X-ray pulse is shorter than the time spent traveling through the sample to the backing mirror and then returning. The sample is exploded by extremely strong X-ray photons and its size changes in the brief interval that the pulse takes to reflect back. The time it takes the pulse to return is encoded in the fringe pattern of the X-ray hologram, and this can be read out from the hologram to an accuracy of about one femtosecond. The spatial resolution is 50 nm in this experiment, but this will be further improved by shorter wavelength laser pulses. Their newly developed method opens up new opportunities for structure sciences based on holography, interferometry or coherent diffraction, as well as for studies that investigate the femtosecond dynamics of matter in new ways. It is interesting that the scientists were inspired by Isaac Newton, who noticed in the 18th century that sunlight produced "strange and surprising" light and dark bands on a screen after he had bounced it off a mirror speckled with dust particles. For more information, see the paper, "Femtosecond time-delay X-ray holography ", H. N. Chapman et al., Nature,. 448, 676-679 (2007).
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 56th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
1. The 2007 Barrett Award was presented to Sunil K. Sinha, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
2. The 2007 Jenkins Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
3. The 2007 Distinguished Fellow Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
4. The 2007 Hanawalt Award was presented to Tamás Ungár, Eötvös University Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
5. There was no recipient for the 2007 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award.
1. The 2007 Barrett Award was presented to Sunil K. Sinha, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
2. The 2007 Jenkins Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
3. The 2007 Distinguished Fellow Award was presented to Ting C. Huang, Emeritus, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, CA
4. The 2007 Hanawalt Award was presented to Tamás Ungár, Eötvös University Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
5. There was no recipient for the 2007 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award.
The 2007 workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held at the Institute of Materials Research, Tohoku University, in Sendai, Japan, on July 22-24, 2007. The workshop was the latest in a series held since 2001; Tsukuba (December 2001), Niigata (September 2002), Nagoya (July 2003), Tsukuba (July 2004), Saitama (March 2005), Yokohama (July 2006), Kusatsu (August 2006) and Tokyo (December 2006). There are increasing demands for sophisticated metrology in order to observe multilayered materials with nano-structures (dots, wires, etc), which are finding applications in electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices. Unlike many other surface-sensitive methods, X-ray and neutron analysis is known for its ability to see even 'buried' function interfaces as well as the surface. It is highly reliable in practice, because the information, which ranges from the atomic to mesoscopic scale, is quantitative and reproducible. However, the method should be upgraded further to cope with more realistic problems in nano sciences and technologies. Current X-ray methods can give atomic-scale information for quite a large area on a scale of mm2-cm2. These methods can deliver good statistics for an average, but sometimes it is necessary to analyze a specific part in nano-scale rather than an average structure. In addition, there is a need to see unstable changing structures and related phenomena in order to understand more about the mechanism of the functioning of nano materials. Quick measurements are therefore important. Furthermore, in order to apply the method to a more realistic and complex system, we need some visual understanding to discuss the relationship among the different structures that are present in the same viewing. Therefore, 2D/3D real-space imaging is important. Interpretation of roughness is another significant subject, while combination with grazing-incidence small angle scattering (GISAS) will become much more widespread than before. The use of coherent beams and several other new approaches are also significant. Leading senior academics in this field were invited as commentators, Professors J. Harada (Nagoya University & Rigaku Corporation), S. Kikuta (The University of Tokyo & JASRI) and J. Mizuki (JAEA). The invited speakers from Tohoku University in Sendai, workshop site, Professors K. Takanashi, M. Kawasaki and M. Yanagihara, talked about the hot topic of spintronics, and/or control of 'buried' magnetic interfaces. It was stressed that the use of techniques sensitive to specific interfaces is crucial in analyzing many unsolved problems in this field. The workshop proceedings will be published electronically in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/1742-6596
The Department of Energy (DOE) in the US granted "Critical Decision 1" (CD-1) status to the National Synchrotron Light Source-II (NSLS-II), which will be a new medium energy storage ring and will replace the existing NSLS which began operations in 1982. This decision assures the facility's location at Brookhaven National Lab. For more about the NSLS-II project, visit the Web page, http://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/
The National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, has announced that the first NIMS Award for recent breakthroughs in materials science and technology has been presented to Professor William H. Butler (Center for Materials for Information Technology, University of Alabama, USA) for the theoretical prediction of giant tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR). Professor Butler performed the first principle calculation on tunnel conductance through MgO(001) single crystal thin film, and theoretically predicted the giant TMR effect of the Fe(100)/MgO/Fe(100) junction for the first time. A giant TMR effect beyond ~500 % has now been realized, which is expected to make a substantial contribution to the development of novel spintronics devices and the creation of a new interdisciplinary field.
The first impression one gets from looking at this book is that it is quite thick and looks heavy, and indeed, a wealth of information on modern XRF is densely packed into its 863 pages. In all, 69 scientists, mainly from Europe but also several from North America, South Africa and Japan have contributed articles on various aspects of the XRF technique; elements of XRF instruments, i.e., X-ray source (Chap. 2), optics (Chap. 3) and detector technologies (Chap. 4), as well as know-how regarding sample preparation (Chap. 6) and many applications (Chap.7 and others). One of the most impressive sections of this book is 'Quantitative Analysis' (Chap. 5) authored by M. Mantler, J. P. Willis, G. R. Lachance, B. A. R. Vrebos, K. E. Mauser, N. Kawahara, R. M. Rousseau and P. N. Brower. The chapter provides a good summary of each historically developed mathematical expression and discusses the issues related to errors and reliability, as well as standardization, which is significant in practical analysis. The intensity of XRF correlates to the concentration of the corresponding element, but also depends on the matrix, i.e., concentration of other elements. However, thanks to the well-established physical basis of XRF, calculations can explain measured XRF spectra to some extent. In modern practical analysis, the most likely difficulty to be encountered is in preparing so-called 'standard samples' that have the same matrix of the unknown sample to be analyzed. In such cases, one might wonder how one can depend on calculations, or which type of experimental data would help. Such problems are not new, but have yet to be fully resolved. They are also likely to assume even greater importance in the future. The book includes numerous stimulating applications in the area of micro area analysis with X-ray microbeams and ultra trace analysis using the total reflection condition (Chap. 7). The use of synchrotron radiation contributed to pushing those techniques to state-of-the art levels, and development of such techniques is still in progress. The book delves into XRF instrumentation and seems particularly strong in X-ray optics (Chap. 3). One can learn about the latest technological advances in great detail. Progress in this area correlates to the advent of new sources, like synchrotrons and micro-focus laboratory X-ray sources. Finally, in the last three pages, Chap. 8.2, there is a very useful list of sources and links, i.e., URLs, book names etc. In short, owing to its sheer practicality, every X-ray laboratory should have a copy of the handbook, or even two or three.
Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is a coherent optical nonlinearity, and brings dramatic changes in optical properties such as absorption, emission, refraction etc. The phenomena relate to the quantum mechanical overlapping state created by two different wavelengths of coherent light. Recently, EIT for X-rays has been theoretically predicted. According to the theory, it is possible to make Ne gas, which is normally opaque, transparent by exposing it to laser light of 800 nm with extremely high flux of 1012 W/cm2. The scheme could be used for producing ultra-short X-ray pulses. For more information, see the paper, "Electromagnetically Induced Transparency for X Rays ", C. Buth et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 98, 253001 (2007). For more about general EIT, see, for example, "Electromagnetically Induced Transparency.", S. Harris, Physics Today, 50, 36-42 (1997).
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, have recently performed X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements of giant magnetocaloric material, Gd5(Ge1-xSix)4. It was found that germanium becomes magnetic by spin-dependent hybridization between Ge 4p and Gd 5d. This hybridization can change at the germanium-silicon bond-breaking transition, causing the destruction of magnetic ordering and leading to the giant magnetocaloric effect. By combining the experimental results with calculations based on density functional theory, it was concluded that the magnetized germanium orbitals act as "magnetic bridges" in mediating the magnetic interactions across the distant gadolinium ions. For more information, see the paper, "Role of Ge in Bridging Ferromagnetism in the Giant Magnetocaloric Gd5(Ge1-xSix)4 Alloys", D. Haskel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 98, 247205 (2007).
A research group at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (Kizugawa, Japan) has recently developed a novel table-top pulsed X-ray source. The source employs a Ti:sapphire laser, emitting 70 fs duration 2 TW pulses of 800 nm wavelength at 10 Hz. The laser beam is focused to the flow of high-density Ar gas. The source was applied to perform phase contrast imaging. For more information, see the paper, "Phase-contrast x-ray imaging with intense Ar Ka radiation from femtosecond-laser-driven gas target", L. M. Chen et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 211501 (2007).
The Advanced Photon Source (APS) and APS Users Organization has announced that the 2007 Arthur H. Compton Award has been presented jointly to Andrzej Joachimiak and Gerold Rosenbaum of Argonne National Laboratory for pioneering advances and leadership that helped to establish the APS as a premier location worldwide for protein crystallography research. Former recipients of the award are: Gunter Schmahl and Janos Kirz (2005), Martin Blume, Doon Gibbs, Kazumichi Namikawa, Denis McWhan (2003); Wayne A. Hendrickson (2001); Sunil K. Sinha (2000); Donald H. Bilderback, Andreas K. Freund, Gordon S. Knapp, Dennis M. Mills (1998); Philip M. Platzman, Peter M. Eisenberger (1997); Nikolai Vinokurov, Klaus Halbach (1995). For more information, contact Eleanor Taylor, Phone, +1-630-252-5565, etaylor@anl.gov
Theodore H. Maiman, the American physicist who made the first working laser, died on March 5, 2007 at the age of 79 from systemic mastocytosis in Vancouver, Canada, where he lived with his wife. Maiman's laser, based on a synthetic ruby crystal grown by Dr. Ralph L. Hutcheson, was first operated on 16 May 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. It is well-known that this breakthrough was based on the idea of employing artificial rubies as the active medium for the laser at a time when others were trying only various gases. Dr. Maiman would have been aware of errors in their calculations. Another key point is that he also used pulses of light to excite atoms in the ruby. This was the ground-breaking first step to the modern pulse laser. Although his paper on this wonderful discovery was unfortunately mistakenly rejected by Physical Review Letters, the shortened version was published in Nature ("Stimulated Optical Radiation in Ruby", T. H. Maiman, Nature, 187, 493 (1960)). Dr. Maiman received the Japan Prize in 1987. He is the author of a book entitled "The Laser Odyssey" (Laser Press, 2000). The New York Times (May 11, 2007) carries an obituary written by Douglas Martin.
Recently, some very interesting research on magnetic noise from antiferromagnets has been published. Unlike ferromagnets, the characteristics of which have been studied for many years, antiferromagnets have remained a mystery because their internal structure was too fine to be measured. Their internal order is on the same scale as the wavelength of X-rays, and therefore, X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, which measures 'speckle' patterns, can give a unique 'fingerprint' of a particular magnetic domain configuration. It was found that the domain wall motion is thermally activated at temperatures above 100 K, but not so at lower temperatures. For more information, see the paper, "Direct measurement of antiferromagnetic domain fluctuations", O. G. Shpyrko, et al., Nature 447, 68 (2007).
For many years, the existence of magnetic carbon has remained an enigma. Previous claims to have solved the mystery were subsequently disproved when it was found that magnetic metals like iron, nickel, etc, were probably present in the carbon samples. Recently, Dr. Ohldag (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory) and his colleagues have shown that pure carbon can be made permanently magnetic at room temperature after carrying out a series of careful measurements including scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), PIXE analysis (to check for contamination by magnetic metals), AFM, and MFM etc. The team found that the magnetic order originates only from the carbon p-electron system. For more information, see the paper, p-Electron Ferromagnetism in Metal-Free Carbon Probed by Soft X-Ray Dichroism", H. Ohldag et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 98,187204 (2007).
The Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) has opened at Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States. The CFN is dedicated to the fabrication and study of nanoscale materials, with an emphasis on atomic-level tailoring to achieve desired properties and functions. The science at the CFN is organized around three scientific themes; (i) nanocatalysis, (ii) biological and soft nanomaterials, and (iii) electronic nanomaterials. The official opening ceremony will be held on May 21. For more information, visit http://www.bnl.gov/cfn/
Atoms become ions when exposed to extremely intense light. The process is predicted to occur via tunnelling through the binding potential that is suppressed by the light field near the peaks of its oscillations. Professor F. Krausz (Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany) and his collaborators recently reported the real-time observation of this most elementary step in strong-field interactions, i.e., light-induced electron tunnelling. The team used 250-attosecond pulses of UV radiation, and confirmed theoretical predictions about the tunneling process. It was also found that the process lasted for several hundred attoseconds, depleting atomic-bound states. This would suggest that the use of tunneling itself is feasible for probing short-lived, transient states of atoms or molecules, e.g., multi-electron excitation (shake-up) and relaxation (cascaded Auger decay) processes etc. For more information, see the paper, "Attosecond real-time observation of electron tunnelling in atoms", M. Uiberacker et al., Nature, 446, 627 (2007).
Recently, at the new French synchrotron facility, SOLEIL, the first experimental results have been obtained in spite of the technically difficult situation that is still preventing the beamline from functioning under normal operating conditions. The absorption spectroscopic experiments were done on a kidney stone, which is an agglomerate of many different nanometer-scale crystalline materials. For more information on the recent status of SOLEIL, visit http://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/
Albert V. Baez, the co-inventor of X-ray focusing optics, has died at the age of 94 in San Mateo County, Calif. Born in Puebla, Mexico, and raised in Brooklyn, Dr. Baez earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Drew University, a master's in math from Syracuse University and a Ph.D in physics from Stanford University. Dr. Baez was a physics professor at several universities, including the University of Redlands, Stanford, MIT, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. In 1948, while he was still a graduate student at Stanford, Baez and his supervisor, physics professor Paul Kirkpatrick, developed a grazing-incidence X-ray mirror for focusing optics, which has since been used in X-ray microscopes and X-ray telescopes all over the world. Recent technological advancements have taken their innovation to the state-of-the-art level, and X-ray microscopes with Kirkpatrick-Baez-type mirrors can now achieve a spatial resolution of less than 50 nm. Professor Baez switched from experimental physics during the cold war to a career in physics education. In 1951, he worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, moving with his family to Iraq, where he directed the UNESCO mission there and worked as a professor of physics at Baghdad University. Dr. Baez was the father of folk singers Joan Baez and Mimi Farina. The Los Angeles Times (March 23, 2007) carries an obituary written by Valerie J. Nelson. For details of the Kirkpatrick-Baez-type mirror, see the paper, P. Kirkpatrick and A. Baez, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38, 766 (1948).
It has long been believed that birds can in some way use the natural magnetism of the earth to navigate. Recently, scientists from the University of Frankfurt employed micro X-ray fluorescence as well as micro XAFS spectroscopy to analyze the skin of the upper beak of homing pigeons. Within the skin lining, they established the existence of tiny maghemite (g-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) particles (with a ratio of around 9:1) in the dendritic nerve branches that were arranged in a 3D pattern. According to the research team, this strongly supports the theory that the upper beak of pigeons houses a highly sensitive magneto-receptor that can be used for navigation. The experiments were done with synchrotron X-rays at HASYLAB in Hamburg, Germany. For more information, see the paper, "A novel concept of Fe-mineral-based magnetoreception: histological and physicochemical data from the upper beak of homing pigeons", G. Fleissner et al., Naturwissenschaften, published online in mid-March, 2007.
The 2007 Benjamin Franklin Medals recipients have been announced as follows; Chemistry, Klaus Biemann (Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Earth and Environmental Science, Steven W. Squyres (Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University), Electrical Engineering, Robert H. Dennard (IBM Fellow, Silicon Technology Department, IBM Research Division), Life Science, Nancy S. Wexler (Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University), Materials Engineering, Merton C. Flemings (Director, Lemelson Program-MIT Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Physics, Yoji Totsuka (Former Director-General High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Japan), and Arthur McDonald (Director, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Institute, Queen's University, Canada). For more information on Benjamin Franklin Medals, visit http://www.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/bower/
Diamond Light Source, in the United Kingdom, has opened its doors for business and welcomed its very first scientific users - top academic teams from Durham, Oxford, Leicester and London, selected from a total of 127 proposals. These first research projects will be carried out in beamlines that are part of Phase I (the synchrotron machine itself and the first seven beamlines). For more information about Diamond Light Source, contact: Isabelle Boscaro-Clarke at Diamond: 01235 778130 / 07990 797916 / isabelle.boscaro-clarke@diamond.ac.uk, http://www.diamond.ac.uk
The Sub-Picosecond Pulse Source (SPPS) is a prototype X-ray free electron laser built using the 2-mile-long linear accelerator at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), California, United States. To date, ultrafast phenomena have been mainly studied with femtosecond lasers operating at ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths; however, these wavelengths are not short enough for structural studies on atomic distances. Therefore, the emergence of short pulse laser in the hard X-ray region represents a significant challenge. Recently, at Stanford, an international collaborative team from 20 different institutions succeeded in observing the atomic motion of Bismuth crystal, which, although cubic, has a slight elongation along the diagonal called a Peierls distortion. The measurements have brought new fundamental insights into the dynamics of the material, which shows very strong coupling between the electronic and ionic structures. The results could also be used to screen many theoretical calculations made so far. For more information, see the paper, "Ultrafast Bond Softening in Bismuth: Mapping a Solid's Interatomic Potential with X-rays ", D. M. Fritz et al., Science 315, 633 (2007).
260 scientists from 22 countries gathered on January 24-25 at the DESY research center in Hamburg for the first European XFEL Users' Meeting, which brought together the future users of the European X-ray laser facility. The first users' meeting marks the beginning of a series of regular workshops and meetings between the scientists interested in the research opportunities at the XFEL and the planners of the facility. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Press officer XFEL project, FLASH, DESY, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net
At Brookhaven National Laboratory, United States, researchers have recently found a novel way to generate a very short controllable free electron laser (FEL) pulse, which usually depends on the length of the electron pulse. The main idea is the use of a Ti:Sapphire laser that combines a 150 femtosecond (FWHM) pulse of light with the much longer electron beam. This leads to a femtosecond FEL pulse that keeps growing in intensity and shortening in time duration, which is attributed to a phenomenon called superradiance (for details, see, R. H. Dicke, Phys. Rev. 93, 99 (1954)). The present research is the first to experimentally observe the effects of superradiance in a FEL setup. The output FEL pulse duration was measured to be as short as 81 femtoseconds, a roughly 50% reduction compared to the input seed laser. Understanding how to produce these intense, ultrafast pulses of light could help scientists around the world as they begin to construct the next generation of light source facilities. For more information, see the paper, "Experimental Characterization of Superradiance in a Single-Pass High-Gain Laser-Seeded Free-Electron Laser Amplifier ", T. Watanabe et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 034802 (2007).
Professor J. Rodenburg and his colleagues from the University of Sheffield, UK and the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland recently developed a novel X-ray microscope, which is very different from conventional microscopes developed so far, because it does not employ any optics to focus the beams. The lensless technique collects diffraction patterns from several overlapping areas in space, which provides information about how the rays interfere with each other after they have been diffracted through the object. This interference can then be calculated backwards to what the rays' previous phase changes must have been, giving a complete picture of the structure. Since this innovative technique relies on a special type of computation (called ptychographical iterative engine (PIE), for details, see H. M. L. Faulkner and J. M. Rodenburg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 023903 (2004)), rather than specific equipment, it could also be used to boost the power of optical and even electron microscopes. For more information, see the paper, "Hard-X-Ray Lensless Imaging of Extended Objects", J. M. Rodenburg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 034801 (2007)
Platinum is the most efficient electrocatalyst for accelerating chemical reactions in fuel cells for electric vehicles. However, the reactions that take place during the stop-and-go driving of an electric car cause the platinum to dissolve, which reduces its efficiency as a catalyst. Recently, a Brookhaven National Lab group led by Dr. R. Adzic found that adding gold clusters to the platinum electrocatalyst is effective in stabilizing and prolonging the life of the electrocatalyst. The group tested the performance under the oxidizing conditions of the O2 reduction reaction and potential cycling between 0.6 and 1.1 V in over 30,000 cycles, and obtained successful results. X-ray absorption spectra measured at the Pt LIII edge clearly showed that the Au clusters contribute to protecting the platinum from being oxidized. The next step of the research is to duplicate the results in real fuel cells. For more information, see the paper, "Stabilization of Platinum Oxygen-Reduction Electrocatalysts Using Gold Clusters", J. Zhang et al., Science, 315, 220 (2007).
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has announced that French, German and U.K. scientists have been named as laureates of the 2007 (23rd) Japan Prize. Prof. Albert Fert, 68, of France and Prof. Dr. Peter Grunberg, 67, of Germany, will receive the prize in this year's category of "Innovative Devices Inspired by Basic Research." They discovered the phenomenon of giant magneto-resistance (GMR) and contributed to the development of innovative spin-electronics devices. Dr. Peter Ashton, 72, of the U.K. has been selected in another prize category of "Science and Technology of Harmonious Co-Existence." They will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of fifty million Japanese yen for each prize category. The prize categories for the 2008 (24th) Japan Prize will be "Information Communication Theory and Technology" and the"Medical Genomics and Genetics". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-5545-0551, Fax +81-3-5545-0554, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
Icosahedral quasicrystals (i-QCs) are long-range ordered solids that show non-crystallographic symmetries such as five-fold rotations. Their detailed atomic structures are still far from completely understood, because most stable i-QCs form as ternary alloys suffering from chemical disorder. Recently, a French-Japanese collaborative team led by Professor A. P. Tsai (Tohoku University, Japan) has succeeded for the first time in obtaining a detailed structure solution for i-YbCd5.7. Similar to normal crystals, i-QCs exhibit beautiful diffraction patterns, but their lack of periodicity prevents conventional analysis. However, mathematically, i-QCs can be seen as the projection in 3D of a structure that is periodic in a virtual space of higher dimension. This resolves the situation because it allows conventional crystallography to be used in the higher-dimensional space. The obtained result represents an essential starting point for finding the atomic structure of more complex i-QCs. The team's X-ray experiments were done with synchrotron X-rays at D2AM beamline, ESRF in Grenoble, France. For more information about the analysis, see the paper, "Atomic structure of the binary icosahedral Yb-Cd quasicrystal", H. Takakura et al., Nature Materials, 6, 58-63 (2007).
In January 2006, the Stardust spacecraft brought back a number of tiny particles from comet Wild 2, which is believed to have originated within a cloud of comets just beyond the orbit of Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. The particles have been analyzed by X-rays at six synchrotron radiation facilities around the world, ESRF (France), APS (Argonne, USA), SSRL(Stanford, USA), ALS (Berkeley, USA), NSLS (Brookhaven, USA) and SPring-8 (Japan). The particles from this comet are important because they are believed to be close to the starting material of the solar system, which is now about 4.5 billion years old. The particles were found to contain a wide variety of minerals and organic materials that look similar to those seen in primitive meteorites found on earth, but the samples also revealed the presence of new materials not previously found in meteorites. It was also discovered that the samples contained minerals similar to Calcium Aluminum-rich inclusions (CAIs), which can be formed at high temperatures, i.e., in the innermost part of the solar nebula, well inside the orbit of Mercury. For more information on the Stardust mission, visit http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html. Some interesting results have been published as part of a special series of papers in the Dec. 15, 2006, edition of the journal Science.
By combining coherent X-ray scattering with a method of direct phase recovery called over-sampling, lens-free microscopy in the X-ray region becomes a realistic technique. The latest hot topic is the extension of the technique from two to three dimensions. One of the most promising ways of applying this technique is the recently reported combination of (i) ab initio phase retrieval of 2D coherent diffraction patterns with a guided hybrid input-output algorithm and (ii) 3D image reconstruction with equally sloped tomography. The scheme was applied to quantitative 3D imaging of a heat-treated GaN particle with each voxel corresponding to 17×17×17 nm3. The internal GaN-Ga2O3 core shell structure was successfully captured in three dimensions. For more information about the analysis, see the paper, "Three-Dimensional GaN-Ga2O3 Core Shell Structure Revealed by X-Ray Diffraction Microscopy", J. Miao et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 215503 (2006).
A group of biologists led by Professor Guerinot (Dartmouth College, USA) has recently clarified that iron is stored in the developing vascular system of the seed of a plant called Arabidopsis. The group also found that this localization depends on a protein called VIT1, shown to transport iron to the vacuole. The experiments combined traditional mutant analysis (turning on and off the VIT1 protein) with an X-ray fluorescence micro tomography technique to obtain a map of where iron is stored in the seed. The results could help in the development of nutrient-rich seed, benefiting both human health and agricultural productivity, because iron deficiency is an area of concern in the issue of human nutrition. The experiments were done at Beamline X26A, National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), Brookhaven, USA. For more information, see the paper, "Localization of Iron in Arabidopsis Seed Requires the Vacuolar Membrane Transporter VIT1 ", S. A. Kim et al., Science, 314, 1295-1298 (2006).
Sodium saccharinate, NaC7H4NO3S•xH2O, listed in most catalogues as a dihydrate (x = 2), has been extensively used as a food additive and has constituted the basic component of the diabetics' diet for about 125 years. However, due to such factors as the instability of the crystal, the large unit cell and a very complex and heavily disordered structure, scientists have been unable to establish its composition with any certainty, until now. Dr. P. Naumov (Nat'l Inst for Mater. Sci., Japan) and his collaborators recently succeeded in the first determination of the crystal structure, by using special techniques for preserving unstable crystals during X-ray data collection. This crystal structure, which has as many as 16 formula units in the asymmetric unit (Z' = 16) as well as one of the largest unit cells, represents one of the most difficult cases for a small molecular species such as the saccharinate ion. It was found that, instead of being a dehydrate, the crystal is in fact a 1.875 hydrate, because of a structural misfit and the lack of two water molecules per asymmetric unit. The composition can be best described as Na64(C7H4NO3S)64•120H2O. At a meeting of the Asian Crystallographic Association held in Tsukuba, Japan, Dr. Naumov received the Best Presentation Award. For more information, see the paper, "Solid-state structure and temperature/evacuation-induced dehydration of sodium saccharinate 1.875 hydrate", P. Naumov et al., Angewandte Chemie, International Edition in English, 44, 1251 (2005).
Neanderthals were a species of the Homo genus who inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia approximately 24,000 ~ 350,000 years ago. It has even been suggested that Neanderthals achieved adulthood faster than modern humans do today. At the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, the enamel dentine junction of both a deciduous and a permanent Neanderthal molar tooth (about 130,000 years old) was studied recently by using high-resolution tomography. It was found that the dental development of Neanderthals was very similar to modern humans. The permanent molar tooth studied had completed its root growth at about 8.7 years of age, which is typical of many modern human children today. For more information on the experimental results, see the paper, "How Neanderthal molar teeth grew", R. Macchiarelli et al., Nature, published online 22 November 2006. For other recent interesting data on Neanderthals, see the paper, "Palaeoanthropology: Return of the last Neanderthal", E. Delson1et al., Nature, 443, 762-763 (2006).
Professor Weckhuysen (Utrecht University, Netherlands) and his colleagues have recently solved the molecular mechanism for the organic-base-mediated synthesis of zeolites. AlPO4-5 is a typical zeolite, which can be constructed from aluminium-based tetrahedra (AlO4) and phosphorus-based tetrahedra (PO4). The research group compared the formation of the chargeless AlPO4-5 framework with the negatively charged framework (known as ZnAPO-34) that is formed by replacing Al3+ in AlPO4-5 with Zn2+. The former contains one-dimensional channels, but the latter spherical cavities rather than channels. By employing not only small and wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS), but also X-ray absorption spectroscopy, it was possible to observe in real time both the structural changes in the aluminophosphate gel and the conformational features of the organic base (tetraethylammonium hydroxide) used as a template for the crystallization of zeolite. The tetraethylammonium ion was found to form a complex with developing zeolite subunits in the gel, adopting a molecular structure close to that found in the final crystal. This molecular recognition process determines which type of crystal lattice is formed. The principal point here is that molecular organization takes place before crystallization. The experiments were done at BM26A, ESRF (Grenoble, France). For more information, see the paper, "A Combined SAXS/WAXS/XAFS Setup Capable of Observing Concurrent Changes Across the Nano-to-Micrometer Size Range in Inorganic Solid Crystallization Processes", A. M. Beale et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 12386 (2006). Another interesting account can also be found in "Physical chemistry: Porous solids get organized", R. A. van Santen1, Nature, 444, 46 (2006).
A group at the Max Planck Institute led by Professor H. Dosch recently performed detailed studies on the gap between water and a water-repelling surface. Silicon wafers, functionalized by a self-assembled monolayer of octadecyl-trichlorosilane (OTS), provide strongly hydrophobic substrates. The main interest here is what happens when water comes onto the OTS layer. The experiment was not easy, because the liquid water-solid interface is deeply buried in this case. In this research, X-ray reflectivity measurements using an unusually high-energy beam (72.5 keV) were carried out. The results indicate the existence of a hydrophobic gap on a molecular scale at the solid-water interface. For more information, see the paper, "High-resolution in situ X-ray study of the hydrophobic gap at the water-octadecyl-trichlorosilane interface", M. Mezger et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, published online before print November 20, 2006
At the FLASH free-electron laser facility at DESY in Hamburg, an international team of scientists recently published the first data on diffraction imaging of a non-crystalline sample. Theoretically, a single X-ray pulse, if it is extremely bright and perfectly coherent, can produce a diffraction pattern from a large macromolecule, a virus or a cell (for example, see, "Potential for biomolecular imaging with femtosecond X-ray pulses", R. Neutze et al., Nature, 406, 752-757 (2000)). In the present experiment, the team tested a laser pulse with 25 fs, 41013 W/cm2/pulse, containing 1012 photons at 32 nm wavelength, and obtained a coherent diffraction pattern from a nanostructured non-periodic object before this exploded into a plasma at ca. 60,000 K. They employed a novel X-ray camera assured of single-photon detection sensitivity by filtering out parasitic scattering and plasma radiation. For more information, see the paper, "Femtosecond diffractive imaging with a soft-X-ray free-electron laser", H. N. Chapman et al., Nature Physics, published online 12 November 2006.
Argonne National Laboratory researchers in collaboration with Xradia, Inc. have developed a novel X-ray surface topography technique by combining X-ray reflection, which is sensitive to height or depth on a sub nanometer scale, and full-field X-ray microscopy with condenser and objective Fresnel zone plates. Recent rapid progress in X-ray microscopy now allows scientists to obtain X-ray images with ca. 10 nm spatial resolution. However, so far, almost all full-filed imaging has employed transmission geometry. The present research has extended the technique to reflection geometry. It has become possible to image the distribution of molecular-scale interfacial features directly and non-invasively with full-field imaging. Interfacial phase contrast from elementary defect structures allows direct observation of 0.6-nm-high monomolecular steps at a solid surface. For more information, see the paper, "Observation of subnanometre-high surface topography with X-ray reflection phase-contrast microscopy", P. Fenter et al., Nature Physics, 2, 700-704 (2006).
Artists in ancient Pompeii painted the town red 2,000 years ago with a brilliant crimson pigment made of cinnabar (HgS) that dominated many of the doomed city's wall paintings. The eruption of the volcano Vesuvius showered the neighbouring towns in pumice and ash, and the Villa Sora, in Torre del Greco, remained buried until just 20 years ago, which is when excavation work started. In the remains of the house, the distinctive red colour of the wall frescoes has turned black in many places. The origins of this darkening degradation have not been clearly identified yet and remain a major issue for curators. At ESRF, by aid of micro X-ray fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy, scientists analyzed red cinnabar paintings coated on a sparry calcite (CaCO3) mortar exhibiting different levels of degradation. The results indicate two possible degradation mechanisms; formation of HgCl2 and CaSO4 through reaction with NaCl and SO2 from the environment, respectively. For more information, see the paper, "Blackening of Pompeian Cinnabar Paintings: X-ray Microspectroscopy Analysis", M. Cotte et al., Anal. Chem., 78, 7484-7492, (2006).
In Japan, a new award has been established in memory of the late Professor Ei-ichi Asada (1924-2005) in order to encourage promising young scientists in X-ray analysis fields. The joint recipients of the 1st award are: Dr. Kazuhiko Nakano (Osaka Electro Communication Univ., "Development of confocal 3D micro XRF spectrometer-using polycapillary X-ray lenses") and Dr. Yohko Yano (Ritsumeikan Univ., "Application of X-ray multilayer optics for a surface-horizontal X-ray reflectometer"). The ceremony was held during the 42nd Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan at Meiji University, Kawasaki city.
The National Center for X-ray Tomography (NCXT) has officially been dedicated at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The main objects are biological/biomedical imaging and cell biology. Currently, soft X-ray tomography is being developed as a new tool for visualizing the internal architecture of whole, hydrated cells. This emerging technique has several distinct advantages over existing imaging methods, and is contributing new insights into our understanding of cells, and their behavior. A new soft X-ray microscope will be constructed at the Advanced Light Source, and will be open for use by the biomedical community in spring 2007. For more information, visit the website at http://ncxt.lbl.gov/
Scientists from CNRS at the University J. Fourier of Grenoble and from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) have recently succeeded in constructing 3D pictures of a living plant seed using the holotomography technique with synchrotron light. This revealed the presence of a network of voids between the cells that may be used for storing the oxygen needed for efficient germination. For more information, see the paper, "Quantitative phase tomography of Arabidopsis seeds reveals intercellular void network", P. Cloetens et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online before print September 14, 2006.
At the FLASH facility at DESY, Hamburg, the free-electron laser (FEL) generated laser light flashes at wavelengths between 13.5 and 13.8 nm with an average power of 10 mW and record energies of up to 170 µJ/pulse at repetition rates of 150 Hz. Since the pulses have a duration of only around 10 fsec, the peak power can reach 10 GW/pulse. These powers are larger than is currently available at even the biggest plasma X-ray laser facilities worldwide. The use of the fifth harmonic (2.7 nm) enables FLASH to reach deep into the water window, which is crucially important for the investigation of biological samples. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Press officer XFEL project, FLASH, DESY, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net
Professor Hutchings (Cardiff University, UK) and his colleagues recently published some interesting results on vanadium phosphates (VPOs). VPOs are catalysts used in industry to spur the partial oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride, which is then used as a starting material for products such as resins and lubricants. The research group utilized in-situ powder X-ray diffraction, in addition to laser Raman and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopies. They determined the transformation of VPO phases as a function of temperature and with various reactants and products present over the catalyst. They concluded that the presence of the reactants rapidly converts w-VOPO4 to d-VOPO4, but that the initial formation of the phase may create V+5 sites associated with increased catalytic activity. For more information, see the paper, "Chemically Induced Fast Solid-State Transitions of w-VOPO4 in Vanadium Phosphate Catalyst ", M. Conte et al., Science. 313, 1270 (2006).
HORIBA, Ltd. has announced the prizewinners of the 2006 Masao Horiba Awards; Dr. Yasuko Terada, Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute for "Innovation and Application of X-ray Microbeam Fluorescence Analysis Using High-energy Radiation", Dr. Hisashi Hayashi, Japan Women's University for "Development of New X-ray Spectrometry Using Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering", and Professor Koen Janssens, University of Antwerp, Belgium for "X-ray Based Speciation of Major and Trace Constituents in Heterogeneous Materials of Environmental and Cultural Heritage Origin". In addition, Professor Masami Ando, Tokyo University of Science was selected as the winner of the Masao Horiba Special Award for "Development of a System for Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer". The awards ceremony and a discussion session between the prizewinners and academic and research experts will be held at the Shiran Kaikan, Kyoto University on Tuesday, October 17. For more information, visit http://www.jp.horiba.com/index_e.htm
At the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf (FZR) in Dresden, Germany, the second undulator of the free-electron laser facility has gone into operation, producing light up to the hard-to-access range of the deep far infrared. The Dresden FEL now covers the wavelength range, invisible to humans, from 3 to 150 micrometers. The asset of every free-electron laser is its tunability, i.e., the wavelength or the color of the light can be adjusted at will over a large range. Scientists at FZR have a particular interest in this far-infrared light, which is located between the ranges of microwaves and the infrared and is often called Terahertz (THz) radiation. At FZR, THz radiation is used in particular to study the dynamical behavior of electrons in semiconductor nanostructures. For more information, contact Annette Weissig, Phone +49-351-260-3688, a.weissig@fz-rossendorf.de, http://www.fz-rossendorf.de/
Neville Smith, scientific director for the Advanced Light Source of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a leading authority in the field of photoemission spectroscopy, died on August 18, 2006, at age 64, unexpectedly of cancer. A native of England with a PhD in physics from Cambridge University, he moved to the US in 1966. After post-doctoral research at Stanford University under photoemission spectroscopy pioneer William Spicer, he joined the staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and continued the study of the electronic structure of solids and surfaces for 25 years. In 1991, Dr Smith was awarded the prestigious Davisson-Germer Prize of the American Physical Society for his contributions to the development of momentum-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. In 1994, he was named as the first scientific program head of the Advanced Light Source (ALS). Under his leadership, the ALS scientific program thrived. "It is not the number of warm bodies on the floor but the quality of science produced that is the true measure of a user facility's success," Dr. Smith once said. During his tenure as scientific director, the number of scientific users of the ALS grew from a few hundred to several thousand. There will be no funeral, but a memorial service to celebrate Smith's life will be held in the fall.
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 55th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2006 Birks Award: Peter Wobrauschek, Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
The 2006 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award (two recipients): Hanfei Yan, Columbia University, New York, NY, and Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL won the award for his work "Dynamical Artifacts in X-ray Diffraction from Single Crystals"; Wanchuck Woo, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN won the award for his work "In-Situ Time-Resolved Neutron Diffraction Measurement of Transient Material States during a Thermo-Mechanical Process Based on Quasi-Steady State Principle".
The 2006 Hanawalt Award: Peter Wallace, Dos Arroyos Enterprises, Oro Valley, AZ.
The 2006 Birks Award: Peter Wobrauschek, Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
The 2006 Jerome B. Cohen Student Award (two recipients): Hanfei Yan, Columbia University, New York, NY, and Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL won the award for his work "Dynamical Artifacts in X-ray Diffraction from Single Crystals"; Wanchuck Woo, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN won the award for his work "In-Situ Time-Resolved Neutron Diffraction Measurement of Transient Material States during a Thermo-Mechanical Process Based on Quasi-Steady State Principle".
The 2006 Hanawalt Award: Peter Wallace, Dos Arroyos Enterprises, Oro Valley, AZ.
Scientists at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) led by Dr W. Utsumi have proved that the formation of bulk metallic glass of elemental Zr and Ti, which was recently reported (see for example, Zhang and Zhao, Nature 430, 332 (2004) and Y. Wang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 155501 (2005)) was some sort of phantom. The experiment basically took the form of X-ray diffraction in high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, but in addition to the normal energy-dispersive detector, the research group employed an in situ angular-dispersive X-ray diffractometer equipped with a 2D detector and X-ray transparent anvils. The disappearance of all the Bragg peaks in the one-dimensional energy-dispersive data could be taken as evidence of amorphization. However, the research group found several intense Bragg spots in their angular-dispersive data, even in the exact same conditions where amorphization was reported. This indicates that Zr and Ti do not form glass, but that the grains grow rapidly. The experiments were carried out at BL14B1 and BL22XU, SPring-8, Japan. For more information, see the paper, "Does Bulk Metallic Glass of Elemental Zr and Ti Exist?", T. Hattori et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 96, 255504 (2006).
Professor P. Pershan (Harvard University, USA) and his colleagues recently found a crystalline monolayer at the surface of the eutectic liquid Au82Si18, at temperatures above the alloy's melting point. This is unusual for a liquid surface, as the atomic arrangements are ordinarily strongly disordered. In addition, they found that the gold-silicon eutectic alloy has 7-8 layers near its surface, whereas many metallic liquids typically show only 2-3 distinct atomic layers. The phenomena are considered as indicative of surface freezing. The research group employed X-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction techniques for the analysis. For more information, see the paper, "Surface Crystallization in a Liquid AuSi Alloy", Oleg G. Shpyrko et al., Science 313, 77 (2006).
The appearance of the ultimate X-ray microscope, with atomic-scale resolution and capable of seeing deep inside objects, has long been awaited. Professor I. Robinson (University College London, UK) and his team recently made a significant step towards realizing this dream, using the technique of coherent X-ray diffraction imaging, the possibility of which was first pointed out by Sayre (Acta Crystallogr. 5, 843 (1952)) but not demonstrated until 1999 by Miao et al (Nature 400, 342 (1999)). They observed the growth of nanometer-sized Pb crystals inside the vacuum chamber. The results showed that asymmetries in the diffraction pattern can be mapped to deformities, providing a detailed 3-D map of their location in the crystal. This new method shows that the interior structure of atomic displacements within single nanocrystals can be obtained by direct inversion of the diffraction pattern. The technique is an attractive alternative to electron microscopy because of the superior penetration of materials of interest by the electromagnetic waves, which are often less damaging to the sample than electrons. The experiments were done at beamline 34-ID-C at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in the United States. For more information, see the paper, "Three-dimensional mapping of a deformation field inside a nanocrystal", Mark A. Pfeifer et al., Nature 442, 63 (2006).
A workshop on 'buried' interface science with X-rays and neutrons was held in Yokohama, Japan, on July 3-4. This was one in a series of workshops that have been organized annually since 2001. The precise and non-destructive analysis of nano-structures (dots, wires etc), which are most likely to be 'buried' under several capping layers, has become extremely important from the standpoint of fundamental understanding as well as its application to electronic, magnetic, optical and other devices. Unfortunately, most sophisticated surface-sensitive techniques are not helpful in such cases, but reflectometry and other related methods using X-rays and neutrons are very promising because they are able to explore atomic-scale structures along their depth. Besides the variety of applications, the workshop also featured intensive discussions of several advanced extensions and/or upgrades of the method. One of the most interesting directions is the combination of the method with grazing-incidence small angle scattering (GISAS). Professor Alain Gibaud (Université du Maine, France) was invited to give a lecture on this topic. Another invited speaker from outside Japan was Dr. Burkhard Beckhoff (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany). The workshop proceedings are available from Science Information and Library Service Division, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Phone: +81-29-864-5137, Fax: +81-29-864-4604, irdpub@mail.kek.jp. Another workshop contact, particularly with respect to future plans, is Kenji Sakurai, sakurai@yuhgiri.nims.go.jp.
Scientists at North Carolina State University, USA recently published an interesting report on the significance of the anomalously high concentration of local Ge-Ge bonds in amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5, which is commonly used in data storage technologies such as DVD, DVD-RAM etc. The ability to change phases from a crystalline to a non-crystalline state is what allows the DVD to take and hold data. While the basic properties of this alloy are well known, there are still a lot of unsolved problems: we do not know how the process works on a microscopic level. The paper indicates that the amorphous phase is an ideal network structure in which the average number of constraints per atom equals the network dimensionality. For more information, see the paper, ""Application of Bond Constrain Theory to the Switchable Optical Memory Material Ge2Sb2Te5", D. A. Baker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 255501 (2006).
Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) invited researchers from around the world to a series of workshops focused on cutting-edge sciences that will be built up by the proposed Energy Recovery Linac (ERL), which is a next-generation light source. The series of six two-day workshops was held at the Robert Purcell Community Center, Ithaca, NY, USA, between June 5 and June 24. The workshops covered high-pressure science, ultra-fast processes, materials science, studies of soft-matter, biology, and science with X-ray nanobeams. For more information on ERL, visit http://erl.chess.cornell.edu/
A series of very interesting experiments has been performed at beamline ID26 at the European Synchrotron Radiation facility (ESRF), Grenoble, to see how gold nanoparticles catalyze carbon monoxide (CO) with oxygen (O2) into carbon dioxide (CO2). High-energy resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals how the oxygen becomes chemically active when bound to the particles. The reaction took place when the scientists switched from a flow of O2 to one of CO - the O2 bound to the gold reacts with the CO to form CO2. The technique can be applied to a variety of reactions. For more information, see the paper, "Activation of Oxygen on Gold/Alumina Catalysts: In Situ High-Energy-Resolution Fluorescence and Time-Resolved X-ray Spectroscopy", Jeroen A. van Bokhoven et al., Angewandte Chemie, published online June 21, 2006.
The traditional tools of nanotechnology - the atomic force microscope and the scanning tunneling microscope - enable scientists to see atoms, but not their response to events, which at that scale occur in the order of nano seconds or shorter. Professor P. Evans (Univ of Wisconsin-Madison) and his colleagues recently succeeded in visualizing domain wall motion during polarization switching of a Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 capacitor using time-resolved x-ray microdiffraction. The work was done using Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source, a synchrotron light source capable of generating very tightly focused beams of X-rays. The X-rays are delivered to the sample in fast pulses over an area no larger than hundreds of nm. For more information, see the paper, "Nanosecond Domain Wall Dynamics in Ferroelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Thin Films", A. Grigoriev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 187601 (2006).
Located on the Plateau de Saclay, in the Essonne department, SOLEIL is the second 3rd-generation synchrotron to be built in France - the first one, the ESRF in Grenoble, was a European project. Very recently, SOLEIL accelerated and injected electrons for the first time in its storage ring. On May 14, the electrons turned at a speed close to that of light in the 354 m circumference storage ring. The first 2.75 GeV beam injection from the Booster started around noon on May 13. After 12 hours spent on measurements and adjustments, the electrons made a full turn, and the first photon beams were observed. For more information, visit http://www.synchrotron-soleil.fr/anglais/index.html
It is well known that a piece of metal deforms in an irreversible or plastic manner when it is bent. This property is important from the standpoint of the feasibility of forming various types of metallic products as well as toughness as a structural material. Scientists from Riso National Laboratory, Denmark recently tried taking "snapshots" with hard X-rays. They observed some extremely interesting phenomena, i.e., the emergence and disappearance of the dislocation structure, which takes place during deformation. For more information, see the paper, "Formation and Subdivision of Deformation Structures During Plastic Deformation", B. Jakobsen et al., Science 312, 889 (2006).
Extremely sharp focusing of hard X-rays has been achieved with a device called a Multilayer Laue Lens (MLL), recently developed at Argonne National Laboratory in the United States. The device consists of a stack of alternating layers of metal and silicon, made by depositing progressively thicker layers. The main idea is that the structure can work as a linear zone plate for X-rays. The device has an ability to focus the X-rays with an energy level of 19.5 keV to 30 nm, which is almost the smallest beam size for hard X-rays. Promising applications for a better X-ray lens would be in full-field and/or scanning probe microscopy. For more information, see the paper, "Nanometer Linear Focusing of Hard X Rays by a Multilayer Laue Lens", H. C. Kang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 127401 (2006)
The VUV-FEL (free-electron laser) at DESY in Hamburg is the world's first and, until 2009, the only source of intense laser radiation in the ultraviolet and the soft X-ray range. Since the official start in August 2005, a total of 14 research groups working on cluster physics, solid-state physics, plasma research and biology have carried out the first experiments. The 300 m long facility generated laser flashes with a wavelength of 32 nm for the first time in January 2005, which is the shortest wavelength ever achieved with a free-electron laser. The light flashes are shorter than 50 femto seconds, and this allows scientists to trace various processes on extremely short time scales by taking time-resolved "snapshots" of the reaction process. For more information, visit http://www.xfel.net/en/index.html
Diamond Light Source Ltd, the UK's next-generation synchrotron facility, and the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF)/Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on collaborative research. Diamond will start operations in January 2007, and SSRF plans to do so 2 years later. This collaboration is part of the UK-China Partners in Science series of activities in China, a joint initiative backed by both the UK and the Chinese governments to increase scientific collaboration between the two countries. For more information on UK-China Partners in Science, visit http://www.uk.cn/science
The Pittsburgh Conference announced that Pittcon 2007 will be moved from New Orleans to Chicago; the dates of the event are February 25 to March 1, 2007. At the same time, the Committee confirmed its commitment to return the Conference to New Orleans in 2008 as planned. With over 20,000 attendees and 1,100 exhibitors, Pittcon is the largest annual scientific meeting of its kind. More information about Pittcon can be found at www.pittcon.org.
Corrosion detracts some 3% from global GDP. From a positive point of view, however, chemical attack of metal surfaces may result in surface nano-structures with interesting technological applications such as catalysts and sensors. Professor H. Dosch (Max Planck Institute) and his colleagues have recently clarified a self-organization process on the surface of Cu3Au(111) single crystal alloy in a sulphuric acid solution, by means of a sophisticated X-ray diffraction technique with the aid of a brilliant synchrotron beam at ESRF, Grenoble, France. They observed many interesting phenomena. In the initial moments of corrosion, an extremely thin gold-rich layer, which had an unexpected crystalline and well-ordered structure, was formed. As the corrosion proceeded, this alloy layer was transformed into gold nano-islands of 20 to 1.5 nm. These islands eventually developed into a porous gold metal layer. For more information, see the paper, "Initial corrosion observed on the atomic scale", F. U. Renner et al., Nature, 439, 707-710 (2006).
At SPring-8, Harima Japan, Dr. M. Takahasi (Japan Atomic Energy Agency) and his coworkers have recently established a powerful surface X-ray diffraction tool for observing the growth process of semiconductor-like GaAs. The main feature of the method is the use of multi-energy X-rays, and because of this, it is possible to identify both the atomic arrangements and the type of atoms. Another significant advantage is the capability of real-time monitoring due to the employment of a brilliant undulator beam. It was demonstrated that the surface structure called c(4x4), which is observed under certain growth conditions, has dimmers that consist of gallium and arsenic atoms in the top surface layer. For more information, see the paper, "Element-Specific Surface X-Ray Diffraction Study of GaAs(001)-c(4×4)", M. Takahasi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 055506 (2006).
The sketch for View on the Stour near Dedham, painted by Constable in 1822, has been analyzed by X-rays prior to Tate Britain's exhibition, Constable: the Great Landscapes, which opens on 1 June 2006. The sketch is the 4th of the 6 large River Stour paintings that Constable exhibited at the Royal Academy during 1819-1825. As with the other River Stour scenes, Constable made a preliminary full-scale compositional sketch in oils when planning the exhibition picture. The X-ray investigation clearly shows that the sketch originally included two boys fishing by the water's edge and a little girl close to one of the wooden beams marking the edge of a boat-building yard in the foreground. These figures were then painted out of the sketch by Constable and replaced by two young boys sitting on the edge of the river bank. In the finished exhibition painting, View on the Stour near Dedham, Constable altered the composition again and did not include the two boys from the sketch. X-ray analysis has successfully revealed a number of such alterations that are not visible on the surface of the work. For more information, contact Helen Beeckmans/Patricia O'Connor, Tate Press Office, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG, Phone: +44-20-7887-8730/32, Fax: +44-20-7887-8729, pressoffice@tate.org.uk
Professor E. Ma (Johns Hopkins University, USA) and his colleagues recently succeeded in explaining the atomic packing of metallic glasses, which are of great importance due to their distinctive mechanical and magnetic properties. The structure is known as 'amorphous' (non-crystalline) and shows no sharp Bragg peaks in the X-ray diffraction pattern. The research group adopted quite a unique strategy; first, they aimed at obtaining 3D pictures in the short-to-medium range, unlike conventional atomic-level analysis, which looks only at short-range order, and secondly, they did not resort to a predetermined structural model but used reverse Monte Carlo simulations based on experimental X-ray diffraction and absorption data. One of their key findings was that metallic glass atoms do not arrange themselves in a completely random way. Instead, groups of 7-15 atoms tend to arrange themselves around a central atom, forming 3D shapes called Kasper polyhedra, which join together in unique ways as small nanometer-scale clusters. For more information, see the paper, "Atomic packing and short-to-medium-range order in metallic glasses", H. W. Sheng et al., Nature, 439, 419-425 (2006).
Generally, relaxor ferroelectrics exhibit a strong polarization dependence on the applied electric field, which so far has been explained by the behavior of the polar nano-regions (PNRs). Recently, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory investigated the short-range polar order of Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PZN) under an electric field. X-ray diffuse scattering is very sensitive to local inhomogeneities and the results indicated an unexpected redistribution of PNRs in real space, i.e., the PNR fields preferred to line up perpendicular to the external field instead of aligning with it. The experiments were done at the beamline X22B at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS, at Brookhaven National Laboratory). For more information, see the paper, "Electric-field-induced redistribution of polar nano-regions in a relaxor ferroelectric", G. Xu et al., Nature Materials, in the January 15, 2006, online edition.
The distribution of ions in solution at an interface is key to the fundamental understanding of electrochemistry as well as to the design of materials and devices such as biomembranes. So far, classical descriptions of ion distributions, such as the Guoy-Chapman theory (see, G. Gouy, C. R. Acad. Sci. 149, 654 (1910) and D. L. Chapman, Phil. Mag. Ser. 6 25, 475 (1913)), which ignores the details of molecular structure, have been widely used. Professor M. Schlossman (University of Illinois at Chicago) and his colleagues recently performed very precise X-ray reflectivity measurements to obtain experimentally ion distributions at the interface between solutions (0.01 ~0.08M) of tetrabuytlammonium (TBA) tetraphenylborate (TPB) in nitrobenzene and aqueous TBA bromide. They found significant deviations from the Guoy-Chapman theory in describing their data. However, on the other hand, molecular dynamics calculations produced potentials that could be used to predict distributions with the Poisson-Boltzmann equation without adjustable parameters. The experiments were done at the Chemistry and Materials section of the Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources (ChemMatCARS) beamline 15-ID at the Advanced Photon Source (APS, at Argonne National Laboratory). For more information, see the paper, "Ion Distributions near a Liquid-Liquid Interface", L. Guangming et al., Science, 311, 216-218 (2006).
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced the names of the two laureates for the 2006 (22nd) Japan Prize. They are U.K. scientist, Sir John Houghton CBE FRS, for "Pioneering research on atmospheric structure and composition based on his satellite observation technology and for promotion of international assessments of climate change" in the prize category of "Global Change" and Dr. Akira Endo of Japan for "The Discovery of the Statins" in the prize category of "The development of Novel Therapeutic Concepts and Technologies". The two scientists will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of fifty million Japanese yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Thursday 20 April 2006, in the presence of the emperor and empress. The prize categories for the 2007 (23rd) Japan Prize will be "Innovative Devices Inspired by Basic Research" and the "Science and Technology of Harmonious Co-Existence". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-5545-0551, Fax +81-3-5545-0554, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
Imaging with coherent X-rays at high spatial resolution is a promising technique for obtaining information on the internal structures of non-crystalline specimens. Researchers at Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS, Cornell University, USA) recently succeeded in extending the Fresnel theory to retrieve phase information needed for a full image reconstruction. The algorithm gives 3D full field imaging with X-rays. This new scheme has been developed for coherent X-rays, but the distorted-object concept can be applied to other diffraction and imaging fields such as using visible light, electrons, and neutrons. The method is particularly important with respect to the utilization of future X-ray sources that have fully coherent photon beams. Part of their work was published in Phys. Rev. B 72, 033103 (2005). For more information, visit http://news.chess.cornell.edu/index.html
At the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne, USA, massive amounts of lead have been detected in bone fragments of 19th Century composer Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827), indicating the cause of his years of chronic illness. The bone fragments, checked by DNA testing to have come from Beethoven's body, were analyzed by micro X-ray florescence. The findings confirm earlier work done on hair samples. Furthermore, neither cadmium nor mercury was found within detectable levels this time. The half life of lead in the human body is about 22 years, and almost 95 percent is captured in the skeletal structure. For more information, contact Catherine Foster, Phone: +1-630-252-5580, cfoster@anl.gov, http://www.anl.gov
The X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), which will generate extremely brilliant, ultra-short X-ray pulses with laser-like properties, opens up completely new possibilities for the vast field of structural research. Within the framework of the meeting of the XFEL Steering Committee in Berlin, two representatives of the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Science and Technology signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the European X-ray laser project XFEL. Since the beginning of 2005, the ministries of science from 12 countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) have already declared their intention to participate in the preparations for the construction and operation of the XFEL. This research facility, which will be unique in Europe, is due to commence operation in 2012. For more information, contact Petra Folkerts, Phone: +49-40-8998-4977, Fax: +49-40-8998-2020, petra.folkerts@desy.de, http://www.xfel.net
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have recently unearthed new clues to making magnets longer lasting and more powerful through element-specific X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements. They have analyzed magnetic moment reversal at each of two inequivalent Nd sites (g and f sites) in a tetragonal single crystal of Nd2Fe14B, which is currently known to be the strongest permanent magnet. The results provide clear evidence that intrinsic magnetic stability has its atomic origins predominantly at Nd g sites, which exhibit a strong preference for c-axis alignment at ambient temperature and dictate the macroscopic easy-axis direction. Chemical substitution at Nd f sites, which undermines stability by favoring the xy plane, could enhance intrinsic coercivity. For more information, contact Catherine Foster (+1-630-252-5580, cfoster@anl.gov) at Argonne, and also see the paper, "Atomic Origin of Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy in Nd2Fe14B", D. Haskel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 95, 217207 (2005).
The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) recently approved the launch of a new professional group for X-ray and neutron analysis on surfaces and 'buried' interfaces. This is significant in that the new group will bring together those who are currently working with X-ray and neutron reflectometry or those who are simply interested in these subjects. So far in Japan, there have been very few meetings to discuss scientific problems in this area despite growing demand. There also exists a strong demand to plan and build beamlines dedicated to reflectometry and related methods at synchrotron radiation (Photon Factory and SPring-8) and neutron facilities (J-PARC to be started in 2008). The group will discuss applications with respect to a variety of materials, i.e., semiconductors, metals, ceramics, polymers, magnetic materials, and multilayers. It is of key importance to extend the technique in order to devise solutions for difficult problems in realistic specimens --. in particular, analysis of specific small areas and/or unstable systems that need to be measured in a very short time. The JSAP has an English-language Web page: http://www.jsap.or.jp/english/index.html
Natural photosynthesis can convert solar energy into chemical energy with almost 100% efficiency. During photosynthesis, O2 is evolved at a tetra manganese-calcium complex bound to the proteins of photosystem II. As the details of the mechanism have not been fully understood, artificial solar systems still capture only a minute amount of energy. Very recently, a German research group has succeeded in providing new insights into the mechanism by means of time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy, which measures Mn K X-ray fluorescence after laser-flash illumination with a time resolution of 10 μs. The model of the so-called S-cycle treats the manganese complex cycles through five oxidation states, but only four intermediates have been identified experimentally (S0 through S3). Dioxygen is formed during the transition from S3 to S0, but the expected S4 intermediate in this transition has been elusive. Real-time X-ray monitoring of photosynthetic O2 production has identified the S4 intermediate and, in contrast to previous proposals, the research group concluded that it is formed by a deprotonation process rather than by electron transfer. The experiments were done at beamline ID26, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France. For more information, see the paper, "Photosynthetic O2 Formation Tracked by Time-Resolved X-ray Experiments", M. Haumann et al., Science, 310, 1019-1021 (2005).
xfel.net is a new web site, presenting the latest status of the European X-ray laser project XFEL, which is being prepared at DESY, Hamburg. Visit http://www.xfel.net
Japanese scientists at Kyoto University have recently found that copper plays a significant role in the formation of toxic dioxin during the incineration of urban waste. They measured copper K X-ray absorption spectra for fly ash, and investigated the changes in oxidation number when the temperature was controlled near 300 C, where dioxin is sometimes formed. The data suggest some clear correlation between the existence of cuprous chloride (CuCl) and the formation of dioxin. The experiments were done at beamline BL01B1, SPring-8, Harima, Japan. The scientists presented the results at the 41st Annual Conference on X-Ray Chemical Analysis, Japan held at Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto University. For more information, contact Professor Masaki Takaoka, Kyoto University, phone: +81-75-753-5162, fax: +81-75-753-5170, takaoka@epsehost.env.kyoto-u.ac.jp
An international team led by Professor M. Sandström (University of Stockholm) has analyzed the sulfur and iron composition of the wooden timbers of the Mary Rose, a warship of King Henry VIII of England that was wrecked in 1545 and salvaged two decades ago. Synchrotron X-rays from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (USA) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France) were employed. The experimental results indicate the surviving wood contains two tons of sulfur in different forms, uniformly distributed within the 280-ton hull. In addition, the Mary Rose contains a great deal of iron from corroded iron bolts, nails and other objects from the ship. Exposed to oxygen in air, the iron catalyzes the oxidation of sulfur into sulfuric acid. For more information, see the paper, "Sulfur accumulation in the timbers of King Henry VIII's warship Mary Rose: a pathway in the sulfur cycle of conservation concern", M. Sandström et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 102, 14165-14170 (2005).
Control of nano-structures with molecular precision is a key problem in nano sciences and technologies. While the surface can be readily imaged by scanning probe microscopes, it is not easy to observe buried structures nondestructively. Dr. O. Sakata and his colleagues recently reported on their success in fabricating Bi nanowires on a Si(001) substrate and their encapsulation in an epitaxially grown crystalline silicon layer. To explore the buried nanowires, they employed X-ray diffraction (reciprocal-lattice space mapping) with 25.3 keV photons at grazing-incidence geometry (~0.1 deg) using an image plate as a 2D detector. The results indicate that the nanolines maintain their one-dimensional character and Bi dimerization. The experiments were carried out at beamline BL13XU, SPring-8, Harima, Japan. For more information, see the paper, "Encapsulation of atomic-scale Bi wires in epitaxial silicon without loss of structure", O. Sakata et al., Phys. Rev. B 72, 121407(R) (2005).
Some very interesting structural studies have been performed recently at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, on photo-chemically generated, short-lived (<10-6 sec) iodo radicals. The research team dissolved a molecule of C2H4I2 in liquid methanol and then subjected it to a short laser pulse. This excited the molecule, which then cooled down while releasing heat into the surrounding liquid. As a consequence, the temperature rose and the liquid started to expand in response to the increase in temperature. The absorption of light triggered a chemical reaction, which the researchers studied with picosecond time resolution. The research team measured the change in shape and composition as early as 100 picoseconds after the initial explosion, then at an interval of 10 nanoseconds, then 1 microsecond and so on. From these measurements, the team obtained direct structural evidence of the bridged radical (CH2ICH2) in a polar solution. This transient intermediate has long been hypothesized to explain stereo-chemical control in many association and/or dissociation reactions involving haloalkanes. For more information, see the paper, "Ultrafast X-ray Diffraction of Transient Molecular Structures in Solution", H. Ihee et al., Science, 309, 1223-1227, (2005).
Professor E. Weber's team at Berkeley, California, US has recently succeeded in finding a new technique to handle metal defects in low-grade silicon, which could dramatically reduce the cost of solar cells. At present, around 90 % of solar cells in the world are made from a refined, highly purified form of silicon. This is because solar cells made from cheaper forms of silicon do not perform well and also because removing impurities is expensive. The new idea is to manipulate the impurities in a way that reduces their detrimental impact on the solar cell, instead of purifying the material. The team analyzed how metal contaminants in silicon respond to different types of processing using a synchrotron X-ray microprobe capable of detecting metal clusters as small as 30 nanometers. In addition to micro-XRF and micro-XAFS, they employed a new method based on a spectrally resolved X-ray-beam-induced current, which generates a map of the minority-carrier diffusion length, revealing the precise impacts of metal impurity clusters on local material performance. They found that they were able to manipulate the distribution of the metal impurities by varying the cooling rate of the silicon. When the material is cooled quickly, the metal defects are quickly locked in a scattered distribution. For more information, see the paper, "Engineering metal-impurity nanodefects for low-cost solar cells", T. Buonassisi et al., Nature Materials, 4, 676-679 (2005).
It is known that the colours of many flowers are produced by anthocyanin, which has 6 different types of structure; a cyanidin-type anthocyanin is responsible for the red in roses, while most blue flowers have delphinidin-type anthocyanin. However, the same cyanidin-type anthocyanin makes roses red but cornflowers blue. The phenomenon has so far not been entirely explained. A Japanese group led by Professor K. Takeda (Tokyo Gakugei University, Koganei, Tokyo) recently carried out detailed X-ray analysis and clarified that a complex of six molecules each of anthocyanin and flavone, with one ferric iron, one magnesium and two calcium ions is responsible for the blue in cornflowers. For more information, see the paper, "Phytochemistry: Structure of the blue cornflower pigment", M. Shiono et al., Nature, 436, 791 (2005).
The mineral silica (SiO2) is a common substance that is a constituent of all of the planets in our solar system. At SPring-8, Harima, Japan, Dr. K. Hirose (Tokyo Institute of Technology; Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) and his co-workers recently found that, above 268 GPa and 1800 K, silica exhibits a novel stable high-pressure form with a pyrite-type structure, which is much denser than other known silica phases. This form of silica could be one of the main constituents of the core of a gas-giant planet such as Uranus or Neptune. For more information, see the paper, "The Pyrite-Type High-Pressure Form of Silica", Y. Kuwayama et al., Science, 309, 923-925 (2005).
The first user operation of the VUV free-electron laser (FEL) at DESY, Hamburg in Germany is now under way. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder paid a visit to the facility to join the celebrations. The VUV-FEL employs the new technology developed at DESY from 1992 to 2004 by the international team as part of the TESLA Collaboration. Electrons are brought to high energies by a superconducting linear accelerator, and then race through an undulator, which is a periodic arrangement of magnets that forces the electrons to follow a slalom course and thereby radiate flashes of light. According to self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE), the process finally generates intense flashes of short-wavelength laser light. Its peak brilliance surpasses that of the most modern synchrotron radiation sources by a factor of ten million. Its radiation is coherent, and its wavelength is tunable within a range of 6 to 30 nm. The very intense radiation pulses have an extremely short duration of 10~50 femto seconds. Five experimental stations have been constructed at the facility. For more information, visit the Web page, http://www.desy.de
The following awards were presented during the plenary session of the 54th Annual Denver X-Ray Conference:
The 2005 Barrett Award in X-ray Diffraction to D. Keith Bowen - Bede Scientific Instruments, Ltd., Durham, UK and Brian Tanner - University of Durham, Durham, UK
The 2005 Jenkins Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Advancement of the Use of X-rays for Materials Analysis to Victor E. Buhrke - Consultant, Portola Valley, CA
X-ray analysis is a strong tool for speculating on the chemical and physical weathering processes on Mars. The elemental compositions of the bright dust, dark soil and other soil components collected at different sites on Mars, such as the Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum, have been determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometers fitted to the Mars Explorer Rovers. A comparison between the results obtained at both sites generally shows that the bright dust is global in nature and not dominated by the composition of local rocks, and also that the dark soil has the same origin, while other soil components are fairly different. For more information, see the paper, "An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils", A. S. Yen et al., Nature, 436, 49-54 (2005).
For many years, great efforts have been made around the world to develop soft and hard X-ray microscopes. Very recently, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, California, USA, have succeeded in fabricating an extremely high-performance objective lens, i.e., a micro zone plate, which projects a full-field image of the sample. The spatial resolution is 15 nm or even smaller for synchrotron soft X-rays (150~1800 eV). The key point is the improvement in electron beam lithography, since the spread due to electron scattering has previously been a big problem when patterning. The Berkeley team separately drew two different zone-plate patterns and then overlaid them very accurately. For more information, see the paper, "Soft X-ray microscopy at a spatial resolution better than 15 nm", W. Chao et al., Nature, 435, 1210-1213 (2005).
Australian Synchrotron and SPring-8 (Japan) have signed a new partnership agreement to share expertise and develop new technology. This agreement will allow scientists to move freely between both facilities and to work together to exchange ideas and develop new experimental technology, such as new detectors.
A joint research group from Russia, the Ukraine and the USA has developed a table-top microscope, consisting of a pulsed extreme ultraviolet (EUV) capillary discharge laser emitting at 46.9 nm, a Schwarzschild condenser, a zone plate objective, and a CCD camera. To reduce image-degrading effects such as speckle and interference, the team shortened the laser's capillary tube length from 36 to 18 cm to give a low-coherence beam with a pulse energy of around 0.1 mJ. The spatial resolution is currently 100 nm. Typical exposure time is 20~70 seconds. For more information, see the paper, "Reflection mode imaging with nanoscale resolution using a compact extreme ultraviolet laser", F. Brizuela et al., Optics Express, 435, 1210-1213 (2005), http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-13-11-3983
Recently, a very old copy of Archimedes' writings, which had been erased, written over and even painted over during the past 1,000 years, has been analyzed by X-ray fluorescence with a sub-micron X-ray beam at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, California, United States. The palimpsest, which is preserved at Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, is a goatskin parchment on which a 10th-century scribe copied some of Archimedes' manuscripts originally written around 220 B. C. Later, the ink was erased by being scraped off with a pumice stone. Further damage was done when forgers painted Byzantine religious images on four pages. Archaeologists have successfully analyzed much of the 174-page palimpsest by conventional methods using visible and ultraviolet light, but several pages, including those under the paintings, remained obscured. The main idea behind the work at Stanford is that the ink contains iron pigment, and therefore the analysis is basically the mapping of iron K X-ray fluorescence. As the ink is only 1-2 microns thick, the use of a sub-micron beam was crucial. The analysis revealed that the hidden text on two of the pages is about floating bodies and the equilibrium of planes. Surprisingly, the third page is a previously unknown introduction to Archimedes' Method of Mechanical Theorems. The main source of the news is an article by Heather Rock Woods, Stanford University,http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/may25/archimedes-052505.html
For further details, contact Neil Calder, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Phone +1-650-926-8707, or Uwe Bergmann, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Phone +1-650-926-3048, bergmann@SLAC.Stanford.EDU
For further details, contact Neil Calder, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Phone +1-650-926-8707, or Uwe Bergmann, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Phone +1-650-926-3048, bergmann@SLAC.Stanford.EDU
A joint research group from the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick (both in the United Kingdom) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France have recently reported an interesting application of a dispersive XAFS (X-ray absorption fine structure) spectrometer, which has no moving parts and is thus inherently more stable than a conventional step-scanning instrument, thereby permitting comparative measurements to be taken rapidly. The measurements were performed on a FeCo alloy thin film located between the poles of a magnet, which induces a saturating field in the sample. The magnets were rotated via a stepping motor such that the induced magnetization, causing the strain, lies either along or perpendicular to the X-ray polarization vector. Transmitted X-ray intensity measurements were made repeatedly at every 90 degree angle between the magnetization vector and the polarization vector. An entire four-quadrant measurement took about 1s, with repeated measurements accumulated over a 2h period. The differential absorption spectra obtained in this way can give atomic displacements due to magnetostriction. The research group demonstrated that it is possible to observe the movement of atoms with a resolution of 0.01 Å i.e., an improvement of 100 times on the previous level. For further details, see the paper, "Measurement of femtometre-scale atomic displacements by X-ray absorption spectroscopy", R. F. Pettifer et al., Nature, 435, 78-81 (2005).
Projects involving international collaboration are currently under way at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, in the U.S., using very bright pulses of X-ray light one thousand times shorter than those typically produced in conventional synchrotron rings. One of the topics studied very recently concerns melting- how solids transform into liquids on ultra fast time scales. In the experiment, laser light was used to melt a crystal of InSb, and then ultra-short X-ray pulses were sent to probe the material. The scattered X-rays provided a glimpse of the first step in the transition from solid to liquid. It was found that the transition state is governed by inertial dynamics, simply stated by Newton's First Law as: an object in motion continues in motion. For more information, see the paper, "Atomic-Scale Visualization of Inertial Dynamics", A. M. Lindenberg et al., Science, 308, 392-395 (2005).
At beamline ID18, ESRF, scientists studied pieces of hair and skin of Agnès Sorel, who was the beautiful mistress of 15th century French king, Charles VII. Very recently, from X-ray fluorescence spectra, they found that Sorel's remains contained abnormal levels of mercury. The manner of her death was previously unknown, but incredibly high levels of mercury have been found in her remains. This finding will give fresh impetus to the search to reveal the the truth behind this historical event. The source of this news is the web page of ESRF, http://www.esrf.fr/NewsAndEvents/PressReleases/sorel/
A team of scientists from the Technical University in Vienna, the Technical University in Berlin and the ESRF have combined tomography and diffraction using 80 keV X-rays to observe creep void evolution and the correlation to texture and microstructure development, which are important parameters for understanding the lifetime of components subjected to high temperature loading. The studies were carried out for a brass alloy, CuZn40Pb2, which contains three phases: -brass, s-brass, and Pb. They developed a specifically designed creep device in order to avoid artifacts during the tomography, and therefore the path of the incoming and the emerging X-rays over a complete 360 deg turn of the sample is identical. A tensile load of 25 MPa was applied by using a spring in order to avoid vibrations, and the sample was heated to 375 ºC by an induction-heated loop around the bottom of the sample. The results reveal that void growth versus time follows an exponential growth law and that the formation of large void volumes coincides with texture evolution and a steady state in the development of dislocation density. The in-situ determination of void evolution in bulk samples opens up new ways toward the assessment of creep damage to the strength of materials and subsequently towards lifetime predictions of samples and components subject to high temperature loading. For more information, see the paper, "Simultaneous Tomography and Diffraction Analysis of Creep Damage", A. Pyzalla et al., Science, 308, 92-95 (2005).
X-ray analysis has been applied to a 230-year-old painting by William Hodges, the artist who accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage to the Pacific (1772-75). Recently, it was noticed that the canvas was thicker in some places than in others. An X-ray subsequently revealed that two icebergs had been painted over and replaced with the lush green foliage of New Zealand, thus proving that Hodges' work is the oldest painting of Antarctica. The discovery ignited much discussion as to why Hodges erased the icebergs after having survived an extremely hard voyage around the frozen continent. The main news source is an article by Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/HOME). For more information about William Hodges's painting, see for example, http://www.nmm.ac.uk/upload/package/30/home.php
A Japanese group is using a brilliant synchrotron microbeam at the SPring-8, Harima, Japan to study the marine pollution problem caused by organic tin compounds, which are known as environmental hormones because of their harmful influence on the endocrine system. The scientists attempted to determine Sn distribution in the testes of rats exposed to tributyltin chloride, which was orally administered to rats at a dose of 45 x 10-6 mol/kg per day for 3 days. They employed a 37.5 keV X-ray beam of 3 x 3 micron2 to detect Sn K X-ray fluorescence from the sperm of a seminiferous tubulem, the key point being that measurement can be performed for single cells, thus enabling cell-selective analysis. For more information, see the paper, "Tin accumulation in spermatozoa of rats exposed to tributyltin chloride by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) analysis with microprobe", S. Homma-Takeda et al., Nucl. Instrum. & Methods, B231, 333-337 (2005).
Super conducting devices are promising as high energy-resolution detectors for soft X-ray and/or mass spectrometry. As the device size is quite small, e.g., several hundred microns squared, arraying has been one of the most important technical targets for enhancing detection efficiency. So far, it has been difficult to increase the number of arrays, because of the incoming heat problem when connecting wires from devices operated at 0.3 K to electronic circuits at normal temperature. Dr. M. Ohkubo and his colleagues at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan recently succeeded in developing a novel technology using thin co-axis wires of 0.33mm in dia. They also attached great importance to material selection. As a result, it has become possible to connect more than 100 arrays, yet the incoming heat is extremely small at 5.4 x 10-6 W. The increase in temperature has effectively been suppressed to 15 mK. For more information, contact Dr. M. Ohkubo, Phone, +81-29-861-5685, Fax +81-29-861-5730, m.ohkubo@aist.go.jp, http://unit.aist.go.jp/riif/srg/index.htm
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists, C. Worley, S. S. Wiltshire, T. C. Miller, G. J. Havrilla and V. Majidi, have developed a novel method for detecting fingerprints on surfaces that typically render such prints invisible. The technique uses micro-X-ray fluorescence (MXRF) and can therefore determine the elements in a fingerprint and obtain a pattern at the same time. Salts such as sodium chloride and potassium chloride that are excreted in sweat are sometimes present in detectable quantities in human fingerprints. As the new method might also be able to tell if the person that left the fingerprints also handled something like bomb-making materials, it could potentially be used as a tool in forensic investigation. For more information, contact Todd Hanson, Phone +1-505-65-2085, tahanson@lanl.gov, http://www.lanl.gov/.
The Advanced Photon Source (APS) and APS Users Organization (APSUO) announced that the 2005 Arthur H. Compton Award was presented to Gunter Schmahl and Janos Kirz for pioneering and developing the field of X-ray microscopy using Fresnel zone plates. Because of their leadership over the last 30 years, X-ray microscopy has evolved into a powerful method for the study of nanoscale structures and phenomena in many areas of science. Former recipients of the award are: Martin Blume, Doon Gibbs, Namikawa Kazumichi, Denis McWhan (2003); Wayne A. Hendrickson (2001); Sunil K. Sinha (2000); Donald H. Bilderback, Andreas K. Freund, Gordon S. Knapp, Dennis M. Mills (1998); Philip M. Platzman, Peter M. Eisenberger (1997); Nikolai Vinokurov, Klaus Halbach (1995).
lightsources.org is a new web site, created through the collaboration of communicators at worldwide synchrotron radiation facilities. The site presents current light-source news from the world's press and photos and graphics from individual facilities, as well as a roundup of important facility-related news for users. Visit http://www.lightsources.org/
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found that zinc deficiency in humans is associated with an increased risk of developing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, an often-fatal form of esophageal cancer numbering about 7,000 cases a year. The research basically measures the zinc concentration contained in the tissue by means of X-ray fluorescence analysis using synchrotron radiation at Advanced Photon Source, Argonne, USA. For more details, see the paper, "Zinc concentration in esophageal biopsy specimens measured by X-ray fluorescence and esophageal cancer risk", C.C. Abnet, B. Lai, Y.-L. Qiao, S. Vogt, X.-M. Luo, P.R. Taylor, Z.-W. Dong, S.D. Mark, S.M. Dawsey, J. Nat. Cancer I. 97, 301 (2005). Information about cancer is available at http://www.cancer.gov or NCI's Cancer Information Service at +1-800-422-6237.
An Austrian research group recently succeeded in obtaining highly collimated, spatially coherent X-rays, at a wavelength of about 1 nm and at photon energies extending to 1.3 keV, from high-order harmonic generation in an atomic gas ionized by a 720-nm, 5-fs, 0.2-TW laser pulse. The beam divergence was evaluated as 0.2 mrad for the spectral range above 200 eV from a knife-edge scan, indicating perfect coherence of the atomic dipoles within a macroscopic volume of diameters of 13μm and 4μm at photon energies of 0.3 keV and 1 keV, respectively. The beam seems to be diffraction-limited to within a factor of five. The spectrum of the generated radiation was observed by an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer with some filters. The results are really exciting, because they could detect the copper L-edges (~950 eV)! One would notice that the energy of photons produced by laser technologies has been increasing every year - the main idea behind this progress is the creation of time-gradient in the driving pulse, which allows some 25% of the helium atoms to be ionized within half a cycle before the pulse peak. The electrons detached within this time are pushed in the most intense half-cycle back to the atomic core. For more information, see the paper, "Source of coherent kiloelectronvolt X-rays", J. Seres et al., Nature, 433, 596 (2005). C. Streli and P. Wobrauschek (Atominstitut der Osterreichischen Universtitaten, Technische Universitat Wien) were the co-authors of this paper.
The international union of crystallography (IUCr) announced that Professor P. Coppens (Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA) has been awarded the seventh Ewald Prize for his contributions to developing the fields of electron density determination and the crystallography of molecular excited states, and for his contributions to the education and inspiration of young crystallographers as an enthusiastic teacher by participating in and organizing many courses and workshops. The Prize consists of a medal, a certificate, and an award of USD 30,000. The former recipients are Michael M. Woolfson (UK, 2002), G.N. Ramachandran (1999), M. G. Rossmann (USA, 1996), N. Kato (Japan, 1993), B.K. Vainshtein (Russia, 1990), J.M. Cowley (USA) and A.F. Moodie (Australia) in 1987.
Nine countries, namely France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they have agreed to jointly prepare the foundation of the European X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facility. XFEL opens up new possibilities in the vast field of structural research, by generating extremely brilliant, ultra-short X-ray pulses with laser-like properties. More information on this European project is available at http://xfel.desy.de/content/e169/index_eng.html
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan announced the names of the three laureates for the 2005 (21st) Japan Prize. They are Dr. Makoto Nagao (President, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) for his "Pioneering Contributions to Natural Language Processing and Intelligent Image Processing" in the prize category of "Information and Media Technology" and Dr. Masatoshi Takeichi (Director, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology) and Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti (Distinguished Professor of The Burnham Institute, also Scientific Advisory Board Chairman of The Nanotech Company, LLC) for their "Fundamental Contribution in Elucidating the Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Adhesion" in the prize category of "Cell Biology". The three scientists will receive certificates of merit, and commemorative medals. There is also a cash award of 50 million yen for each prize category. The presentation ceremony is scheduled to be held in Tokyo at the National Theatre on Wednesday 20, April 2005, in the presence of the emperor and empress. The prize categories for 2006 (22nd) Japan Prize will be "Global Change" and "The Development of Novel Therapeutic Concepts and Technologies". For further details of the Japan Prize, contact M. Ueda, The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, Phone: +81-3-3432-5951, Fax: +81-3-3432-5954, info@japanprize.jp, http://www.japanprize.jp/English.htm
Scientists at German and American synchrotron facilities have recently reported the significance of lensless imaging in achieving extremely high-spatial resolution. Although lenses are generally good at obtaining a magnified image of a sample, they also unfortunately introduce aberrations in the image, which ultimately limit the spatial resolution obtainable. In principle, one can form an image without a lens, by means of a coherent scattering experiment. The challenge is to solve the so-called phase problem. The team recently developed a new approach to X-ray holography, realizing a Fourier transform holography geometry by use of a micro- and nanostructured mask. Special contrast mechanisms can be exploited by resonant soft x-ray scattering and, in the experiment at BESSY, they recorded an image revealing the randomly organized "north" and "south" magnetic regions of a cobalt-platinum film to a spatial resolution of 50 nm, which is 10 times better than that achievable with conventional X-ray focusing optics. In the future, the technique will be used as a method for ultra-fast stroboscopic imaging on a femtosecond time scale using an X-ray free electron laser such as the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), for example, which is expected to open at Stanford in 2009. For more information, see the paper, "Lensless imaging of magnetic nanostructures by X-ray spectro-holography", S. Eisebitt et al., Nature, 432, 885-888 (2004).
The ultra-fast X-ray diffraction technique has now become widely used. Many experiments using this technique are, in principle, a so-called pump-probe measurement, using a Ti:sapphire laser system (wavelength 800 nm, 1-kHz repetition rate with 5-mJ pulse energy and 45-fs duration) and, for example, a moving, 20-mm-thick Cu band to generate characteristic X-ray pulses. Recently, a German group reported the successful imaging of coherent atomic motions in a GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice. The motions are of great interest and are due to the excitation of electron-hole pairs in the GaAs subband. Both expansion of the GaAs layers and contrast of the AlGaAs layers were observed, mainly because bonding in the GaAs layers was affected by the excitation. For more information, see the paper, "Coherent Atomic Motions in a Nanostructure Studied by Femtosecond X-ray Diffraction", M. Bargheer et al., Science, 306, 1771-1773 (2004).
One of the most exciting recent scientific discoveries is that Mars was possibly once wet and salty, suggesting an environment that could serve as a candidate for early life. The two Mars Rovers, Sprit and Opportunity, have been collecting large amounts of data on the soil, rock and atmosphere by utilizing state-of-the-art analytical instruments including an X-ray spectrometer, which recently determined the major and minor elements of soil and rock samples taken from Meridiani Planum. For more information, see the paper, "Chemistry of Rocks and Soils at Meridiani Planum from the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer", R. Rieder et al., Science, 306, 1746-1749 (2004).
So far, it has been difficult to observe nonlinear responses to an optical field in the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) and soft X-ray regions. A research group from the University of Tokyo recently succeeded in generating intense isolated XUV pulses (photon energy 27.9 eV) that were shorter than 1 femtosecond through high-harmonic (9th) generation by using a sub-10-femtosecond blue laser (photon energy 3.1 eV) producing a large dipole moment. For more information, see the paper, "Nonlinear optics in the extreme ultraviolet", T. Sekikawa et al., Nature, 432, 605-608 (2004).
Dale E. Sayers, physics professor at North Carolina State University, died on November 25, 2004 at the age of 60 from complications following a heart attack while exercising at the gym. He was a world leader in X-ray absorption spectroscopy. He came to fame with the publication of the first EXAFS paper, in 1971. With it, he opened up a new field of research, which is now about to celebrate its twelfth bi-annual meeting in 2003 in Sweden. Professor Sayer's work using synchrotron radiation led him into a broad variety of research topics including investigations of amorphous materials, biophysical specimens, contaminated soils, nanoscale structures, and cancerous tissues. Professor Sayers was a recipient of the Bertram Eugene Warren Award (American Crystallographic Association); the Case Centennial Scholar Award (Case Western Reserve University); and the N.C. State Alumni Association Outstanding Research Award. His family would appreciate contributions to the Dale E. Sayers Scholarship Fund, PAMS Foundation NCSU, c/o Anita Stallings, College of PAMS, 116 Cox Hall Campus Box 8201, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC 27695-8201.
A miniworkshop on Pixel Array Detector: Status and Applications was held at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan. The contributors were M.O.Lampert (Canberra-EURYSIS), H.Oyanagi (AIST), G.Foran (ASRP), S.Muto (NIFS), T.Satoh (JAERI), H.Takahashi (Univ of Tokyo), and M.Okubo (AIST). The requirements and solutions for pixel array detectors with high energy-resolution were discussed with particular emphasis on applications in X-ray spectrometry and plasma physics. The abstract booklet is available from Professor Hiroyuki Oyanagi, AIST, Phone: +81-29-8615072, Fax: +81-29-8615085, h.oyanagi@aist.go.jp
Zahi Hawass and his co-workers plan to conduct X-ray analysis of the mummy of King Tutankhamen who ruled Egypt about 3,300 years ago and died while still a teenager. They will move the mummy from the tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, where it was discovered in 1922, to the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo by the end of November. Earlier X-ray tests in 1968 revealed bone fragments inside the skull, prompting speculation that the young king was murdered by a blow to the head. However, other evidence suggests death due to illness. This year's experiment is intended to put to rest this mystery by employing a much more powerful X-ray machine donated by Siemens and National Geographic. The main news source is Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/). For more information about the mummy, see for example, http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/mummy/
Martin J. Berger, former Chief of the Radiation Theory Section and Director of the Photon and Charged-Particle Data Center at NBS, died on November 6, 2004 at the age of 82, from the effects of a hematoma following a fall in which he struck his head. Dr. Berger was born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria. He earned a B.S. degree with a major in physics in 1943, received an M.S. and PhD, in physics in 1951, all at the University of Chicago. He started working at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington in 1952. His main area of interest was mathematical physics in relation to the penetration, diffusion and slowing of high-energy radiations through matter, and he rose to fame because of his theoretical works and Monte Carlo codes in the fields of electron and proton transport. He published more than 149 scientific papers, including the seminal 1963 monograph, "Monte Carlo Calculation of the Penetration and Diffusion of Fast Charged Particles". During his career at NBS, Berger received several awards for distinguished service, including the Silver and Gold Medals of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the 1990 Radiation Science and Technology Award from the American Nuclear Society. In August of 2003, he was awarded the L. H. Gray Medal by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, becoming only the eleventh recipient of this prestigious award. In October of that same year, Mr Berger was added to the NIST Gallery of Distinguished Scientists, Engineers and Administrators. The Washington Post (November 28, 2004) carries an obituary written by Joe Holley.
A whitish cream in a small canister, which was recently discovered during archaeological surveys of the remains of a Roman temple in London, has been found to contain SnO2. Archaeologists think the SnO2 was added intentionally, presumably for use as cosmetic. They believe the unguent was prepared using sophisticated technology: animal fat was heated, possibly with the aim of bleaching it, and the starch was separated by treatment of roots or grains with boiling water, and then white SnO2 , which is readily produced by heating refined tin metal in air, was added. The non-toxic properties of SnO2 would also have been desirable, because by the second century AD, the dangers of lead were becoming recognized. XRF and XRD analysis played an important role in the identification of the ancient cosmetic cream. For more information, see the paper, "Archaeology: Formulation of a Roman cosmetic", R. P. Evershed et al., Nature, 432, 35-36 (2004).
The Photon Factory in Tsukuba, Japan commenced operation in 1982 as a typical 2nd-generation synchrotron radiation facility. The 2.5 GeV storage ring is now being upgraded in order to maintain the competitiveness of its specifications in the field of X-ray sciences via the introduction of new mini-gap undulators. If such undulators are installed, it is possible to produce X-rays even at the 2.5 GeV ring (which does not have the same high energy as a 3rd-generation source), since the spectra of undulator radiation depend on the periodic length of the magnet array, as well as the accumulation energy of the storage ring. The plan is to create new straight sections (BL-1, 3, 15, 17, 4, 18), as well as to lengthen the existing straight sections (BL-2, 5, 13, 14, 16, 19, 28). The facility will cease operation at the end of February 2005 and restart in the fall of the same year.
Argonne research group recently published details of their successful application of high-spatial-resolution XRF and XAFS measurements, which they performed in order to make elemental maps and qualitative chemical analyses of single free-floating, or planktonic, and surface-adhered, or biofilm, cells of Pseudomonas fluorescens. The results revealed differences between the planktonic and biofilm cells in terms of morphology, elemental composition and sensitivity to hexavalent chromium, a heavy-metal contaminant and a known carcinogen. The biofilm cells were more tolerant of the contaminant, which damaged or killed the planktonic cells. The experiments were performed with a 150 nm X-ray beam produced by phase zone plate at the beamline XOR 2-ID, at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne, USA. For more information, see the paper, "Elemental and Redox Analysis of Single Bacterial Cells by X-ray Microbeam Analysis", K. M. Kemner et al., Science, 306, 686-687 (2004).
Howard F. McMurdie, a chemist and well-known member of NBS, died of pneumonia on September 26, 2004 aged 99. Dr. McMurdie was born in Detroit, MI, in 1905 and graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He started work at NBS in April 1928. He became very famous as an editor of the series Phase Diagrams for Ceramists published by the American Ceramic Society. Dr. McMurdie was chief of the Crystallographic Section (formerly the Constitution and Microstructure Section) from 1944 until his official retirement at the end of 1965. Under his leadership, a project began that used X-ray diffraction on single crystals to determine their atomic structure. This led to a relationship with the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), which publishes the Powder Diffraction File, a compilation of diffraction patterns used for identification of crystalline solids. He was awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 1957 for valuable contributions to the science of crystal chemistry and very valuable leadership in the development of a comprehensive program of work in this field. In 1999, he received the highest award in the field of X-ray diffraction analysis, the Charles S. Barrett Award of the Denver X-Ray Conference. In 2003, on the occasion of his second retirement, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the NIST Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory. He was a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and the Mineralogical Society of America and a member of the American Crystallographic Association and the Electron Microscope Society of America.
JAPANESE
