Shared Facilities for Materials Research: Upgrade of the Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Beamline at LSU CAMD
Dr. Evgueni Nesterov, of the Chemistry Dept. is the PI on this Project
Drs.Christopher Arges and Bhuvnesh Bharti, Chemical Engineering, Co-PIs
Dr. John DiTusa, Physics and Astronomy, CoPI
Dr. Amitava Roy, CAMD, Co-PI
Drs. Gerald Schneider and Donghui Zhang, Chemistry, Co-PIs
Dr. Vijay John, Tulane Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Faculty Participant
Dr. Yuri Lvov, Louisiana Tech, Institute of Micromanufacturing, Faculty Participant
Abstract:
This proposal requests funds to enhance materials characterization facilities at LSU through upgrading Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) beamline at CAMD. The project goals and objectives are to provide a highly and urgently needed synchrotron-based SAXS
instrument to address a current gap in availability for the researchers at LSU and at other universities in Louisiana. Availability of this facility at CAMD will provide a major boost to the broad research efforts on soft and biological matter, and will enable training undergraduate and graduate students and postdocs in this powerful and broadly applicable technique. The proposal requests acquisition of the required parts to upgrade an existing outdated SAXS beamline at CAMD into a modern, world-class instrument. There are expertise and some materials available at CAMD to modify the beam to provide enhanced photon flux, and CAMD is strongly committed to making both available for this project. In addition, the overall efforts to rebuild and upgrade the SAXS beamline will require hiring an outside expert consultant. LSU is strongly interested in such an upgrade to be accomplished, and thus is committing major financial means as matching funds to hire a SAXS instrumentation expert. The broader far-reaching goal is to provide state-of-the-art materials characterization instrumentation at LSU and across the State of Louisiana, to complement current efforts to develop a major neutron scattering center in Louisiana. The vision is to create a unique combination of expertise and instrumental access for the materials synthesis, X-ray and neutron scattering characterization, along with theory and simulation, that will provide the platform for future materials center development. The objectives are to provide a modern SAXS instrument that will meet the increasingly demanding needs of our faculty and students to support their research projects in soft and biological materials. The upgraded SAXS instrument will be particularly useful to the researchers at the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Chemical Engineering in their studies of complex macromolecular systems, nanostructures, etc. It is anticipated that new research capabilities added through the upgrade of the SAXS beamline will promptly help in launching interdisciplinary and collaborative proposals related to materials initiatives and enhance the competitiveness of multiple users at LSU and in Louisiana in landing major federal grants.
Louisiana Board of Regents Newly Funded Proposal for Proof –of- Concept of X-ray Gratings at CAMD