Beamline installation 

The ESRF will have thirty public beamlines operational by the end of 1998. An additional twelve beamlines can be installed by Collaborating Research Groups (CRG) on bending magnets. Five CRG beamlines were in operation (including GRAAL) at the end of 1996. Five additional ones are in the phase of construction or commissioning (Figure 150).

Table 3 gives a list of the public beamlines and Table 4 a list of the CRG beamlines. The MAD beamline (Multiwavelength Anomalous Diffraction), now on a bending magnet, will be transferred to an insertion device by the end of 2000 (MAD II). When all thirty public beamlines are operational, there will be thirty-four end-stations available which can be run independently.

After completion of the programme as described in Tables 3 and 4, there will be another three insertion device positions (besides the two used by the machine) free for later use. There will also be six more bending magnet ports free but, for the time being, it has been decided to limit the maximum number of CRG beamlines to twelve.

 

 

 

User operation

The period August 1996 to July 1997 saw a further 3 beamlines open for experiments by external scientists. This brings the number of beamlines available for scientific users to 23 ESRF beamlines, and 4 beamlines operated by Collaborating Research Groups (CRGs).

Demand for beam time continued to increase, as illustrated in Figure 151, which shows the number of shifts of beam time requested and allocated for experiments since user operation began in September 1994.

Proposals for experiments are selected and beam time allocations are made through peer review. Review Committees of specialists from European countries and the USA have been set up in the following scientific areas:

  • chemistry
  • hard condensed matter: electronic and magnetic properties
  • hard condensed matter: -structures
  • life sciences
  • methods and instrumentation
  • soft condensed matter
  • surfaces and interfaces.

The Review Committees met twice during the past year, some six weeks after the deadlines for submission of proposals (1 March and 1 September each year). They reviewed a total of 1120 applications for beam time, and selected 527 (47%), which were then scheduled for experiments. Table 5 shows the breakdown of the proposals received and of the proposals accepted, and their distribution across scientific areas for the past year.

In terms of beam time, a total of 16 155 shifts or 129 240 hours were requested for this period, of which 7609 shifts or 60 872 hours (41%) were allocated; the breakdown by scientific area is shown in Table 6.

This period has also seen an increase of 43%, from 1445 to 2061, in the number of scientists visiting the ESRF under the user programme (see Table 7). On average, user teams comprise 3.6 persons who stay for some 5 days. Scientists who have carried out experiments particularly appreciate the quality and reliability both of the beam and of the experimental stations, and the assistance they receive from the beamline staff. Facilities on site, such as preparation laboratories, a canteen, and the Guest House, also make an important contribution to the quality of user support.

On the beamlines, beam time losses tended to occur because of occasional difficulties with the beamline components, computer programs, or with samples. Such beam time losses, however, remained below 5% of the total shifts for experiments during the period.

 

 

Administration and finance

Expenditure and income 1996

Expenditure 1996 by nature of expenditure

1996 manpower (posts filled at year end)

Financial resources in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997
(in current prices of the respective years)

 

Organisation chart of the ESRF (as of Otober 1997)