Introduction to I12 – JEEP

BEAMLINE OPERATIONS AND COVID-19

The Lockdown restrictions in England are gradually being lifted. We have a small team of users booked on site for the last week of Run 2 (17 May 2021). There is then a shutdown planned until 13 June, and the remainder of June 2021 will be required for beamline commissioning.

If national conditions allow, we will resume operations with on-site users in July 2021. It is clear from the latest peer review panel applications that I12 Users are very keen to come back to site to run ambitious, in-situ experiments. For users visiting Diamond, access is limited to up to two users on-site at any one time (DLS Level 2 Operation). Shift working will be considered, with a total of four users per visit working in teams of two people.

If the DLS Operational Level changes, Principal Investigators will be contacted as required.

Investigators on remote and mail-in experiments are requested to assist as much as possible with setup, data collection and analysis. Please keep in touch with your Local Contact regarding methods of communication and remote access.

**Local Contacts are working long hours, often alone and following strict protocols, to support experiments. Please respect their needs to maintain their health and wellbeing**

Current Operational Issues

Major work is planned in Shutdown 2 (17 May to 13 June) to replace obsolete crystal actuators  and controllers in the bent Laue monochromator. We will use the remainder of June to test and recommission the beamline. We may hit problems that means the work cannot be completed. If that happens, our plan is to run the Laue monochromator with unbent crystals until the next shutdown. This means that high speed, time resolved tomography or radiography will not be feasible, and other imaging scans will take longer than usual. Diffraction and combined imaging-diffraction experiments will be unaffected. Work is slow due to COVID-safe working practices.