Preparing for beamtime

Experiments at I13 are often highly bespoke, and success depends upon good planning. Please get in contact with the beamline team to discuss how to get the most out of your beamtime.

Good questions to think about include:

• What scientific questions do I wish to answer?
• What resolution do I require to visualise the features I'm interested in?
• What field of view do I need?
• Will phase contrast be useful?
• If studying dynamic processes, what temporal resolution is required?
• Can I investigate my samples by other means to ensure they contain the features I wish to visualise?
• How will samples be mounted? They need to be stable.
• If I'm bringing equipment, is it compatible with the beamline? Have I tested it offline to ensure it works reliably, accurately and safely?
• How will I analyse the data? What do I hope to segment and what types of measurements would be useful?

Please note that risk assessments for samples and equipment need to completed well in advance of beamtime.