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Professor Justin Wark
Professor of Physics, Trinity College, Oxford & University of Oxford; Keynote speaker at the 2015 User Meeting
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Professor Sir Adrian Smith
Chairman of the Board of Directors
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As I look back on this past year, I never cease to be impressed by the commitment and engagement of our user community and our staff. In 2015, Diamond was the second most productive synchrotron on the world stage in the number of protein structures we deposited, and by the end of this financial year the number of peer reviewed journal articles enabled by Diamond reached 4,800.
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By the end of the ninth year of experiments (April 2015 to end of March 2016), Diamond was operating with 26 beamlines. Two Phase III beamlines, I23 and I15-1, have now entered into commissioning phase, and the next two years will see five more Phase III beamlines complete construction and go into operation.
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The Spectroscopy Village incorporates six distinct beamlines which offer a range of techniques to analyse the local atomic and electronic structure of solid, liquid or gaseous samples using X-ray spectroscopy.
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Soft condensed matter research at Diamond encompasses a range of complex organic molecules, biomedical specimens and inorganic systems. The Soft Condensed Matter Village can provide analysis at all scales of biology and medicine starting from individual proteins, to higher order structures such as fibers and whole cells.
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The Engineering and Environment village started with three beamlines – the Powder Diffraction beamline (I11), the Joint Engineering, Environmental and Processing (JEEP) beamline (I12) and the Extreme Conditions beamline (I15). A further beamline, XPDF (I15-1), welcomed first users in April 2016.
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The Surfaces and Interfaces village comprises six different beamlines, five of which are in operation and one is currently under development. All six beamlines support investigations into the physical or electronic structures of interfaces and surfaces, with users having the ability to study core and weakly bound electrons, magnetism, atomic and nanostructure and to image with chemical sensitivity.
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Synchrotron radiation has revolutionised our understanding of materials through X-ray diffraction and imaging techniques. The Materials Village at Diamond continues to provide the tools to extend and broaden our current knowledge, from probing materials designed for energy storage and carbon capture to imaging natural biological and geological structures.
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Diamond’s Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) Village provides a broad range of beamlines with specialised capabilities in determining the three dimensional structures of large biological molecules. MX is a vital tool for linking structure to function, and for investigating protein folding and other structural information. The challenges today also lie in understanding the dynamics of protein function within complex assemblies and cellular pathways
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Membrane Protein Laboratory
Since completing its set up phase in 2010, the Membrane Protein Laboratory (MPL) has provided a research and training facility for scientists the world over interested in solving the 3D structures of membrane proteins by X-ray crystallography. Funded by the Wellcome Trust, it is the only laboratory of its kind to be situated just metres from a synchrotron radiation experimental station, Diamond’s Microfocus Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) beamline (I24).
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eBIC: electron Bio-Imaging Centre
eBIC (electron Bio-Imaging Centre) is a state-of-the-art facility at Diamond that allows scientists to explore complex biological systems in unprecedented detail via the use of two powerful cryo-electron microscopes (EM), exploiting the latest technology and software rarely available at home laboratories. Diamond is currently the only synchrotron facility in the world to house and operate this type of microscope.
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XFEL Hub at Diamond
In preparation for the European XFEL (X-ray Free Electron Laser) which is due to come online in Hamburg in 2017, a centre for expertise in every aspect of XFEL experiments has been established at Diamond. Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Research council (BBSRC), the UK-XFEL Hub provides support in technical development, including sample preparation, delivery systems and data analysis.
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The number of operational beamlines at Diamond by the end of FY 2015/16 was 26. Two Phase III beamlines have recently gone into commissioning mode, soon to be followed by VMXi (I02-2), which will take over from I02. The remaining five Phase III beamlines will complete construction and go into operation over the next four years, bringing the total number of beamlines to 33.
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In 2015/16, our 9th year of operations, a total of 210 days (5,040 hours) were scheduled for beamline operations, 205 days of User Mode, and five beamline start-up days. The majority of the beam delivery was in standard multibunch mode (900 bunch train) or “hybrid” mode (686 bunch train + a single bunch) with total current of 300 mA. In addition there were several periods of “Special Beam Conditions”, two days in July, five days in August, two days in October 2015 and two days in March 2016 of “low-alpha” mode, to produce short bunches (3.5 ps rms), as well as four days in December of 156 bunch mode, with 135 mA total current. Operation with all filling patterns was carried out in top-up mode.
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The Optics and Metrology group plays a vital role in designing, procuring, building, testing, installing and commissioning X-ray optics at Diamond’s beamlines. In synergy with the B16 Test beamline, the group also undertakes targeted research to develop novel optics, instrumentation, and techniques. This helps Diamond’s beamlines to deliver X-ray beams of exceptional quality, enabling world class science to be performed.
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The ultimate goal of the Detector group at Diamond is to exploit the photons produced by the synchrotron to the full. A considerable amount of the Detector group’s work is therefore devoted to identifying which detector characteristics limit the present experiments, looking at new technologies to help improve the performance of the present experiments, and how they can possibly open up new experimental fields.
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As Diamond completes its last phase of beamlines our attention turns to building on our investment. Software is key to increasing Diamond’s productivity. It can increase throughput by automating collections and aiding non-expert users, and in some cases by running entirely unattended experiments.
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The Data Analysis and Scientific Software group work closely with key science, software and computing groups in Diamond, as well as the wider scientific and industry community, to help maximise the information gained from the challenging experiments done at the facility. The nature of the experiments, either in volume of data or speed of the required results, has led the group and our collaborators to develop a suite of open source software tools that are also finding uses in the wider scientific community.
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In our ninth year of operations (April 2015 to end of March 2016), we received 1,444 proposals for experiments on beamlines and electron microscopes, which requested a total of 16,376 shifts. After peer-review, 1,026 proposals were awarded beamtime. This resulted in 9,091 experimental shifts being awarded, spread across 26 beamlines and two electron microscopes. We welcomed 5,472 user visits from academia and industry across all facilities (beamlines and electron microscopes), with an additional 3,772 remote users.
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In May 2010 a formal collaboration between the University of Manchester and Diamond Light Source was established to construct and operate an imaging facility at Diamond’s X-ray Imaging and Coherence beamline (I13). Complementary to the Coherence branchline (I13-1), the Diamond Manchester Imaging branchline (I13-2) performs real space imaging and tomography on a length or timescale not achievable in home laboratories. Thanks to the high flux of the Diamond synchrotron, images of high signal to noise ratio can be recorded very quickly on I13-2. This enables the study of dynamic processes such as electrochemical deposition for understanding battery failure, bubble dynamics in molten metals for understanding how metals solidify and therefore fail, and the dynamics of the closed cochlea, the part of the ear that converts sound waves to electrical signals.
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The Industrial Liaison programme at Diamond continues to thrive with another year’s worth of diverse science coming through the doors in 2015/16. With almost 100 companies carrying out proprietary projects across 25 beamlines and laboratories, the breadth and depth of the industrial engagement with Diamond grows increasingly strong..
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2015 marked the busiest year yet for public engagement and education activities at Diamond, inspired by and celebrating the International Year of Light.
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Diamond Light Source Ltd was established in 2002 as a joint venture limited company funded by the UK Government via the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and by the Wellcome Trust, owning 86% and 14% of the shares respectively. Diamond now employs over 580 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff from over 40 countries worldwide. The Chief Executive and Directors are advised by committees representing key stakeholder groups, including the Science Advisory Committee, Diamond Users’ Committee, and Diamond Industrial Science Committee (DISCo).
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The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) advises the CEO and the Science Directors on the scientific and technical questions impacting the specification, design, commissioning and operation; experimental and user support facilities, and opportunities for scientific exploitation.
The Diamond Industrial Science Committee (DISCo) advises the CEO and Directors on opportunities for industry to be engaged in research at Diamond, industrial research priorities that will help shape operational strategy, including the best way to exploit the current suite of beamlines and to develop the case for investment in future beamlines, and to develop best practice for industrial engagement.
The Diamond User Committee (DUC) has been set as a platform for discussion between Diamond and the user community of matters relating to the operation and strategy of Diamond.
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Diamond Annual Review 2016