Saturday, December 13, 2008
4:40 pm Ok so I was wrong... the tweaking continued immediately after parking the beam at the tune up dump, and took less than an hour.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
4:10 After nearly eight hours of waiting and speculation, the sweeps and checkouts and repair signed-off, the beam has made it through the first sections of the LCLS and is "parked" at the tune up dump-undulator (TD-UND).
Saturday, December 13, 2008
2:50 pm Four and a half hours and many donuts later we are still waiting for the chance at a second shot.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
10:18 am The first shot came with a mouse click. One blip later the main control center was thrown into mild confusion -- the beam was intercepted and stopped by a safety system that should have been disabled.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The mood's a bit hushed but electric this morning in SLAC's main control center as operators and physicists prepare for the first electron beam shot into the LCLS.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Last day of the LCLS/SSRL users' conference, with a series of joint workshops on using soft X-rays. This was the best attended set of workshops, I believe. Especially for a Saturday.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Day 3 of the LCLS / SSRL users' conference was devoted to workshop sessions for both groups. Discussion centered on cutting edge instrumentation and experimental techniques. The LCLS, is at an early stage yet in the evolution of its scientific programs, and the majority of today's talks were conceptual, such as one workshop devoted to the theoretical challenges associated with what a high-power free electron laser will do to matter.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Day two of the Users' Meeting kicked off with a round of presentations in a joint LCLS / SSRL plenary session focused on big picture concerns like the federal budget and the political landscape.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The news was good and the mood upbeat in Panofsky Auditorium today. LCLS leaders and scientists outlined the progress so far with regard to installation and commissioning of the machine, and talked about the early stages of the new user program.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
This is the first morning of the 2008 SSRL/LCLS users' meeting, with an expected attendance of around 300. The tent went up yesterday and based on the conversations I had everyone behind the scenes was in scramble mode getting ready for the first sessions.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Talked to researcher Stephan Friedrich from Livermore the other day about a device his group’s developed to assist in the commissioning phase of the LCLS. Basically they’ve devised a sensor that will be placed directly in the X-ray beam to measure its full power.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Chatting the other day with one of the guys from the scientific instrumentation group about the science to come from the LCLS, I was struck by the idea that the experimental instruments are considered an altogether separate project from the LCLS.
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