MeV-UED Proposals

LCLS Instruments

User Resources

Latest Proposal Schedule

Mode of Access	Run Cycle	Proposal Call Status	Deadline	Cycle Begins	Cycle Ends
Regular User Proposal	LCLS 22	Submit Proposals via User Portal.	28 Mar 2023	Sep 2023	Apr 2024
Protein Crystal Screening (PCS)	LCLS 22	Proposal Call coming soon.	28 Apr 2023	Sep 2023	Apr 2024
MeV-UED Regular User Proposal	UED 4	Experiments scheduled		Oct 2022	Jun 2023
Scientific Campaign	Ongoing	Experiments scheduled		Jan 2022	Jun 2022
Rapid Access	Run 21	Contact for details

Proposals are submitted through the User Portal.

Calls For Proposals are posted on the LCLS Annoucements, and e-mailed to the LCLS User Organization e-mail list (subscribe to lclsuo).

Call for Proposals

LCLS is pleased to announce MeV-UED’s fourth external user experimental run scheduled to begin in the Spring of 2022. SLAC MeV-UED will offer the gas-phase experimental chamber for experiments in “Run 4”. Two standard sample delivery configurations will be offered, a flow cell gas delivery system and a pulse gas nozzle.

Since 2014, the SLAC UED instrument has been developing robust methods in the pursuit of time-resolved measurements to control and understand molecular structural dynamics and the coupling of electronic and nuclear motions in a variety of material and chemical systems. Leveraging these successes and continuing system-level improvements in machine reliability, MeV-UED’s fourth External User experimental time ("Run 4") will begin in Spring 2022. Run 4 will focus on the molecular structure dynamics and electronic dynamics of systems in a gaseous state.

Please note the following important information:

Virtual MeV-UED User Meeting will be held at 7:30 am (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, October 27, 2021

A webcast meeting will be held to better inform the users about the developments at MeV-UED before the upcoming MeV-UED proposal deadline on November 24th. MeV-UED staff will inform the community about the latest capabilities and be available for Q&A. Information on how to connect can be found here.

Experimental stations available to users in Run 4:

Gas-phase UED chamber - See Endstations for details

For more detailed information on MeV-UED’s performance, please contact the instrument experimental points of contact listed below and see our instrument specifications, and our experimental layout.

General Facility & UED Performance:
Joel English (england@slac.stanford.edu),
Xiaozhe Shen (xshen@slac.stanford.edu)
GUED Endstation Capabilities:
Alex Reid (alexhmr@slac.stanford.edu)
Ming-Fu Lin (mfucb@slac.stanford.edu)
Thomas Wolf (thomas.wolf@slac.stanford.edu)

For more general information about MeV-UED.

Submitting MeV-UED Proposals

The MeV-UED instrument, part of the Linac Coherent Light Source user facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory encourages scientists from diverse fields to propose experiments utilizing the MeV-UED's unique capabilities. Access to MeV-UED is open to the international community. There is no cost to submit proposals or conduct experiments at MeV-UED. However, users are responsible for their own travel expenses and (in rare cases) for any extraordinary consumables required by the experiment.

We recommend that scientists describe well-posed experiments that can be accomplished within 96 hours of beam time. Proposals must include brief discussions of the expected scientific or technological impact and anticipated feasibility and probability of success of experiments.

Each proposal is for one specific experiment. Proposals can be re-submitted at each call, but this will not happen automatically and a re-submission will not receive preference during the review process. There is no limit to the number of proposals that can be submitted by a scientist or team, but multiple similar proposals from the same team members may not be reviewed favorably by the Proposal Review Panel (PRP).

Proposals may be made in the context of a larger scope than can be covered in a single experiment. All proposals, even these broader proposals that address important problems, must be resubmitted each cycle in order to be peer reviewed and considered for beam time. However, in the absence of sufficient information to evaluate progress (data disseminated from previous beam time, publications, etc.), the PRP may recommend or MeV-UED may decide that some proposal(s) be postponed for consideration until a future review cycle.

Please refer to the MeV-UED proposals page for information on the currently offered instruments, and the proposal review process prior to writing your proposal.

A proposal template has been created to provide guidance on the format and structure of proposal submissions.

Download the MeV-UED Proposal Template

Required Content for Your Proposal

Provide a descriptive title of your proposed experiment that you would be willing to be made public if awarded beam time.

Provide an abstract that concisely (less than 1,950 characters) summarizes the proposed experiment, quantities to be measured, samples to be studied, expected scientific results and impact. The more detailed proposal text is limited to 4 pages in PDF format - this 4 page limit does not include the completed standard parameters table, references or one-page progress reports on previous beamtimes. Proposals should include the following information (include the spokesperson's name in the upper right-hand corner of each page):

Experimental Team: In a table, list the names, institution, email address of PIs and collaborators who would participate in the proposed experiment (e.g., sample prep, theory, data collection, data analysis). This section could also briefly mention directly-relevant previous work done by the team members.

Scientific Case: Briefly explain the background and significance of your experiment. In particular, why is MeV-UED required for this experiment? Itemize the specific aims and particular questions you want to answer. Focus on the specific experiment and avoid broad discussions in general terms.

Experimental Procedure: Provide specific information so that the feasibility of this experiment at the requested MeV-UED instrument can be evaluated. Tell us if you plan or have carried out supporting experiments at other facilities. Have simulations of the experiment been performed? What are the anticipated data rates? Provide a beam time plan, indicating what could be accomplished shift by shift. Describe any additional equipment you plan to bring to MeV-UED for the experiment.

We strongly recommend that you contact the MeV-UED instrument scientist(s) before proposal submission to discuss capabilities, to identify possible problems in integrating external equipment with the MeV-UED instrument and to determine possible solutions.

Technical Feasibility: Proposals must contain sufficient information for the MeV-UED instrument staff to review the proposal for technical feasibility. This information should include:

Equipment
- Which elements of the proposed instrument do you require for the proposal?
- What additional equipment is needed, including laser, detector, sample delivery/environment, temperature, pressure, etc?
- How do you plan to provide/organize the additional equipment?
Parameters
- Describe electron beam energy, pulse energy, beam size, repetition rate, and pulse duration
- If an optical laser is required, describe laser wavelength, pulse energy, bandwidth, beam size, repetition rate, pulse duration, timing, geometry.
Experimental protocol
- Describe the experimental geometry.
- Calculate the expected signal rate/background.
- Describe samples and concentrations, sample preparation and storage.
- Describe local facilities that may be required.
  
  As part of the proposal process, we will contact the Spokesperson for proposals that have the potential of being awarded beamtime. The Spokesperson will be asked to provide specific experimental parameters to help inform the viability and schedule.
  
  Material samples must be provided to the facility at least one month in advance of the scheduled beamtime date for a pre-beamtime screening to verify the sample response to the requested experimental beam parameters.

Acknowledgement: Proposal teams must inform and acknowledge MeV-UED and the DOE Office of Science in presentations and publications using this template:
"MeV-UED is operated as part of the Linac Coherent Light Source at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515"

MeV-UED Contact Info

Alex Reid

MeV-UED Instrument Lead Scientist
(650) 926-7467
alexhmr@slac.stanford.edu

Mike Minitti

Director, MeV-UED
(650) 926-7427
minitti@slac.stanford.edu

Joel England

UED Accelerator Lead
(650) 926-3706
england@slac.stanford.edu

Xiaozhe Shen

UED Facility R&D Lead
(650) 926-2899
xshen@slac.stanford.edu

Ming-Fu Lin

Associate Staff Scientist
(650) 926-2586
mfucb@slac.stanford.edu

Matthias Hoffmann

Laser Scientist
(650) 926-4446
hoffmann@slac.stanford.edu

Patrick Kramer

Laser Scientist
(650) 926-5148
pkramer@slac.stanford.edu

Xinxin Cheng

Associate Staff Scientist
xcheng@slac.stanford.edu

Fuhao Ji

Associate Staff Scientist
(650) 926-4678
fuhaoji@slac.stanford.edu

Stephen Weathersby

UED Area Manager
(650) 926-3890
spw@slac.stanford.edu