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Integration of User-Supplied Equipment at LCLS
Integration of User-Supplied End Stations for the Soft X-ray (SXR) Instrument
Instrument Enhancements at LCLS
Reporting Requirements and Acknowledgement Statements
Reporting Requirements and Acknowledgement Statements for SXR
Guidelines for Press Releases and Public Communications
Proposal Review Process
Beam Time Allocation and User Notification
Duplication of Effort
Significant Deviation from Proposed Research in a Rated Proposal
Instrumentation Development
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Integration of User-Supplied Equipment at LCLS
LCLS may accommodate the addition of small components to the existing LCLS instruments and will consider such additions proposed by users during the LCLS technical feasibility review portion of the proposal review process. LCLS reserves the right to modify this policy based on the availability of resources. LCLS strongly encourages prospective users to contact the LCLS staff scientists in charge of the instruments to discuss how the existing LCLS instrumentation can be used.
Large scale component integration (i.e. end stations) must adhere to the following end station integration requirements:
- All equipment must be available for LCLS beam time over the entire scheduled run period.
- The end station must comply with all the LCLS End Station Guidelines.
- The engineering specifications and interfaces for the end stations must be captured in the following two documents:
- The end station builders must be available to commit the resources, both manpower and monetary, to transport, construct, install and test equipment at the LCLS.
Integration of User-Supplied End Stations for the Soft X-ray (SXR) Instrument
Unlike other LCLS Instruments, the basic scope of the SXR instrument did not include experimental end stations. An end station contains the sample delivery, sample environment as well as detector systems.
User-supplied end stations on SXR are currently essential, and there are several that have already been integrated for use on SXR. (see the SXR website).
Importantly, any new user-supplied end station must demonstrate reliability and performance comparable to those supplied by LCLS. Consequently, end station integration planning begins prior to proposal submission. The preparation required is described in the endstation integration policy below.
Proposers on the SXR instrument are responsible for indicating the end station needed to execute their experiment. During the technical feasibility review, following proposal submission, the LCLS Staff will verify that the proposed experiment can be performed on the specified end station and that the end station will be available for the experiment.
SXR proposers have three methods to access end stations:
- Proposers have access to all of the LCLS-owned end stations and equipment compatible with the SXR instrument. A list of these end stations and equipment can be found on the SXR website.
- Proposers can collaborate with a group that has already integrated an end station on SXR. A list of these end stations and their specifications can be found here on the SXR website.
- Proposers can use their own end station in their proposed experiment. This equipment must comply with all of the integration requirements listed above to be considered feasible. End Stations that do not exist or have not been tested will be considered high risk.
The Instrument staff will answer questions related to accessing equipment for experiments.
Instrument Enhancements at LCLS
New instrumentation for LCLS may be developed from time to time by outside groups using primarily non-DOE funding. For instrumentation that offers a significant addition of general utility to LCLS, LCLS management may enter into an agreement with an outside group, specifying the ways in which this instrumentation will be deployed at LCLS so as to benefit the general user community, and the time period for which this instrumentation will be available at LCLS. Groups contributing funds, equipment and/or personnel to the construction of new instrumentation can expect to receive a fraction of beam time on the new instrument during a specified time period. (Note that providing new instrumentation is different from providing resources to conduct a specific experiment, where the equipment will not be available to the general LCLS user community.) Approval for realization of new instrumentation at LCLS that is largely funded by external groups will follow a three step procedure:
- The external collaboration intending to build new instrumentation must get the support of LCLS management before negotiations with funding agencies are started. The LCLS commitment will generally be given for a specific period of time. The discussions between LCLS and the collaboration should include:
- Evaluation of the scientific potential by the LCLS management, typically in consultation with the LCLS Scientific Advisory Committee;
- Submission of a Technical Design Report (TDR) to LCLS management;
- Evaluation of the TDR by LCLS management in consultation with the SAC and additional experts as applicable. The review will include feasibility of the program, staffing availability, general user access to instrumentation, permanence of the instrumentation or facility, data acquisition interface issues, etc.;
- Analysis of impact on beam time.
After approval, the results will be summarized in a Letter of Intent signed by the collaboration's spokespersons and the home institutions involved as well as LCLS management.
- Negotiation between the collaboration and the funding agencies, involving representatives of LCLS/SLAC management.
- After securing funding, the collaboration, together with LCLS instrument scientists and management, will work out the final layout of the instrumentation and the timeline for construction, commissioning, and early operation. In addition, the LCLS involvement in construction oversight will be defined. In case of a change in design from that described in the TDR, which significantly affects the scientific potential of the instrument, the SAC will be informed. The negotiations will conclude with the signing of a written agreement by the spokesperson of the collaboration, the collaborating institutions, and the LCLS/SLAC management.
Reporting Requirements and Acknowledgement Statements
All LCLS users are required to inform the LCLS User Research Administration (URA) office of accepted papers. Communicating with URA is necessary to ensure public awareness of LCLS science and continued facility funding. In addition, advance notification of publications amplifies media efforts (i.e. press releases and features).
All publications, and student theses, related to work fully or partially undertaken at LCLS should contain the following acknowledgement:
"Use of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515."
LCLS scientists are also responsible for complying with SLAC SciDoc publication procedures.
Reporting Requirements and Acknowledgement Statements for SXR
All publications, and student theses, related to work fully or partially undertaken at on the SXR Instrument at the LCLS should contain the following acknowledgement:
""Use of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515. The SXR Instrument is funded by a consortium whose membership includes the LCLS, Stanford University through the Stanford Institute for Materials Energy Sciences (SIMES), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), University of Hamburg through the BMBF priority program FSP 301, and the Center for Free Electron Laser Science (CFEL)."
Guidelines for Press Releases and Public Communications
- To ensure effective communication, the collaboration should agree on a primary spokesperson (who generally is one of the corresponding authors) for each experiment with whom correspondence, questions and press should be coordinated.
- Clear rules within the collaboration should be established to control when, where and how the research can be presented. These rules will be determined in part by a publication's embargo guidelines.
- LCLS URA and communications contacts from all collaborating institutions should be informed as soon as a paper has been accepted for publication, or if there is a strong indication that it will be accepted.
- If a press release or any public statement is to be issued, the following should be considered:
- Any public statement made by members of the collaboration must first be cleared for release by the spokesperson. The home institution of the spokesperson will lead the coordination of communications relating to the statement.
- The spokesperson's institution has the right to issue the first public communication, although other institutions may simultaneously release information based on the lead institution’s timeline. If the spokesperson’s institution does not wish to prepare information for public release but is comfortable with others releasing information, LCLS URA, working with SLAC communications, will coordinate that information release.
- The spokesperson’s institution’s communications office will draft the public communication and share it with the communications offices of all collaborating institutions at least one week prior to the planned release of the information.
- All institutions planning to issue a press release or public statement should inform the spokesperson and the spokesperson's office of communication.
- All press releases involving LCLS research must include the following LCLS boilerplate:
"The Linac Coherent Light Source is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science-funded facility located at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS is the world’s first hard X-ray free-electron laser, allowing researchers to see atomic-scale detail on ultrafast timescales. The LCLS enables groundbreaking research in physics, chemistry, structural biology, energy science and many other diverse fields." - A media contact from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory should be included along with any other institutional or scientific contacts. The contact should include the following information:
Andrew Freeberg
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
afreeberg@slac.stanford.edu
+1-650-926-4359 - A reference to the scientific publication should be included to help journalists who receive different versions of the release from different institutions.
LCLS Proposal Review Process
There is no cost to submit proposals or conduct experiments at LCLS. However, experimenters are responsible for their own travel expenses and for the costs of non-standard supplies (e.g., chemicals, gases) or services procured while at SLAC. 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). Review the proposal preparation guidelines, compile the required information, and submit your proposal early to avoid a last-minute crisis at the proposal cutoff time. LCLS proposals are peer reviewed and rated by the LCLS Proposal Review Panel (PRP).
Calls for proposals will be publicized about six months before the PRP meeting date with a deadline for submission a few months before the PRP meeting. After due deliberation, the PRP will provide LCLS management with a rank ordered list of proposals. Only proposals that fall within the top percentage considered for beam time will be ranked.
Beam Time Allocation and User Notification
The proposal spokesperson will be notified after the PRP meeting whether their proposal will be considered for beam time allocation. This notification will come from the LCLS director and will include the PRP comments. Even if a proposal is considered for beam time allocation, it is not yet guaranteed beam time! LCLS management will develop a schedule to accommodate the highest ranked proposals, also considering factors such as safety, technical feasibility, strategic plans, machine multiplexing, etc. Upon approval of the schedule by the LCLS director, the proposal spokesperson will be notified. This notification will include a statement by LCLS to justify this decision. The LCLS beam time schedule including the proposal title and name of the proposal spokesperson will be posted on the LCLS User web site.
Duplication of Effort
A new LCLS proposal to work in areas previously studied by others will be weighed considering this factor.
Significant Deviation from Proposed Research in a Rated Proposal
It is recognized that, occasionally, some deviation from the original proposed research may occur during the course of an experiment. Deviation from the proposed work that follows either from a new idea arising from the research or from new information since the proposal was submitted may be acceptable assuming it does not cover material in a rated proposal from another user group or material that has been discussed commonly and is in the public domain. All deviations must be discussed with the instrument scientist. Questions may be directed to LCLS management or the User Research Administrator.
