The Australian Synchrotron is a world-class facility which officially opened in 2007 and is located in Clayton, Victoria. The synchrotron delivers better and faster experimental techniques which can enhance current fundamental and applied research. The University of Newcastle is a major contributor to the Australian Synchrotron as part of the NSW Synchrotron Consortium.
- Australian Synchrotron Seminar
- Synchrotron Applications
- How to access the Australian Synchrotron
Australian Synchrotron Seminar
To increase awareness of the Synchrotron and the opportunities for use in a wide range of research areas we are hosting a seminar on the Australian Synchrotron. The seminar will include presentations from the Australian Synchrotron beamline scientist as well as experienced Newcastle researchers. This is an excellent opportunity to identify scientific opportunities for synchrotron uses in your research.
Date: Friday 19 September 2008
Time: 9.30am (9.15am tea/coffee) to 1.30pm
Program: click here
Registration: UoN staff and conjoints – HRonline Staff Development - 00009 Research
Other researchers - email to Judy Alexander
Venue: HPE2-03 lecture theatre (near the Forum Sports and Aquatic Centre, L10 on map )
Parking: Limited staff parking is available behind HPE Building, general parking is available in car parks P12 and P13 (see map), please note hourly parking limits apply to some areas of the car parks. Parking cost $3.00 per day; permits can be purchased from coin operated machines in both car parks (no change given).
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Synchrotron Applications
Experiments or measurements that can be carried out using the initial suite of beamlines fall into four main categories:
Diffraction/scattering for crystallography, including protein crystallography.
Spectroscopy for analysis of chemical composition and speciation in the bulk material and at surfaces, down to nanometer level, structure of amorphous solids.
Polarimetry for measuring the shape of complex molecules, especially proteins, and the properties of magnetic materials.
Imaging from highly detailed imaging of small animals, and ultimately humans, down to the substructure of biological and physical material, using light from infrared through to hard x-rays.
Synchrotron light is advancing research and development in fields as diverse as:
advanced materials (nanostructured materials, intelligent polymers, ceramics, light metals and alloys, electronic and magnetic materials, disordered materials)
agriculture (plant genomics, soil studies, animal and plant imaging)
archeological sciences and cultural heritage (identification of pigments, understanding alteration processes in paintings, foxing on ancient documents)
biosciences (protein crystallography and cell biology)
environmental sciences (past climate changes and proxies from geological and biological archives, atmospheric research, clean combustion and transport systems, clean industrial production technologies)
engineering (imaging of industrial processes in real time, high resolution imaging of cracks and defects in structures, the operation of creactants and atalysts in industrial processes, materials fault analysis)
forensics (identification of suspects from extremely small and dilute samples)
medical research (microbiology, disease mechanisms, high resolution imaging and cancer radiation therapy, cancer diagnosis, toxicology)
minerals exploration (rapid analysis of drill core samples, comprehensive characterisation of ores for ease of mineral processing)
synchrotron radiation can be especially useful for in situ spectroscopy to monitor reactions and processes
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How to access the Australian Synchrotron
Access to the Australian Synchrotron is by a merit based online application process, which is open three times a year. In addition the NSW Synchrotron Consortium has preferred access to the Synchrotron which is allocated to researchers who were unsuccessful in the merit based system. The next round is for access in January-April 2009 and opens on 11 October and closes on 1 November 2008.
The following researchers are available to assist you with your application:
Dr Michael Stockenhuber in Chemical Engineering
Professor Paul Dastoor in Physics
Dr Silvia Frisia in Earth Sciences
Dr Robyn Malby in Biological Sciences (practising protein crystallographer)
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