User information

• • We designate a staff member as the local contact (LC) for each experiment.

• • In the beginning of the experiment, the LC holds a mandatory safety training for all participants in the experiment. At this occasion, the LC also gives training on how to operate the beamline, which is essential for a successful experiment. If participants cannot attend this training, they need to agree in advance with the LC on an alternative training session.

• • Your LC assists you with setting up the experiment. If you have any needs from the beamline that was not specifically described in the proposal, please be in touch with the LC at least four weeks prior to your experiment. Note that major deviations from the proposal are not accepted. See the beamline homepage for an up-to-date description of the beamline.

• • Due to the broad range of experiments at ForMAX, we need to change the setup for essentially every experiment. It takes at least a shift (four hours) to set up a new experiment, depending on the complexity of the experiment. For combined in-situ full-field tomography and SWAXS experiments, you should assume the double. The same holds if you need to change the setup (e.g., x-ray energy or focus, new sample environment) during an experiment. Please plan your experiment accordingly.

• • Changes to the experimental setup/realignment of the beamline are time consuming and should be kept to a minimum. Note that these must be discussed well in advance with the LC and that these can only be supported during office hours. Please plan accordingly.

• • Your experiment runs 24 hours a day. It is the responsibility of the main proposer to bring a large and experienced enough team to manage the experiment.

• • While your experiment runs 24 hours a day, your LC has normal working hours and is only on call until 23 on weekdays (20-23 for technical support only) and 8-20 on weekends and holidays. Floor coordinators are on call 24/7 for general technical support. Please plan your experiment accordingly.

• • In order to get a full-field tomography experiment successfully running, users also need to get familiar with sample alignment and data reconstruction scripts. We provide means for practicing these off line and strongly encourage less experienced users to arrive a day in advance for this purpose.

• • Many users bring their own sample environment with a control laptop. The preferred option is to keep the control laptop in the experimental hutch and connect to it remotely. For this purpose, the laptop needs to be equipped with a working USB-C connector and the latest version of NoMachine.

• • Finally, answers to most of the frequent questions are found on these pages. It is the responsibility of the main proposer to ensure that the team is familiar with this information prior to the experiment.

General guidelines for the usage of MAX IV facilities are given here. This checklist gives some additional information specific to ForMAX’s users.

8-12 weeks before beamtime:

• Get in touch with your local contact (LC). You received an email from MAX IV user-office about who is your LC when the proposal was scheduled. For complex experiments it is preferable to start with a (virtual) planning meeting. 
• Ordering chemicals/reagents, capillaries or specialized sample holders from external suppliers. Delivery times can be surprisingly long. 
• Ordering adapters/mounts for user sample environment (if designed/ordered at MAX IV).  
  

4-6 weeks before beamtime:

• Samples in DUO (make it exhaustive, include all standards/ex-situ references you would like to measure [including plan B samples]) 
• ESRA – discuss with LC in case of doubts regarding possible risks/mitigation 
• Talk about a global experiment plan with LC. 
• Discuss need for any special cables, adapters, sample holders or 3D printed parts. 
• Book chemical/bio labs, organize lab introduction/training before beamtime with the lab manager or specified contact person. 
  

3-5 days before beamtime:

• Please review the beamline-specific user information.
• Organize a team meeting. Ensure all team members are aware of the basics of the experiment, the samples that are being measured, basics of the experimental technique(s).
  
• Register team members in DUO experiment session (to be done by proposer/PI or designated person). Only the users added to a session will have access to the data files. 
• Create tentative shift plan for personnel (this is important to run experiments round the clock). 
  

Before start of beamtime:

• Get introduction to the beamline, preparation lab(s), auxiliary equipment (if needed) 
• Decide on how you keep experimental logs (MAXIV Elogy or another system)
  
• Get software ready for data viewing/treatment (ask LC for suitable programs)
• Find out from LC where to find additional beamline documentation specific to the experiment and general troubleshooting guides in print and electronic form (Elogy/Wiki). 

During beamtime:

• Create a log of changes to beamline settings during your session like changes to detectors, acquisition parameters, sample environment etc. Be aware that some parameters are not stored in data files. It is recommended to use the MAX IV Elogy system to keep measurement logs including screenshots of live data, beamline settings etc. Your LC would create a page for your session and explain how to use this.  
• Write down any issues with beamline control system or equipment. Pictorial logs and screenshots are strongly recommended to be documented in Elogy.

After beamtime:

• Copied data, analysis scripts (if needed), Elogy 
• Collected all samples and user equipment 
• Waste sorted and labelled, handed over to LC 
• Beamline left clean, equipment/tools back in place