2001 NSLS ACTIVITY REPORT (NATIONAL SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCE).

Download or read book 2001 NSLS ACTIVITY REPORT (NATIONAL SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCE). written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year 2001 has been another highly productive year at the NSLS, with over 2500 users, including 720 first time users, conducting nearly 1200 experiments in fields ranging from the life, materials, chemical, and environmental sciences to applied science and technology. An impressive array of highlights from this scientific activity is included in this Activity Report. They include the first demonstration of a direct structural probe of the superconducting ground state in the cuprates by utilizing anomalous soft x-ray resonance effects to selectively enhance the scattering from doped holes. Another highly significant result was the determination of the structure of the potassium channel membrane protein. This is especially significant as it provides insight into how the channel functions and how it selects a particular kind of ion. In the nanoscience area, small angle x-ray scattering measurements played an essential role in determining that preferential sequestering of tailored metal nanocrystals into a self-assembled lamellar diblock copolymer can produce high quality metallodielectric photonic bandgap structures, demonstrating the potential of these nanocomposites for photonic crystal engineering. The infrared microscopy program continued to yield noteworthy results, including an important study that characterized the types and abundances of organic materials in contaminated and uncontaminated sediments from the New York/New Jersey Harbor. These results will be useful in devising improved methods for the destruction or removal of these environmental contaminants.