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A 10-Year Vision for Diamond Light Source

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A 10-Year Vision for Diamond Light Source A 10-Year Vision for Diamond Light Source Diamond Light Source Ltd October 2015 2 Foreword The Diamond Light Source has been operational for 8 years, providing brilliant beams of light to probe the structure and composition of matter in the most incisive fashion, from the life sciences and medicine, through materials for energy and computing, to the environment, earth sciences and cultural heritage. It underpins research and innovation from more than 8000 scientists, mainly from UK universities and industry, with over 90 companies already paying for its services. Every year over 900 PhD students gain experience and training in state-of-the-art experimental and analytical techniques, and Diamond also supports training programmes for apprentices and extensive outreach to the public. It is a key component of the Harwell Campus, which brings together other central facilities of international standing, in partnership with UK universities as one of the leading centres for research and innovation in the world. However, the development of synchrotron technology proceeds at a blistering, relentless pace, with orders of magnitude improvement in brightness of sources, optical components and detectors. If Diamond is to continue to provide world-class facilities, and enable the academic and industrial communities it serves to remain competitive, it must continue to upgrade its technical capability: standing still will lead to decline and ineffective exploitation of significant investment in this facility. This document outlines a Vision for the scientific and societal challenges that synchrotron science will serve over the next 10 years, and the enabling technology that should be developed to meet these challenges. It presents a strategy to establish Diamond sustainably as a world-leading centre for synchrotron science, particularly in areas of excellence at UK universities, research institutes and in industry, and a cornerstone of a world-class site for scientific discovery and innovation at Harwell. It is based on extensive consultation within Diamond as well as discussion with external, international experts who have also advised on priorities for the various upgrade projects. It takes into account developments at other facilities in Europe, particularly the ESRF in which the UK also has a share. Diamond Management October 2015 3 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 1.0 INTRODUCTION 9 1.1 A Vision and Strategic Plan for Diamond 9 1.2 The Strategic Planning Process 10 2.0 BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 11 2.1 Synchrotron Science and the Diamond Light Source 11 2.2 The Harwell Campus 15 3.0 IMPACTS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 2007 – 2014 17 3.1 Scientific community and science 17 3.2 Industrial engagement 21 3.3 Technical and technique developments 24 3.4 Skills for success 25 3.5 Key collaborations 26 3.6 Health and safety 27 3.7 Engaging society 27 3.8 Environment 28 3.9 Cost savings and efficiencies 29 4.0 A 10-YEAR VISION FOR DIAMOND 31 4.1 Scientific Vision and the Role of Synchrotron Radiation 32 4.1.1 Integrated structural biology 32 4.1.2 Chemistry and catalysis 33 4.1.3 Soft condensed matter 34 4 4.1.4 Biomaterials and medicine 36 4.1.5 Engineering and materials 37 4.1.6 Condensed matter physics 38 4.1.7 Environment, earth sciences and cultural heritage 39 4.2 A Vision for Technical Developments at Diamond 40 4.2.1 Sources 41 4.2.2 Beamline development 45 4.2.3 Detectors 49 4.2.4 Optics and metrology 50 4.2.5 Sample environment 52 4.2.6 Data handling and computing 53 4.3 Support laboratories and complementary facilities 56 across the Harwell Campus 4.4 Operating model and organisation of Diamond 57 4.5 Development of other major synchrotron facilities 58 5.0 STRATEGIC GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 60 5.1 A world-leading facility in synchrotron-enabled research and innovation 60 5.2 Maximising the scientific, economic and societal impact of Diamond 62 5.3 Ensuring the long-term sustainability of Diamond as a national facility 63 5.4 Engaging and inspiring the general public through promoting science 64 5.5 Continuously planning for Diamond’s technical and scientific future 65 5.6 Options, resources and a delivery plan 65 5 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Further highlights of industrial use 69 Appendix 2 – Science Visions 72 A 2.1 Integrated structural biology 72 A 2.2 Chemistry and catalysis 80 A 2.3 Soft condensed matter 91 A 2.4 Biomaterials and medicine 97 A 2.5 Engineering and materials 104 A 2.6 Condensed matter physics 114 A 2.7 Environment, earth sciences and cultural heritage 118 Appendix 3 – Enabling Technology 125 A 3.1 Detectors 125 Appendix 4 – Prioritisation Process 128 Appendix 5 – Participants at the Diamond ‘Vision’ Meeting – 130 September 30th – October 1st 2014 Appendix 6 – Glossary 135 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY o Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron light source and provides world-class facilities for scientists from universities and industry, both in the UK and internationally to advance knowledge in virtually all fields of research. It is a limited company, owned 86% by the UK Government via the Science and Technology Facilities Research Council (STFC) with the remainder funded by the Wellcome Trust. At the heart of the facility is a particle accelerator, where electrons travel close to the speed of light emitting electromagnetic radiation, primarily as X-rays, but also ultraviolet and infrared light. These brilliant beams of light are used to reveal the structure and chemical character of a very wide range of materials down to atomic scales. Such information is essential in understanding and developing the properties or processes for a very wide range of systems, from biomolecules and catalysts, through electronic devices and high performance engineering alloys to astrophysics and archaeology. The work that Diamond supports has an increasingly high impact on some of the key challenges for our society, from healthcare and the environment, to more energy efficient devices and transport. It also plays a key role in underpinning research and fuelling innovation for industry. Diamond has a strong commitment to train the next generation of scientists, engineers and technicians, ensuring they develop the skills and experience to exploit both Diamond and other world-class research facilities in the UK. o Since user operations began at Diamond in 2007 its performance, capability and capacity have improved, in some cases dramatically: the beam current and reliability have risen steadily; the number of operational beamlines now stands at 25, with a further 8 planned for completion by 2018; in the 2014/15 Financial Year there were over 3500 unique users who made nearly 5000 on-site user visits and more than 2700‘remote’ visits; over 90 companies pay for access to beamtime. Published outputs are in line with other facilities of this size at this stage of operation, and many of these are of very high impact; during 2014, Diamond ranked in the top 3 facilities in the world for depositing structures in the Protein Data Bank. o The fast, relentless, pace of the development of technology for synchrotron facilities offers wholly new opportunities for science further into the future. Diamond wishes to take full advantage of these opportunities to continue to support UK research and innovation at a world-class level. It is also timely to reflect on whether the structure and operating model for Diamond, which was set up for the design and construction of the facility, is still most appropriate as it enters a new stage of its lifecycle, with full- blown operations and an expectation to deliver world-leading or world-class science across its beamlines. Diamond has consulted internally and externally to develop a 10-year Vision of the scientific and societal challenges to which it should rise, together with a Vision of the technical development required to meet those challenges. o The vision for Diamond is to be: a world-leading centre for synchrotron science, particularly in areas of excellence at UK universities, research institutes and in industry; a cornerstone of a world-class site for scientific discovery and innovation at Harwell. This vision has five goals: to be a world-leading user facility engaged in synchrotron research and innovation; to maximise the scientific, economic and societal impact of Diamond; to ensure the long-term sustainability of Diamond as a national facility; to engage and inspire the general public through promoting an understanding of and enthusiasm for science; to continuously plan for Diamond’s technical and scientific future. 7 o This document outlines a vision for science and its contribution to the solution of societal challenges enabled by access to a world-class synchrotron. It also presents the technical developments that will enable such advances, comprising: a brighter, more reliable source and the launch of a project to establish a scientific case and technical design for a new lattice for the storage ring – ‘Diamond II’; upgrades to current beamlines to maintain or even make a step change in competitiveness – as well as proposals for additional new beamlines; development and implementation of new technology for detectors, optics and metrology and for sample environment; significant enhancement of what is currently possible for data storage, transfer and analysis; improvements in the degree of effectiveness of automation and higher throughput methods. The choice of upgrade projects is the result of a rigorous process of prioritisation against the strategic aims of Diamond, which eliminated many other proposals and ranked the remainder. o Diamond’s most valuable asset is a highly motivated and skilled workforce and future success will depend critically on continuing to attract such people in a very competitive market and to make the most of their talents through continued development, and the provision of a stimulating working environment, effective management and strong leadership.
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