The SACLA urgent proposal program is designed for users with an urgent and critical need to carry out non-proprietary experiments of great public significance. Urgent proposals can be submitted at any time, and submitted proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis.
１．Applicant Eligibility
There are few restrictions on the eligibility of applicants:
- Students are ineligible (however, students can participate as project team members in any research project).
- If you are affiliated with an institution outside Japan, please have at least one local contact person that is affiliated with a Japanese institution participate in your experiment. If you cannot find one, please contact the Users Office.
2. Beamlines and Equipment Available to Users
The beamlines available are BL3(XFEL1), BL2(XFEL2), BL1(SXFEL). For details, please visit the Beamline Technical Information of SACLA HP.
Please consult the XFEL Utilization Division on the schedule to be available in advance of your application.
3. Proposal Application and Required Procedures
Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals via the SACLA User Information website (SACLA UI site).
- User Registration
To submit an application, user accounts (i.e., user ID and password) for SPring-8/SACLA are required for all participants of the experiments. For registration, please visit the website: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=28&lang=en. Before starting the application process, project leaders must ensure that all project team members have completed user registrations. - Application Method
- Applicants/project leaders are required to submit proposals online via the SACLA UI site using the web-based proposal submission system.
Please see the following link for details on submitting proposals online: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=2139&lang=en. - SACLA UI site
My Page > Login > Application / Reporting > Proposal Submission > New
To create a new application for Urgent Proposal at the moment, click Non-Proprietary Research, and click START of SACLA General Proposal to proceed to the next page. - To avoid losing your work in the event of a browser crash or unexpected logout, you are strongly encouraged to first create a draft of your application offline using the MS Word templates provided.
| Urgent Proposal |  |
- Confirmation E-mail
Upon successful submission, you will receive a confirmation email with an attached copy of the Agreement (Rules for Users) in PDF format. If you do not receive the confirmation email, please log in to the system to confirm that your proposal was submitted successfully. - Other
[Project Leader]
The project leader is the person who will assume overall responsibility throughout the duration of the experiments at SACLA.
4. Submission Deadline
Although we accept applications on a rolling basis (no specific submission deadline), please submit your proposal at least three weeks before the designated period.
5. Review Criteria
Submitted proposals are reviewed and selected by the SACLA Proposal Review Committee (SACLA PRC). In addition to the criteria for general proposals (scientific and technical relevance, necessity of SACLA as a research tool, conformity to the science and technology basic law and social norms, technical feasibility, safety of the experiment, and ethics), urgency and public significance of the proposals are also reviewed at the SACLA PRC.
6. Notification of Review Results
Applicants will be notified of the review results via email about two weeks after the proposal submission.
7. Experiment Summary Report
To ensure transparency of the non-proprietary research program, users are required to submit an Experiment Summary Report* within 60 days following their experiment.
Experiment Summary Report
Length: up to one A4 page
Language: English or Japanese
Required Information: purpose, experimental method, experimental data, samples, and summary of the results.
Two weeks following the report submission deadline for the last experiment of the term (60 days after the end of each half-year research term + two weeks), submitted experiment summary reports will be incorporated into the experiment summary report database with search capabilities and made available on the UI site. Please see the following link for details: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=105&lang=en.
8. Dissemination of Research Results
Research results obtained through the use of SACLA must be disseminated within three years from the end of the half-year research term in at least one of the following three formats:
1. Refereed journal papers, including refereed proceedings and doctoral thesis (Proposal No. must be specified).
[in the event that proposal research did not result in publication]
2. SPring-8/SACLA Research Report
3. Technical journal articles
Please see the following link for details: http://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=107&lang=en.
As stated above, in case of using the combination system of XFEL and high-power nanosecond laser system of Osaka University, users shall state in the publications that the results were obtained by using both SACLA and the high-power nanosecond laser system of Osaka University.
9. Others
- Accompanying Samples/Reagents
Changes to your “List of Samples, Reagents, etc.” will not be accepted. (We do not have enough time to review such changes.) - Radiation Worker Registration
Based on the Japanese Law (Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards), all SACLA users are required to register as SPring-8/SACLA radiation workers. For details, please click here. - Safety Precaution
For your safety, do not work alone. Please work in a group of two or more. - Cancellation of Beamtime
Please be advised that your scheduled beamtime may be cancelled in emergencies such as equipment failure, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. In such cases, users cannot claim compensation for the lost beamtime. - General Insurance and Compensation
Users shall take out appropriate personal injury and liability insurance before conducting experiments. If users damage SPring-8/SACLA facilities, equipment or persons, either willfully or through gross negligence, JASRI may require them to meet all or part of the cost of repairs. JASRI shall take due account of all relevant circumstances in determining the degree of user liability.
10. Contact / Consultation
- General Inquiries
SPring-8/SACLA Users Office
Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
Tel: +81-(0)791-58-0961
Fax: +81-(0)791-58-0965
e-mail：sacla.jasri@spring8.or.jp - Consultation for the available date and technical issues
XFEL Utilization Division
Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
e-mail：sacla-bl.jasri@spring8.or.jp