Call for Proposals for 2025A SACLA Feasibility Study Program

Closed.

September 30, 2024

The Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) is pleased to announce a call for the 2025A SACLA Feasibility Study Program to provide an opportunity to experience the use on a trial basis for the purpose of dissemination and enlightenment at SACLA. Please refer to the following guidelines and instructions to apply.

General Information

  1. Subjects of Program
    Sample screening and feasibility study using the following instruments.
    From the call for 2023B, the Program also accepts proposals related to the studies of the structure of microcrystalline materials in addition to those of proteins using DAPHNIS for serial femtosecond crystallography.

    Please note that we may not be able to fulfill your request on experimental conditions due to the beamtime schedule.

  2. Allocatable Beamtime
    The maximum beamtime is 1 shift (12 hours).
     
  3. Co-Applications with the SACLA Research Proposals
    The Feasibility Study Programs and the SACLA Research Proposals can be applied simultaneously. If you apply both with the same contents, you do not need to submit the application form for the SACLA Feasibility Study Program. Instead, please put a checkmark on the corresponding item in Term 5 (Co-Application with Feasibility Study Program) of the application form for the SACLA Research Proposals. In this case, the submitted proposal is reviewed as the Feasibility Study Program only when your SACLA Research Proposal is rejected.
     
  4. Publication of Results
    Publication as peer-reviewed papers is not required for research results obtained through the Feasibility Study Programs. Project leaders must submit Experiment Summary Reports within 60 days after completion of the experiment. The Experiment Summary Reports will be public online.
     
  5. High-Power Nanosecond Laser System
    Osaka University had deployed a high-power nanosecond laser system (HERMES) at SACLA. An experimental system is available at BL3 EH5 for advanced pump-and-probe experiments with the XFEL and the high-power nanosecond laser.
    Applicants/project leaders who apply for the above experimental system are required to consent to the following matters before submitting their programs.

    • (1) Any program using the above experimental system is also regarded as a proposal for Collaborative Research of the Institute of Laser Engineering (ILE), Osaka University.
    • (2) JASRI provides information given in a program to ILE if the program is approved.
    • (3) Applicants/project leaders shall state in presentations and publications that the results were obtained by using both the SACLA XFEL and the high-power nanosecond laser system of ILE, Osaka University.
       
    • Applicants/project leaders should contact the XFEL Utilization Division in advance of the program submission for information on the experimental system and its capabilities.
      Please note that the typical operating conditions of the laser system in 2024A were as follows.
      – Pulse energy: ~15 J on sample
      – Pulse shape: 5 ns square pulse
      – Central wavelength: 532 nm
      – Focused beam profile: flat-top profiles with a diameter of ~120, ~170, ~260, or ~470 µm (FWHM) using a diffractive optical element (DOE).

[Updates for 2025A]

  1. Introduction of Co-Principal Investigators
    From the call for proposals for the 2025A term, applicants now have the option to designate a Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI). The applicant/project leader, or PI, may appoint one or more Co-PIs from among project team members who will share responsibilities with the PI to lead the project. Eligibility for Co-PI status is limited to individuals who can also apply for proposals individually. The role of a Co-PI can include, but is not limited to, the following:

    • – Supervising multiple related projects based on deep knowledge and expertise in experimental instruments, methodologies, and techniques.
    • – Acting as the primary contact for communication with beamline scientists at the facility to ensure smooth execution of the proposed research.
      • Note that beamline scientists may also be designated as Co-PIs.
        If the applicants desire to designate Co-PIs, they should provide the information about the Co-PIs (User card ID number, name, and institution/company) in the section of “Abstract”.
         
  2. Quotations from Related Applications
    Applicants may partially include quoted descriptions from other (past or ongoing) proposals to streamline the proposal preparation and clarify the relationships between those proposals only when the following conditions are met.
    However, applicants/project leaders still must explicitly distinguish their current proposal from the original.

    • – The original proposal is/was submitted by the applicant or one of the team members of the current proposal.
    • – The original proposal’s details, such as the applicant’s name and proposal number, are specified in the current application.
    • – Quotations are limited to part of the required items, for example, the research background in the “abstract” section or the measurement method and layout in the “experimental details” section.
    • – The current application must contain all necessary information about the proposed research to enable a full review without reading other proposals.

１．Types of Programs

Call for 2025A SACLA Feasibility Study Programs at SACLA

  • Feasibility Study Programs: Screening of samples or measurement conditions and feasibility studies

Once approved for beamtime, programs are valid for only 2025A.

２．Applicant Eligibility

There are a few restrictions on the eligibility of applicants:

  • Students are ineligible to be the project leader or Co-PI. However, students can participate as project team members in any Feasibility Study Program.
  • If you are affiliated with an institution outside Japan, please be sure to have at least one local contact person who is affiliated with a Japanese institution and participates in your experiment. If you cannot find one, please contact the Users Officein advance.

3. Target Beamlines and Instruments

The target beamlines and instruments of this program are;
 – Experimental platform for Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SFX) at BL2 or BL3
 – Experimental platform for pump-and-probe measurements with the XFEL and the high-power nanosecond laser at BL3

For details of those instruments, please see the Beamline Technical Information for SACLA HP at the following link: http://xfel.riken.jp/eng/users/index.html.

4. Program Period and Beamtime Allocation

The program period extends from April 2025 through July 2025* (excluding scheduled maintenance periods).
During this period, the facility will operate around the clock with user beamtime allocated for successful program and proposals.
For SACLA beamlines, the beamtime for the Feasibility Study Program is basically allocated by a max 1 shift (12 hours).
*Subject to change, due to budgetary constraints.

5. Fees

There is no charge for SACLA Feasibility Study Programs, neither Beamtime Fee nor User Fee.

6. Application and Required Procedures

Applicants/project leaders are required to submit applications via the SACLA User Information website (SACLA UI site: https://sacla.xfel.jp/?lang=en).

  1. 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: https://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.
     
  2. Application Method
    Applicants/project leaders are required to submit applications online via the SACLA UI site using the web-based proposal submission system.
     
    Please see the following link for details on submitting applications online, as with an application for SACLA Research Proposals: https://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=2139&lang=en.
     
    The applicants/project leaders are strongly recommended that they draft an application form using the MS Word template provided below. The notes in the templates provide supplementary information on what should be described in the online application form.
    3. Application Templates
    – Feasibility Study Programs

     

  3. 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 application was submitted successfully.
     
  4. Other
    • [Lifetime of Programs]
      Approved Programs are valid only for the forthcoming user operation research term (2025A). Make sure that the proposed research can be completed within that period.
    • [Project Leader]
      The project leader is the person who will assume overall responsibility throughout the duration of the experiments at SACLA.

7. Online Submission Deadline

Wednesday, November 6, 2024, 10:00 am Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

To avoid last-minute technical problems and possible network congestion, you are strongly encouraged to complete and submit your application well in advance of the deadline.
If you have trouble completing/submitting your application online, please contact the SACLA Users Office prior to the deadline.

8. Review Criteria and Notification of Review Results

1. Review Criteria
Feasibility Study Programs should be fully peer-reviewed in terms of ethics, technical feasibility, and the safety of the experiment.
There is a limit to the total beamtime allocation for Feasibility Study Programs.
 
2. Notification of Review Results
Applicants will be notified of the review results (i.e., the outcome of your application) via email and User Information My Page in late January 2025.

9. Experiment Summary Report

To ensure transparency of the Feasibility Study 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, as with an application for SACLA Research Proposals: https://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=105&lang=en#ch01.
If you have any questions about the Required Information, please contact the SACLA Users Office.

10. Dissemination of Research Results

Publications of Research Results is not mandatory, but if users publish their results in the following three formats, they shall state in the publications that the results were obtained by using SACLA and register the published works with the Publications Database.

  1. Refereed journal papers, including refereed proceedings and doctoral thesis (Program No. must be specified).
  2. SPring-8/SACLA Research Report
  3. Technical journal articles

Please see the following link for details, as with an application for SACLA Research Proposals: https://sacla.xfel.jp/?p=107&lang=en.
As stated above, in case of using the combination system of XFEL and the 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.

11. Important Notes

  1. Radiation Worker Registration
    Based on Japanese law (i.e., the Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards), all SACLA users are required to register as SPring-8/SACLA radiation workers. Please see the following link for details: https://sacla.xfel.jp/?page_id=287&lang=en#ch05-1.
  2. Safety Precautions
    For your safety, do not work alone. Please work in a group of two or more.
  3. Cancellation of Beamtime
    Please be advised that your scheduled beamtime may be canceled in emergencies such as equipment failure, natural disaster, pandemic, etc. In such cases, users cannot claim compensation for the lost beamtime.
  4. 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.

12. 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
    email: sacla.jasri@spring8.or.jp
  • Consultation for Technical Issues
    XFEL Utilization Division
    Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI)
    1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun
    Hyogo 679-5198 Japan
    email: sacla-bl.jasri@spring8.or.jp

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