Info for Users

On Proposal Submission

We invite users and collaborators to discuss their proposals with the beamline staff well in advance before the submission deadline. This is crucial for a careful assessment of the experiment feasibility and may result in an improvement of the proposal. Please read carefully our guidelines for proposal submission.

Call for proposals

The next deadline for proposal submission for beamtime allocation from January 1 to June 31, 2013 will be September 15th, 2012 at 4:30 pm (MET).

Access Request

Users and collaborators coming to BEAR for experiments are requested to fill the dedicated Access Request Form. Timing for the submission of the Access Request varies according to Users Categories: General Users, EU Funded Users, Research Team Members and Collaborators must submit their Access Form at least two weeks before the experiment. Italian Users must submit their Access Request form at least one month before the experiment. Note that in order to be able to enter the Elettra Laboratory, your access request must be approved. Instructions for different user categories can be found on the User Office webpages following our quick links.

When to apply

The Call for Proposals deadline occurs twice a year, on March 15 and September 15. The exact dates are advertised on this website.

Peer Review evaluation

The proposals are reviewed by an independent Panel, the Elettra Proposal Review Panel (PRP), after their feasibility has been assessed by the beamline coordinators. The PRP is composed of experts in various fields of synchrotron radiation research evaluates the scientific merit of the proposals. The main criteria for evaluation are the following: expected impact of the experiments, topicality, probability to produce one or more publications on highly cited scientific journals, potential to help solving important technologically or socially relevant problems, possible development of a new application of synchrotron radiation.

Funding

In order to find out the latest news on the financial support options that are available please visit the Elettra User Office web pages. Partial support schemes for Italian users are currently available. A dedicated scheme for non EC members is provided by the ICTP. Unfortunately, EC support is currently unavailable.

Submission on VUO

Proposals must be uploaded and submitted on the Elettra Virtual Unified Office (VUO). Before writing a proposal, you and your collaborators must register on the VUO.

Feedback from the local contacts

In order to be able to get back to you with feedback on the proposal feasibility, we warmly encourage you to upload your proposal on VUO at least one week before the deadline. Interaction with the local contacts is highly recommended. Don't hesitate to discuss with us the experimental plan in great detail.

Experiment feasibility

Read carefully the information on the BEAR web pages, especially that concerning the beamline energy range and resolution (available in the specifications section).
 

Proposal objectives

Most importantly, every proposal needs to have clear and achievable goals. This means that the proposal must address a well-focused scientific problem or a debated, unanswered issue in the literature.

Preparation work is necessary!

It is not recommended to start studying a new system during the proposal, without carrying out the necessary preparation work. In other words, better not to come here fishing for unexpected intriguing results.

Experimental plan

The experimental plan must be realistic and well organized, capable to deliver achievable goals.

Modifying our instrument

New instrumental developments need special and careful preparation. They have to be organized in close coordination with the beamline responsible. 

Scheduling accepted proposals

The beamline coordinator takes care of contacting all of the users whose proposals have been accepted, following the rank indicated by the Review Panel. We try to arrange the beamtime calendar keeping into account the experiment requirements and your specific needs.

 

Sending us your instrumentation

During the scheduling of the various proposals, we carefully check with you whether we have all the necessary equipment for  experiments. If something is missing, we make specific agreements so that you send us what is needed in time for the experiments (please follow the instructions given in the contacts section). Typically, we need to mount your Knudsen cells or evaporators, or replace the evaporant in one of ours. It is not uncommon that we need to receive your apparatus at least a month in advance. This happens because we can bake the system only during machine shutdowns.

Preparation of the experiments

In the case of complex experiments, e.g. experiments that require lengthy preparation, agreements can be made for you to begin to work a few days earlier than the official beginning of the beamtime. This might be useful when in-situ sample preparation is needed, or for the calibration of evaporators, or if complex instrumentation needs to be installed. All of this is discussed with the beamline coordinator at the time of scheduling the proposal.
 

Important note concerning funding

Funding agencies normally refund expenses in the time interval one day prior and after the beamtime. Thus, in the case you arrive earlier, your expenses ARE NOT COVERED. We invite you to check this with the Elettra User Office.

Before your arrival

The user office webpages offer you advice on several topics regarding your staying at Elettra, including accommodation, car rental and how to reach the Elettra site.
 

Contact us

Data analysis

A rough data analysis can be done during the experiment. A simple executable program 'load files' allows to load the different kinds of files and to plot them. We have also available for users a IGOR procedure 'Beardatanew' for loading general BEAR data files. For photon energy time scan we have also available another IGOR procedure named 'Photon Energy time scan'. Users are strongly encouraged to use the beamline logbook and to write carefully all the used procedures and the events during the experiment. For a finer data analysis, we have also available an indigeneous code named OPAL (Optical Properties of anisotropic layers).  
 

Data storage and transfer

The data are stored in the two BEAR acquisition computers PC-BEAR10 and PC-BEAR6. After the beamtime, the data are backed on our hard disks and can be requested.  But the suggested procedure to access the data is to create a project in the Elettra Scientific Computing Portal, that is accessible also outside Elettra. We suggest also to hold inside your project all the digital data related to the experiment, as the copies of the logbook and the first data analyis. The procedure for the creation and use of your project is given below: 

Creation of the Project associated to the experiment (on your PC)

 1. Enter the Elettra website dedicated to the data sharing Scientific Computing Portal https://lights.grid.elettra.trieste.it  with login and password of VUO (if forgotten, VUO username and password can be asked at  https://vuo.elettra.trieste.it/pls/vuo/guest.startup);
2. Enter the Project Manager, show the project list and create a new project having the name of the proposal number and associated to the Beamline BEAR;

Data Upload (on the PCs dedicated to data storage PC-BEAR10 and PC-BEAR6)

3. compress to ZIP format (command « Add to archive ») the directory  related to your experiment \C:\Data\name_month year so to create the \C\Data\name_month year.zip file;
4. Enter into your Project in the Scientific Computing Portal, and upload the zip file (green button);  

Data Download (on your PC)

5.  Enter into your Project in the Scientific Computing Portal, and click on Download File: this operation updates the data transferred from the data sharing website to the user’s PC.