Synchrotron experiments are complex and beamtime is precious. Please keep the following in mind, in order to maximize the chance of success for your experiment:

  • We designate a staff member as the local contact for each experiment.
  • In the beginning of the experiment, the local contact holds a mandatory safety training for all participants in the experiment. At this occasion, the local contact also gives training on how to operate the beamline, which is essential for a successful experiment. If participants cannot attend this training, they need to agree in advance with the local contact on an alternative training session.
  • Your local contact assists you with setting up the experiment. If you have any needs from the beamline that was not specifically described in the proposal, please be in touch with the local contact at least four weeks prior to your experiment. Note that major deviations from the proposal are not accepted. See the beamline homepage for an up-to-date description of the beamline.
  • Due to the broad range of experiments at ForMAX, we need to change the setup for essentially every experiment. It takes at least a shift (four hours) to set up a new experiment, depending on the complexity of the experiment. For combined in-situ full-field tomography and SWAXS experiments, you should assume the double. The same holds if you need to change the setup (e.g., x-ray energy or focus, new sample environment) during an experiment. Please plan your experiment accordingly.
  • Changes to the experimental setup/realignment of the beamline are time consuming and should be kept to a minimum. Note that these must be discussed well in advance with the local contact and that these can only be supported during office hours. Please plan accordingly.
  • Your experiment runs 24 hours a day. It is the responsibility of the main proposer to bring a large and experienced enough team to manage the experiment.
  • While your experiment runs 24 hours a day, your local contact has normal working hours and is only on call until 23 on weekdays (20-23 for technical support only) and 8-20 on weekends and holidays. Floor coordinators are on call 24/7 for general technical support. Please plan your experiment accordingly.
  • In order to get a full-field tomography experiment successfully running, users also need to get familiar with sample alignment and data reconstruction scripts. We provide means for practicing these off line and strongly encourage less experienced users to arrive a day in advance for this purpose.
  • Many users bring their own sample environment with a control laptop. The preferred option is to keep the control laptop in the experimental hutch and connect to it remotely. For this purpose, the laptop needs to be equipped with a working USB-C connector and the latest version of NoMachine.
  • Finally, answers to most of the frequent questions are found on these pages. It is the responsibility of the main proposer to ensure that the team is familiar with this information prior to the experiment.

It is mandatory to acknowledge MAX IV and it’s funders when publishing results based on your experiment. For detailed information about the acknowledgment, see our user policies.