Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The 4th School of Young Scientists on Synchrotron Research Methods in Materials Science is taking place at Novosibirsk State University from November 13-15. The project is supported by the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Synchrotron and Neutron Research. The event was organized by the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, the Siberian Ring Photon Source (SKIF) Collective Use Center, and Novosibirsk State University. Over 100 young researchers from Novosibirsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Koltsovo, Ufa, Tomsk, Barnaul, Dolgoprudny, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, and Troitsk participated in the school.
NSU Rector and RAS Academician Mikhail Fedoruk welcomed the School participants. He noted that this is the second year in a row that the event has been held at NSU, but this year, the School participants will be hosted in a new classroom building, which opened on September 1st.
"The school's program is becoming more extensive year after year, and the geography of its participants is expanding. I'm confident that with the commissioning of SKIF, the intensity and richness of the events at future schools will only increase. The current school's program offers unique content, including master classes from leading experts in synchrotron radiation research, as well as lectures from leading scientists," said Mykhailo Fedoruk.
The work of the School opened with a lecture by the chief researcher of the SKIF Center for Use, Associate Professor of the Department of Solid State Chemistry of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of NSU and the Department of Physical Methods for Solid State Research of the Faculty of Physics of NSU, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Jan Zubavichus, “Source of synchrotron radiation of the SKIF Center for Use: stages of commissioning and implementation of the Scientific Program,” in which he highlighted the main milestones of the construction of SKIF, introduced its design, instrumentation and technical equipment, visually presented the general scheme of the megascience installation with first-stage stations and spoke in detail about each, especially focusing on station 1-7 “Basic methods of synchrotron diagnostics”, intended for educational, research and innovation activities, as well as to increase the efficiency of the educational process and solve research problems for NSU students using the capabilities of a modern synchrotron radiation source. At this experimental station, it is planned to jointly implement several research methods: powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence analysis. This research complex will allow solving a wide range of scientific problems for various fields of science, including physics, biology, chemistry, geology, archeology and medicine and will become a main element in the practical training of scientific and technical personnel for synchrotron research. In their research, NSU students will be able to use equipment from other stations, in particular, a wide range of high-temperature cells for conducting in situ/operando experiments, unique superconducting undulators developed by the BINP SB RAS for generating superbright beams with a high degree of spatial coherence in the energy range 3-12 keV, as well as a unique electromagnetic undulator with switchable polarization developed by the BINP SB RAS. It is possible to generate X-ray beams with a circular cross-section; the station also has unique optical elements for focusing X-ray beams to submicron sizes developed by IKBFU. Kant and IPM RAS and unique ultrafast X-ray detectors for monitoring fast development processes at the Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS. The areas of research for which the station is designed are wide and varied: functional chemical technologies and materials, catalysis, geology, ecology, structural materials and materials for energy, structural biology, pharmaceuticals.
Completion of this experimental station is scheduled for December of this year. At that time, work on the Generation 4 synchrotron radiation source will be completed, and the integrated commissioning phase and design parameter acquisition will begin.
Each day of the school begins with plenary lectures from leading experts in the field of synchrotron radiation. Alexander Trigub, PhD (NRC Kurchatov Institute, Moscow), spoke about the study of local atomic and electronic structure using X-ray absorption spectroscopy; Ivan Bataev, Doctor of Engineering (Novosibirsk State Technical University), discussed the use of synchrotron radiation in specialized materials analysis; and Konstantin Kuper, PhD (National Research Center of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), discussed X-ray microscopy and tomography using synchrotron radiation.
On the final day of the school, there will be lectures by Evgeny Sterkhov, PhD (Chemistry), (N.A. Vatonin Institute of Metallurgy, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg), on the analysis of the symmetry of modes of distorted structures of layered perovskites, and Igor Chernykh, PhD (Physics and Mathematics), (Institute of Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Geophysics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), on how artificial intelligence can help in chemistry and materials science.
The plenary lectures will be followed by presentations by young scientists – students and postgraduates from Novosibirsk State University, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, International Tomography Center SB RAS, Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS, Voevodsky Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion SB RAS, A.V. Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS, A.V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics SB RAS, M.A. Lavrentiev Institute of Hydrodynamics SB RAS, SKIF Collective Use Center, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Federal Research Center for Coal and Coal Chemistry SB RAS (Kemerovo), V.V. Engelhardt Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), and others. This year, a representative of the Republic of Belarus, Ivan Grekov, from the Scientific and Practical Center for Materials Science of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (Minsk), is participating in the school.
"We consider presentations by young researchers an important part of our school, whose goal is not only to provide young researchers with the opportunity to attend lectures by recognized experts in the field but also to present the results of their research. Therefore, the speakers include not only graduate students but also fourth-year undergraduates. For many of them, this is their first experience of publicly speaking to the scientific community, and this is crucial, as the ability to present their research results to an audience is a crucial skill for every scientist. Some young researchers, on the other hand, are presenting reports on their work over the past year, as this school is a logical continuation of the previous one. However, the program of each school differs from previous ones, so new topics are added and the lineup of speakers is updated," explained Sergei Tsybulya, Head of the Department of Physical Methods for Solid State Research at the Faculty of Physics, Chief Researcher of the Catalyst Research Department at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, and Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
As part of the School, young scientists will present approximately 40 oral and more than 20 poster presentations.
Master classes are an important part of the School, and young scientists are particularly interested in them. While at previous Schools they were held in parallel, this year the organizers decided to hold them sequentially: participants expressed a strong desire to attend several master classes at once, or even all of them, as part of the School's program. This year's School will feature four master classes: "Refining Structural Models Using Powder Diffraction Data in the GSAS-II Software Package," "Creating Models of One-Dimensional Disordered Crystals and Calculating X-ray Diffraction Patterns Based on Them Using the XD1DD Software," "Processing X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Data," and "Determining Parameters of the Local Atomic Environment from EXAFS Spectra." During the master classes, young researchers are taught, using practical examples and specific software, how to solve problems they will encounter in their work using synchrotron radiation methods.
The SKIF Center for Collective Use will be operational at the end of next year. It will be able to accommodate 2,000 scientific groups annually, so developing a user community is particularly important for us. This community should be comprised of researchers who understand how to use synchrotron radiation and how to use it to solve various interdisciplinary problems. I am confident that virtually every scientific and educational organization would be interested in collaborating with the SKIF Center for Collective Use, so it is crucial to provide the scientific community with the fullest possible information about its capabilities and to train specialists capable of using them. This school fully meets these goals. We value our ongoing and effective collaboration with NSU in organizing and developing the school's program and believe that this work has become increasingly important.
The school's program offers a balanced combination of theoretical knowledge and practical training. It is relevant and modern. The lecture program is very well-designed, covering various synchrotron research methods and the basics of synchrotron physics. Master classes on key X-ray synchrotron methods, using specialized data processing software, are offered in NSU computer labs. These classes are taught by world-class specialists, leading Russian experts in the relevant fields. This is crucial for preparing the SKIF Center for Collective Use's user community, said Jan Zubavichus.
The school is a satellite event of the International Conference "SKIF Center for Collective Use Users Congress: Advanced Research Using Synchrotron Radiation," which will be held from November 17 to 21 at the Boiling Point Center in Novosibirsk Academpark.
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