Manual

Table of Contents

ALS Overview

• Getting Started at the ALS

• Safety at the ALS

• Experiment Safety Sheet

• Samples and Materials

• Sample Disposal

• ALS Facilities and Services

  • Shipping to the ALS

  • Chemistry Lab

  • Users' Machine Shop

  • Electronics Shop

  • Survey and Alignmnet

  • Hazardous Gases

• Contact Information

Chemical Dynamics Beamline 9.0.2

• Front End

• Gas Filter

• Terminal 3

• Terminal 1

• Terminal 4

• Terminal 2

• Safety at the BL

Beamline Software

• Equipment Protection System

• BL Controls Software

  • The Polynomial

• Filling the Gas Filter

• Turning a Terminal Online

  • Terminal 1

  • Terminal 2

  • Terminal 3

  • Terminal 4

ALS Overview

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) is a national user facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California. This synchrotron light source operates in top-off mode with electron energy of 1.9GeV with a continuous electron beam current around 500mA. The electrons begin their journey in a short linear accelerator before entering a booster ring where their energy is ramped up to 1.9GeV. The electrons are then injected into the storage ring where they circulate and emit the synchrotron radiation delivered to the beamlines. The ALS is optimized to produce radiation in the ultraviolet and soft x-ray regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum. Approximately forty beamlines are housed at the ALS.

Getting Started at the ALS

Before beginning work at the ALS, users need to register with the ALS User Services Office. Please read and follow the instructions for registration a few weeks before scheduled beamtime as this will allow you to begin work promptly after your arrival. If you have any questions regarding the registration process, please email ALS User Services.

For more information on the ALS, please visit their website.

Safety at the ALS

As a research facility, the ALS has many hazards, and it is important to be aware of this. The following rules have been implemented to ensure the safety of all workers and visitors at the ALS:

Open-toed shoes are not allowed on the ALS experimental floor or in the ALS labs

Food is not permitted at the beamlines. It may only be consumed in designated nooks on the outside perimeter of the ALS Floor, see Figure 1. Drinks are allowed in areas designated by a green sign on the ALS floor.

Always wear the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) when performing work or when entering PPE designated areas. Any of the beamline (BL) staff are willing to help select and locate the proper PPE. Closed-toe shoes, long pants, and safety glasses are required on the experimental floor.

At the BL, users may vent and work on endstations connected to terminals. The terminal is defined by the window valve directly upstream from the endstation. Never under any circumstances may a user vent and perform work on the BL components. Contact a BL scientist or the ALS control room if you have any questions regarding the BL components.

In some cases, additional training may be required before work may begin. For example, the use of a Class IV laser requires Laser Safety Training, so please plan ahead.

Experiment Safety Sheet

Since each experiment has its own unique set of hazards, the Experiment Safety Sheet (ESS) is designed to determine and mitigate all hazards. David Malone is the ALS representative responsible for the ESS paperwork and for arranging inspections where qualified safety personnel examine an experiment and its hazards before the experiment can begin

The ESS is generated when users submit a general user proposal. The user is asked to check boxes indicating the types of hazards to be used in the experiment and then fill in the details about each hazard. This information is used to populate the ESS document. Before work can begin, the hazards of the experiment must be effectively mitigated, and then ALS personnel will sign the form indicating that the experiment meets the ALS safety standards. In addition, the experimenter must have the appropriate training in order to perform work

Five hazard inspections are required for every inspection at the ALS: seismic, vacuum, electrical, mechanical, and radiation hazards. Seismic inspections are required for earthquake safety. The ALS sits near the Hayward fault line, and each endstation, as well as equipment taller than 4', must be secured to the floor. Please keep this in mind when designing an apparatus and how to align it since it will be in a fixed position

The storage ring of the ALS is maintained at a pressure of 10^-10 Torr. The beamlines at the ALS are clean vacuum and no oil pumps are allowed at the ALS. Please ensure that all parts of the experiment that will be under vacuum are cleaned for Ultra High Vacuum (UHV). The lab has a UHV cleaning facility on site. Contaminated equipment must be cleaned before being attached to the BL. The vacuum inspection is required to maintain the integrity of the storage ring vacuum. Differential pumping regions may be used if a higher pressure is desired in the endstation.

All electrical components of an experiment are inspected to ensure the safety of anyone who may come into contact with the apparatus. Any non-UL certified electrical equipment must be listed on the ESS and inspected for safety concerns. Please notify David Malone in advance to ensure that the inspection may be done in a timely manner. All the equipment must be kept at the same ground potential, and the ALS will provide cables for this if needed.

The mechanical inspection is for movable parts on the endstation. The radiation inspection checks any x-ray producing machines brought to the BL as well as the possibility of exposure to the photon beam.

Depending on the nature of the experiment, other inspections may be triggered in the ESS, including inspections for lasers, hazardous or compressed gases, radioactive or biological materials. Any engineered nano material must also be entered in the ESS.

Work may begin once the ESS hazard pages have been signed, a BL scientist has authorized the experiment, and the ESS has been posted to the sector board. The BL scientist authorizes the work by signing the ESS. The ALS Environmental Health, Safety and Security (EHSS) liaison will also participate in the inspection and sign the ESS confirming that the experiment is safe. If the ESS has not been posted or does not accurately list all the hazards, this is a STOP WORK situation, and work may not begin until the situation has been rectified.

A Users Experiment Form (UEF) accompanies the ESS. This form must be filled out by the Principal Investigator (PI) of the experiment. This may be done during the inspection. The UEF gives a brief overview of the experiment and types of hazards. Each person working on the experiment must be listed on the UEF, and a signature indicates that the person is present during the experimental run. This page is posted with the ESS at the sector board and must be completed prior to starting work. The BL scientist initials the UEF for confirmation.

Changes may be made to the ESS by contacting David Malone. He will bring a functional change form to attach to the ESS, and work may then begin.

Samples and Materials

Information on how to transport the samples to the ALS may be found in the ALS user guide.

Please include all chemicals, engineered nano material, gases (hazardous and non-hazardous), radioactive samples, and biological samples on the ESS. Chemicals and gases will need to be barcoded and entered into the Chemical Management System (CMS). Please send a list of chemicals and gases to Doug Taube beforehand so he can check for shipments and enter them into the system once they arrive. Standard purity Helium, Argon, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide are available on-hand for purchase in Building 7 next door to the ALS. The above link also details the requirements for purchasing other types of gas not readily available, including toxic and hazardous gases.

Peroxide forming chemicals may not be stored at the ALS after an experiment concludes. They will be sent to hazardous waste, see Sample Disposal, upon completion of the run. Since storage space is limited and the cost for disposal of hazardous material is high, please order conservative quantities of chemicals and gases.

Liquid Nitrogen is also available for use. A LN2 dewar is located near the Bldg. 15 entrance, see Figure 2. When filling a portable dewar, the provided face shield and gloves must be worn. Liquid Nitrogen is also plumbed throughout the ALS and may be connected to an apparatus via 1/4 inch stainless steel pipe with Swagelok connectors. The LN2 supply for BL 9.0.2.1 is shown in Figure 3. A face shield and gloves must also be worn when connecting the plumbed LN2, and the PPE is available at the BL.

Use of biological or radioactive samples at the BL requires additional authorization. Please contact the Biosafety Program Manager, Bruce King, to begin the Biological Work Authorization (BWA) process. Biosafety Training may also be required.

For radioactive samples, please contact David Kestell, the health physicist, to begin the authorization process. Please include the type of material, isotopes, radioactivity, form, amount, how and where it will be prepared, where it will be stored, and how the sample will be used in the experiment. Transportation services will also need to be notified to coordinate the transfer of the material to the ALS. Additional training may be required, so please contact David or Craig well in advance.

Disposal

Please send Doug Taube a list of excess or used chemicals that are no longer needed after completion of the experiment. These chemicals will be disposed as hazardous waste and removed from the CMS. All peroxide forming chemicals will be sent to hazardous waste promptly after completion of the experiment.

To dispose of biological waste, please see Doug for assistance.