LS-CAT

Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team
9700 S. Cass Ave, Bldg 436A
Argonne, IL 60439
Main Phone:1.630.252.0627
Fax: 1.630.252.4664
21-ID-D: 1.630.252.1821
21-ID-F/G: 1.630.252.1721

Home > Beamtime > General Users >

General Users at the APS and LS-CAT

LS-CAT provides beamtime to general users through the APS General User Program. This time is available free of charge* through a competitive proposal process. Allocations are made three times a year. Is your need urgent? Rapid Access time is also available free of charge*. Just submit a normal APS General User Proposal with Rapid Access beamtime request.

APS General User time, including Rapid Access beamtime requests, are available to both academic and industrial users.

Proposals with Rapid Access Requests

This process takes much less time to arrange than the normal process:
  1. Find a facility that has time around when you need it. (here to see LS-CAT available slots.) Save yourself some grief and call and/or email the person in charge of scheduling and see if there is a slot available for rapid access.
  2. Submit a normal proposal (see below) but with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request. You'll find this in the "Beamtime Request" tab of the proposal: click on the "For which scheduling period are you applying?" drop down box. Chose the period marked "(RAPID ACCESS ONLY)".
  3. On the "Choice Of Beamline" line be sure the beamline you contacted in the first step is listed FIRST. They will not be able to schedule your time otherwise.
  4. Your proposal will still be reviewed and in times of high demand you may lose out if someone else wants the same slot and has a proposal with a better rating. However, you do not have to wait for the Proposal Review Panel or the Beamtime Allocation Committee to meet before your time can be assigned.

Proposals with Normal Beamtime Requests

The calendar for APS General User Proposals can be found here. You can refer to this table for the following explaination of the process:

  1. You submit a proposal by the "Proposal Deadline" date. Part of the proposal is the Beamtime Request. During the 2 years your proposal is valid you may make many beamtime requests, up to a maximum number of 8 hour shifts assigned by the Proposal Review Panel (see the next step). Here are some pointers:
    • Be sure to request enough time to cover your needs for 2 years. Be realistic: the reviewers know what it takes to collect data at the APS and understand the complexity of the project you propose to work on.
    • Do not request MAD data collection at a fixed wavelength station. It wont work but it will cause a 1 to 2 week delay while the BAC tries to figure you what you want.
    • The APS uses units of 8 hours shifts: 3 shifts per day.
    • Beamlines (including LS-CAT) schedule beamtime in units of days. That is, you should request time in multiples of 3 shifts. Note that some facilities require that you schedule a minimum of 6 shifts (2 days). LS-CAT allows General Users to schedule time in blocks of 1 day.
    • A "day" at the APS can range anywhere from 14 hours to 25 hours depending on the details of the schedule. Be sure to ask if this is important to you.
    • The beamtime request section of the General User Proposal has a place to indicate when you cannot accept beamtime. Please take the time to fill this out. If you do not want to come to the APS during your homecoming game, put it down. Although there is no guarantee your blackout date can be honored, you will be expected to accept (without complaint) any date that is not listed.
  2. The Proposal Review Panel (PRP on the calendar) meets and assigns a score for the proposal: 1 is best (and very rare) while 5 has the lowest priority. While the scoring system is not perfect, it does a reasonable job of ranking most proposals. The biggest mistake people make that leads to poor scores is the omission of details in the proposal.
  3. The Beamtime Allocation Committee (labeled BAC on the calendar) meets and assigns the proposal to a particular beamline. This is where you can expect problems if you requested time at a station that connot accomodate your experiment.
  4. The facility where you have been assigned will contact you to schedule your time.

*The APS charges proprietary usage fees when applicable.

For general users, industrial users and LS-CAT members
Keep up to date on beamtime available at LS-CAT with our weekly Rapid Access Alerts. Just enter your email address here. You will receive a confirming email with a subscription link. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Enter Email Address:
Click Here To Unsubscribe

Available Rapid Access Data Collection for the Next 21 days

Station Start Time Duration (Hours)
21-ID-D Nov 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-D Nov 24, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-D Nov 26, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 14
21-ID-D Dec 01, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 22
21-ID-F Nov 22, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-F Nov 23, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-F Nov 26, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST 12
21-ID-F Dec 01, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST 20
21-ID-F Dec 04, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST 22
21-ID-F Dec 06, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-G Nov 22, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-G Nov 24, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST 22
21-ID-G Nov 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-G Nov 30, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24
21-ID-G Dec 03, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST 22
21-ID-G Dec 04, 2008 at 12:00 PM CST 22
21-ID-G Dec 06, 2008 at 10:00 AM CST 24

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.

To request this slot, contact Keith Brister (k-brister@northwestern.edu) 1-630-252-0626

General Users will need a General User Proposal with a Rapid Access Beamtime Request naming this station as the FIRST CHOICE.

Members may trade this slot with any other future slot on this station, including slots to be allocated during the next run.
Web page comments? webmaster0802@ls-cat.org ©2008 Northwestern University