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European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Long-Term Strategy 7 July 2006 atomic/molecular origin. This explains why, for example, we are still very far from assembling complex biological materials such as bones and wood. Nano-technology is starting to provide the tools for the bottom-up assembly of complex materials. This technology is expected to replace eventually the top-down strategy used until now by the electronics industry for the assembly of complex electronic components and, for example, will provide higher storage-density chips. The progress of these developments implies the need for new nano-analytical tools to be made available besides those already existing at longer length-scales. Traditional length-scale sensitive techniques are based on local area electron probes or other scanning probe techniques, which are not bulk-sensitive. The availability of synchrotron radiation micro- and nano-probes now make unique in situ capabilities possible. SR based analytical techniques (diffraction, imaging and spectromicroscopies) will play an important role by offering 3D information that is both timeresolved and chemically selective. The ten years of experience at the ESRF in developing instruments with micron or sub-micron lateral resolution shall be used as the foundation for upcoming new nanoscience projects. Several crucial issues can be identified for a successful development of these programmes: • Beamlines: SR probes aiming for the smallest possible spot size (e.g. 3Dtomographic, 3D-diffraction imaging, 2D-mapping and grazing-incidence techniques) will require very long and stable beamlines, possibly with intermediate virtual sources. Improvement of the synchrotron source performance (e.g. stability, photon flux and emittance) will be of primary importance in such programmes. These instruments, moreover, will need to retain the capacity to address efficiently materials studies at longer (micron and millimetre) length-scales to provide the full picture. This implies, for example, the availability of high energy X-ray diffraction and imaging beamlines with multiple stations, each one adapted to the relevant length-scale. • Optical systems: The ESRF has built and sustains a strong research and development programme in focusing optics, including very fruitful collaboration networks with external academic partners. Compound refractive lenses, Fresnel zone-plates, multilayers and mirrors are used routinely at the ESRF. The ESRF is well placed, therefore, to take a leading role in coordinating the further development of focusing optics and in making them available to the upcoming micro- and nano-focusing beamlines at the ESRF and at national SR sources. • Sample environments: Handling samples of nanometre dimensions will require the development of new and challenging tools, as well as highly adapted sample environments which will range from very exotic extreme conditions (see 2.3.3) to “harsh” environments appropriate to the specific problem under investigation. • Nano-Science Centre: The creation of such a centre at the ESRF with the necessary laboratory space and infrastructure will create opportunities for research and development in optics, sample environment and analytical techniques. The centre will be organised in terms of a partnership with outside laboratories, specialised in nano-technologies and nano-analytical tools. A coordinated access to various instruments (including beamlines and laboratory instruments) providing to the community complementary nano-analytical tools 8
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Long-Term Strategy 7 July 2006 (spectroscopy, diffraction, and imaging) would constitute a unique platform worldwide. The first steps to develop suitable nano-science instrumentation have already been initiated by the ESRF through the pilot upgrade projects of ID11, ID13 (nanodiffraction) and ID22 (nano-tomography). In the longer term, these and other new beamlines should merge into the nano-science centre. This will be an integrated structure, which will comprise suitable satellite laboratories providing the infrastructure necessary to carry out SR-based analysis and to promote the optimal use of the dedicated beamlines. This centre will then have the firm basis necessary to develop effective and productive science-driven collaborations around specific scientific projects. New Science: illustrative examples Future nanofocus beamlines will strive for the smallest possible focal spots, which have been predicted to be around 20 nm. This will provide exciting opportunities for studying functional biological units by imaging techniques. Thus a major focus of tomographic techniques, such as fluorescence tomography, will be on cell biology. Following in situ the pathways of trace elements and metal ions into intact cells and subcellular components with nanometre resolution will present a major technical advance as compared to ex situ electron or ion-probe techniques. Tomography techniques will also address the chromosome distribution in cell nuclei and the search for nuclear territories, which are thought to be linked to RNA transcription. The "competition" of imaging with diffraction techniques will be very fruitful. Thus focal spot sizes of about 100 nm will allow both small-angle and wideangle scattering studies, which combine local probing with structural resolution on length scales down to atomic resolution. These features are required to study the adaptation of hierarchical biocomposite structures (e.g. wood or bones) to external stimuli such as tensile stress. It should not be overlooked that very long beamlines will provide the possibility of optimising focal spot size and beam divergence. The development of flexible X-ray optical systems, such as compound refractive lenses, will have a major impact on single crystal diffraction where one might screen across a crystal for the best diffracting section or wish to bathe a larger crystal in X-rays. 2.3.2 Pump-probe experiments and time-resolved diffraction The study of processes and reactions that occur at time scales from nanoseconds to hundreds of seconds is being actively pursued at several ESRF beamlines using spectroscopic, scattering and diffraction methods. These studies are highly demanding in terms of sample environment and will continue to be the driving force behind much of the detector development at the ESRF. In addition the ESRF has pioneered time-resolved diffraction studies on biological systems and chemical bonding with a beamline partly dedicated to this important scientific field. These 9
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