Scientific Program
Research Techniques
Advanced Crystallography
NSF’s ChemMatCARS – Advanced Crystallography program is delicated to small-molecule single crystal X-ray diffraction. The diffractometers are pre-aligned internally and can be moved into the beam when required. This flexibility allows us to take advantage of beam availability at short notice, a capability that has been used extensively in user experiments.
Uses a “rapid setup” crystallography facility that allows us to rapidly switch operation to the single-crystal instrument.
Liquid Surface/Interface X-ray Scattering
Synchrotron x-ray surface scattering is the most powerful probe of molecular and mesoscale structure at liquid-vapor and liquid-liquid interfaces. The precise and flexible design of the liquid surface and interface reflectometer at NSF’s ChemMatCARS (APS, 15-ID-C) and the high brilliance and wide x-ray energy range (5-70 keV) offered in this third generation insertion device beamline provides a world-leading capability for the study of liquid surfaces and buried liquid-liquid interfaces.
Used to investigate dynamical and structural properties of surfaces and interfaces in a variety of liquid systems.
Anomalous Small Angle X-ray Scattering
The ASAXS facility at NSF’s ChemMatCARS focuses on element specific structural study of soft matter systems such as polyelectrolytes, colloids, polymers, macro-ions in solutions, and nanomaterials at the length scales from a few nanometer to hundreds of nanometer. NSF’s ChemMatCARS has developed a set of easy to use analysis tools which enable the users to extract quantitative spatial distribution of specific elements (with atomic number Z> 25) within their samples from ASAXS measurements.
Focuses on element specific structural study of soft-matter in nano-dimensions.
Crystallograpy Contact
Yu-Sheng Chen
(630) 252-0471
yushengchen@uchicago.edu
Liquid Surface/Interface Contact
Wei Bu
(630) 252-0470
weibu@uchicago.edu
ASAXS Contact
Mrinal Bera
(630) 252-0472
mrinalkb@uchicago.edu