The Brockhouse instruments enable highly detailed, accuate, and complete structural infomration on samples ranging from crystals to amorphous solids to liquids and anywhere in between.

Techniques:

Powder Diffraction (low energy wiggler for high resolution, high energy wiggler for rapid or penetrating)

Pair Distribution Function (high energy wiggler)

High Pressure (high energy wiggler)

Single Crystal Diffraction (low energy wiggler)

Reciprical Space Mapping (undulator)

Anaomolus scattering (any, usually undulator)

Sample Loading

Measurements of loose powders are generally done using Kapton capillaries. For the low energy wiggler beamline (SOE1, WLE) or undulator beamline (SOE3, UND) any size between 0.3 to 0.8 mm inner diameter will work. In general, the largest capillary for which the absorption is not problematic is preferred. The absorption can be estimated using this website. For SOE1 and SOE3 the capillary length can be as short as 10 mm.

For the high energy wiggler beamline (SOE2, WHE) flux is lower and absorption is usually negligable so capillaries between 0.5 and 0.9 mm inner diameter are used.  Generally sizes of 0.63 or 0.8 are preferred. Tubes of 0.5 mm can be used if there is limited sample and 0.9 mm or even larger can be used for weakly scattering samples. For a capillary to fit in the SOE2 sample changer it should be at least 30 mm in total length and it is best if the sample fills at least 12 mm of the capillary. When loading capillaries it is best to seal the ends with wax or putty. Glue can be used to seal air sensitive samples but be careful not to form a bead at the end which is wider than the capillary or it may not be possible to fit it in the holder.  Be sure to grind your samples well before loading! Having samples with large grains will reduce the quality of the data.

Users are encouraged to purchase their own capillaries and load the samples prior to arrivial. We also have capillaries on-site which users can use. Those mailing samples should load them prior to shipping. If you do not have any we can mail capillaries on request. Capillaries can be ordered here as well as from other vendors. 

For high temperature experiments quartz capillaries of various sizes are available.

We can also measure solid pieces in reflection mode on the lower energy beamline or in transmission mode in the high energy beamline.  This is useful for measurements of samples such as pieces of steel or in-situ battery experiments.

Air sensitive samples can be loaded in a glove box at the home institution or at the CLS. If you wish to use a CLS glove box please contact the instrument scientist well before your arrival so we can make sure one will be available.  Users also have access to our chemistry lab for sample preparation.

Additioinal Detectors Shared between Beamlines:

Rayonix MX300:  This detector has an active area of 300 mm x 300 mm, consisting of 4096 x 4096 pixels (73.242 um x 73.242 um pixels). This is the main SAXS/WAXS detector.

 MAR345 Image Plate:  Currently being rehabilitated.

Transferring large datasets

We use Globus to transfer large data sets to researchers. Users will need to create a Globus account to enable to data transfer, https://docs.globus.org/how-to/get-started/

Staff will create a "path" and upload your data, and then ask for the name of your Globus account. When we know the name of your account, we can then change the permissions of the path so that you can access it through your account.

Publishing Data:

Beamline staff who assist in an experiment should be acknowledged in some way in any publication. For routine assistance in data collection staff can be mentioned in the acknowledgements section. If the staff scientist played a major role in analyzing and interpreting the data, or if they put serious work into setting up a special configuration, they should be included as co-authors.

All publications which include data collected at CLS should include the standard CLS acknowledgement. Once published they should be reported using the CLS user portal. See the main CLS website for specific instructions.

Users of Brockhouse beamlines are also encouraged to cite the following beamline paper in the experimental section:

The low energy diffraction and scattering side-bounce beamline for materials science at the Canadian Light Source. Leontowich, A.F.G., Gomez, A., Diaz Moreno, B., Muir, D., Spasyuk, D., King, G., Reid, J.W., Kim, C.-Y. & Kycia,S. (2021). J. Synchrotron Rad. 28, https://doi.org/10.1107/S1600577521002496.