About the Facility

Two, complementary, state-of-the-art instruments will be installed by May 2013: a slit-collimated SAXSess MC2 from Anton Paar (Austria), and a point collimated GANESHA 300XL+ from SAXSlab (Denmark). The SAXSess MC2 instrument has very high flux at the sample and is optimized for scattering from solutions. The GANESHA 300XL+ is fully automated to cover a broad q-range, and will be used for SAXS, MAXS (medium angle X-ray scattering), WAXS (wide angle X-ray scattering), and GISAXS (grazing incidence X-ray scattering) measurements.

The SAXS instruments will be operated and maintained within the operational framework of Duke University’s Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility. SMIF operates as a multidisciplinary shared use facility, and is available for research and education to Duke University researchers from the various schools and departments as well as to external users from other universities, government laboratories, and industry. SMIF currently has about 500 users, of which 60% are from Duke University, 25% are from other universities and non-profit organizations, and 15% are from industry.

The Triangle SAXS facility will help to further establish the Research Triangle as a center in soft matter research, and the Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) as a leader in the nationwide Materials Research Facilities Network. The first user’s meeting, with substantial participation from MRSEC Fellows, was held in March 2013, and an inaugural Triangle SAXS Workshop is scheduled for May 14, 2013.

Through the “Class Based Explorations” program, the SAXS equipment will be available for live demonstrations to enhance the classroom learning experience of students at Triangle Universities.