Irish Research Activity

Summary of Activity:

There are 20 active research groupings with more than 25 academics across 6 HEIs whose groups participate regularly in experiments at SR, FEL and NB facilities. In total about 15 different SR facilities are used, 3 different FEL facilities are used; and 4 different neutron or muon beam facilities are used. In a snapshot of personnel of September 2014 there were approximately 100-110 researchers in these groups though not all of these would have been directly involved in the experiments at these facilities. In addition there are a number of theoretical research groups that closely work with these and other international groups in interpreting the results from SR/FEL/NB experiments.

Research Groups:

The individual research groups and principal investigators are listed on the separate page of Research Groups.

Diversity of usage:

Synchrotrons, FELS, Neutron and Muon beam facilities are used by all sorts of researchers serving the diverse needs of the research communities. This is particularly the case for the use of SR sources. Like the European community as a whole the Irish research groups span several disciplines and research themes. Some discussion of these research themes is on a separate page. As with the diversity of research areas, no single synchrotron radiation source is capable of serving all needs, and this is reflected in the geographic diversity of the facilities used by the Irish research groups.
A snapshot of this is provided by the map of usage on the homepage, with an interactive version soon to be available.
Until then here is a listing of usage of facilities according to Irish higher education institute and by type of facility.

Listing of facilities used – by university:

• DCU groups use MAXIV, PETRAIII, ASTRID2, ANKA, Diamond, SOLEIL, NSLS, FLASH, LCLS
• TCD groups use MAXIV, BESSYII, ASTRID2, ANKA, Diamond, SOLEIL, SLS, ELETTRA, EMBL-Hamburg, ALS, APS, NSLS, SSRL, CHESS, LCLS, FELBE, SwissMuon, ILL, ISIS
• UCD groups use SLS, ELETTRA, BESSYII, SSRL, ILL, SINQ
• UL groups use MAXIV, Diamond, SLS
• UCC groups use Diamond, ELETTRA
• NUIG groups use Diamond

Listing of facilities used – by type:

• Synchrotron facilities: MAXIV, PETRAIII, ASTRID2, ANKA, Diamond, SOLEIL, NSLS,
  BESSYII, SLS, ELETTRA, EMBL-Hamburg (=PETRAIII), ALS, APS, NSLS, SSRL, CHESS
• Free Electron Laser facilities: FLASH, LCLS, FELBE
• Neutron sources: ILL, ISIS, SINQ
• Muon sources: SwissMuon