4th CENEM Summer School for X-ray Scattering 2018
The 4th CENEM Summer School for X-ray Scattering 2018 took place from July 16th to July 19th 2018 at the Institute for Crystallography and Structural Physics (ICSP) in Erlangen. The summer course was sponsored by Anton Paar. During seminars in the mornings and hands-on training in the afternoons it provided a detailed insight into a variety of modern X-ray scattering techniques. The main topics were X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS/SANS), X-ray reflectometry (XRR), grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and grazing incidence diffraction (GISAXS/GIXD).
In the morning lectures the theoretical background, instrumental details, data reduction, analysis strategies and current applications of X-ray scattering techniques were presented and discussed. It was a particular pleasure to welcome Dr. Sebastian Busch from HZG at FRM II in Garching, who gave a lecture about Neutron scattering techniques at large scale facilities.
In the afternoon sessions practical hands-on training was held in small groups of three to four participants. This was done to ensure that every participant had the chance to measure real sample systems at our state-of-the-art instruments, which are included in the CENEM user facility. Each participant also reduced and analyzed the recorded data.
The practical training was an important first qualification step towards being able to perform own measurements.
This year’s participants came from research fields of EAM and beyond, including materials science, physics, chemistry, chemical and biological engineering and biotechnology. We were happy to welcome one external participant from Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Helmoltz-Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg. The summer school was mainly dedicated to doctoral candidates but was also open to Bachelor and Master degree students, postdoctoral researchers, and employees. Only 15 applicants could be accepted this year, due to the limited capacity of the hands-on training sessions.
At the end of the school, a barbeque took place at the institute, giving the participants the opportunity to discuss their own topics and interests with the members of the institute and to plan future cooperations.
We thank the organizing commitee and the involved members of ICSP as well as the EAM office for their engaged work and support which led to the great success of the summer school 2018. We are looking forward to the 5th CENEM Summer School for X-ray Scattering 2019 which is planned to take place at the end of July 2019.