User Logistics

Proposal Submission and Scheduling

Step-By-Step Instructions to Working at LCLS

LCLS experiments start with submitting a proposal, usually due twice a year. Each proposal is for one specific experiment and each proposal is valid for one scheduling cycle only. There is no limit to the number of proposals that can be submitted by a scientist or experiment team.

Proposals submitted to LCLS are peer reviewed and ranked by the LCLS Proposal Review Panel.

The highest ranked proposals (~ best 20-30% of proposed experiments) are most likely to be offered beam time approximately 9 months after being submitted and selected.

The proposal spokesperson will be notified about beam time assignments by email and the schedule will be posted to the website.

The proposal spokesperson should log in to User Portal to submit a "Beam Time Support Request"; this acknowledges your plan to use the beam time allocation. In the Beam Time Support Request spokesperson would be able to delegate a "Lead Contact", if she/he is not planning to supervise the experiment, provide all the required information as the instrument, sample preparation lab access, international shipments, safety information, etc.

The spokesperson will indicate if a team member planning to be "onsite", authorize his/her access to the sample preparation laboratory and a unix account. Also new collaborators may be added here.

When planning your experiment and submitting your support request, please also alert us if you anticipate needing any special training or user support or if there are potential safety considerations which have not been cleared with the safety office.

Safety Training

See details on User Safety.

Use Agreements

All user experiments must be run under the terms of a User Agreement executed by the appropriate institutional officer(s) at your institution and their counterpart at Stanford University. A single User Agreement covers all experimenters from that institution. Collaborators who are not coming to use the lightsource do not require a User Agreement. These signed agreements must be on completed prior to the beginning of any experiments here.

The Department of Energy has implemented standard user agreements for Non-Proprietary Research and for Proprietary Research. Only minor modifications to the terms of the agreements may be made by the user institution or contractor. Substantive changes require approval by the DOE Contracting Officer which will likely delay user access to the user facility. In instances where DOE Contracting Officer approval for substantive changes cannot be obtained, Work for Others (WFOs) and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) may be more.

To verify whether or not a current user agreement is in place between your institution and Stanford University, please contact Michelle Steger or call 650-926-3011.

Non-Proprietary User Agreement (Format: RTF, PDF)

Proprietary User Agreement (Format: RTF, PDF)

Mail the completed and signed agreement(s) to:

Michelle Steger
SSRL, MS 99
2575 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025

User Agreements Executed With These User Institutions

User Expense Accounts

Why Have a User Expense Account?

Each user group should establish a user expense account to provide funding to pick up miscellaneous items from the supply area; order gases and chemicals; send samples, dewars, or other equipment back to your institution, etc. To determine if you have a current LCLS user expense account or to open a user expense account, please read the information below and complete the user expense account Form.

Establishing a User Expense Account

The most common method of establishing a user expense account is with a purchase order (PO). The PO should be made to SLAC (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) for the amount of estimated expenditures. Please do not include commercial Terms and Conditions; if the Terms and Conditions are preprinted on the form, they should be disclaimed. Please include a termination date on your Purchase Order. The suggested minimum amount to open a user expense account is $1000. Send the user expense account Form and purchase order to:

Michelle Steger
SSRL/LCLS User Research Administration
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
2575 Sand Hill Rd., MS 99
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel: 650-926-3011
Fax: 650-926-8665
Email: [email protected]

An alternative (and less favored) method is to establish a user account with a letter from the appropriate financial office of your home institution. The letter should include:

The amount authorized
The effective period of the authorization
A list of those authorized to incur charges
The billing address that will facilitate orderly approval and paying of invoices by your institution

Overhead

SLAC will add overhead charges to materials and supplies procured using a user expense account; the current rate for materials and supplies is 9.42%. If labor is involved, the indirect charge is ~52%.

Sales Tax

California sales and use tax of 9.25% will apply to the price of all materials purchased and delivered in the state of California. The only exception to this ruling is when title of the purchased item is vested in the U.S. government. If your funding instrument includes this title clause, please include a copy of it with your purchase order or letter.

Invoices

Invoices for costs incurred by your proposal team will be submitted to your institution for payment.

Assistance

If you have any other questions related to user accounts, please contact:

Michelle Steger at 650-926-3011 or Natalya Brown at 650-926-8758

Gases & Cryogenics

We anticipate providing a limited amount of standard gases to support LCLS experiments such as Argon, Helium, Neon, Nitrogen. If you anticipate needing other special gases or specific purity, please identify these here and contact the User Research Administration at least 4 weeks before your scheduled beam time to discuss how to procure these gases.

Computing: Accounts and Kiosk PCs

Personal UNIX Computer Accounts

Only the users specified by the proposal spokesperson in the beam time support request can obtain a UNIX account, and these users can apply for a UNIX account using the user portal.

All persons using SLAC computer accounts are responsible for:

Completing course "CS 101 Cyber Security Basics".
Understanding and complying with the terms outlined in the "Use of SLAC Information Resources".

Shared Computer Accounts

The proposal spokesperson or their designated 'lead contact' must acknowledge agreement with the conditions specified in the "Use of SLAC Information Resources Acknowledgement-Addendum" in order to establish a Shared Account for this experiment.

Shared Accounts can only be used to access the logbook and to copy the experimental data to a home institution or to an external device. These types of accounts don't allow data analysis using SLAC computing resources. A personal UNIX account is required for that purpose.

The Proposal Spokesperson who is the custodian of a shared account MUST:

Ensure that only legitimate users have access to the shared account.
Keep a list of who has access to the shared account and be able to produce the list at the request of computer security or delegated authority.

Kiosk PCs

The kiosk PCs in Building 950 have the following list of installed software:

Windows XP
Adobe Professional
AFPL Ghostscript/Ghostview
Citrix Client
Hypersnap
Internet Explorer
Java(TM)
Microsoft Office Professional
Microsoft .NET Framework
Mozilla Firefox
Quest PuTTY
Symantec AntiVirus
XWIN32
WinSCP

User Shipments

Page Contents

Shipping Equipment and Materials to LCLS
- Hazardous Material Shipments
Shipping User Samples/Equipment Outside of the U.S.
Instructions for International User Shipments

Shipping Equipment and Materials to LCLS

The following contact information should be included on all shipments to LCLS:

Spokesperson's Name and c/o Instrument Scientist
LCLS/SLAC, Bldg. 950
2575 Sand Hill Rd.
Menlo Park, CA 94025
USA

If a contactnumber is required on carrier documentation, please use SLAC Shipping Sandra Pickrom's phone number: 650-926-4247.

Due to limited storage space, we request that your equipment and/or materials arrive no more than one week before needed for setup. SLAC does not assume any liability for your equipment or materials. COD packages cannot be accepted.

Hazardous Materials Shipments

Users should consult with a materials specialist at their home institution for instructions regarding the proper shipping and handling of hazardous materials. All hazardous materials, including radioactive materials, shipped to or from LCLS must be packaged and handled according to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations, or IATA dangerous good regulations (as applicable) if being shipped from overseas. Shipments that fail to comply with these federally mandated regulations will be returned to the user's home institution unopened.

For more Information and forms regarding transportation and handling of radioactive samples at SLAC, contact Ian Evans, LCLS Safety Officer.

Requestor must supply an MSDS for all hazardous materials in shipment.

Getting Shipments through U.S. Customs

KAMINO INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT, INC
514 ECCLES AVENUE
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94080
Attn: Jay Allison [jay.allison 'AT' kamino.com]

Phone (BUSN): 650/873-2842

Fax: 650/583-4350

Website: https://www.kamino.com (downloadable forms)

Shipping User Samples/Equipment Outside of the U.S.
If, at the end of your experiment, you plan to ship samples, equipment or other scientific items from SLAC to a location outside of the U.S., please complete a Power of Attorney form for the individual or group that is responsible for and will receive the shipment. See details about terms and conditions.

Provide detailed descriptions of the material to be shipped (including the manufacturer and url to product details when applicable). NOTE: All EXPORTS MUST BE APPROVED BY STANFORD. DELAYS IN PROVIDING THIS INFORMATION WILL DELAY YOUR SHIPMENT. For more information on user exports, contact [email protected].

SEE ADDITIONAL EXPORT REQUIREMENTS AT https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/users/export.html

Feedback & Publications

LCLS Related Publications

User Feedback Encouraged

Feedback is an important part of the Integrated Safety & Environmental Management System (ISEMS). Users are required to complete an end of run summary after each scheduled experiment. The feedback provided by users will be used to address issues raised by users and to continually improve user resources and support. User feedback will be shared with LCLS management and scientific advisory committees. Users are also encouraged to contact the Users' Organization Executive Committee to share their suggestions or concerns. Complete end of run summary through the user portal.

Acknowledge and Inform us of Your Research Results and Publications

By contacting us when exciting results are about to be published, we can work with users and the SLAC Office of Communication to develop the story and to communicate user research findings to a much broader audience. As the first facility of its kind, it is extremely important that LCLS users share the results of their experiments through scientific presentations and papers. Users are required to inform the User Research Administration of each publication or thesis based, fully or partially, on work at LCLS. These publications are extremely important in presenting scientific achievements and productive use of the valuable resource of beam time.

Additionally, as members of the SLAC community, LCLS scientists have the responsibility for ensuring that any manuscript based on research conducted at SLAC which has been (or will be) submitted for publication outside of SLAC is also published as a SLAC Publication. Several help pages are available through InfoMedia to help authors meet reporting requirements.

All publications, and student theses, related to work fully or partially undertaken at LCLS should contain the following acknowledgement:

"Portions of this research were carried out at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS is an Office of Science User Facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science by Stanford University."

Linac Coherent Light Source