Application for Travel support for NTNU users of synchrotron radiation and neutron beam facilities, 2015-2017

Synkrotron and Neutron based research is becoming more and more important tool to understand important systems both for applied and fundamental science. The funding provided in this application will allow for local user groups at NTNU to evolve these techniques and use them to increase quality of research at NTNU. In 2015-2017 the gave support to 30 independent research stays at different synchrotron and neutron sources ( roughly 60 individual travels). The current use of these facilities is well spread at NTNU, and covers: -Catalyis: research into catalyst materials is a key to future breakthrough within a range of important industrial sectors such as chemical- and petrochemical industry, energy industry, pharmaceutical industry and transport industry - Oxide electronics: the importance of understanding new materials for new functional devices for everyday life. -Soft and complex materials: Primarily aimed at understanding fundamental properties of clay, for example in carbon storage applications. -Functionalisation of pours materials of chemistry. -X-ray studies of the time-resolved 3D evolution of materials during solidification. -Experiments for investigating new Inorganic materials/compositions for applications within fuel cells, electronics. -Studies of organic thin films and using coherent imaging for 3D mapping at very high resolution (ptychography). -Experiments to understand the chemistry and electron movements at surfaces, to enable new electronics and better biocompability. -Studies of static and dynamic behavior of nanomagnetic systems for better information storage and processing

Prosjektet har i høy grad bidratt til å styrke å hi en jevn aktivitet innen synkrotronbasewrt forskning ved NTNU. En tydelig utvikling er at ulike miljøer hatt benyttet støtten i ulik høy grad grunnet tilgjengelighet av annen ekstern og intern finansiering, og at en del av de fagmiljøer som deltatt i prosjektet nå har adgang til annen finansiering i form av SFF, toppforsk og annen finansiering. Dette tegn på prosjektet har bidratt til inkludere synkrotronbasert forskning inn i ordinaries prosjektvolum ved NTNU.

The importance of SR and neutron facilities to modern science can be seen in the rapid development of new facilities used and the effort to develop and commission new techniques at both new and existing facilities. Although national efforts to provide for these needs have been limited to support for SNBL and ESRF, a large fraction of NTNU work within scientific fields which require alternative SR and NR sources like MAX-Lab, Astrid, BESSY, Diamond, SLS, ALS, LNLS, HASYLAB, NIST, ISIS, and ILL, where beamtime is allocated based on scientific quality and track records. The volume of this activity now far surpasses the use of SNBL and ESRF by NTNU users. Approximately one third of these projects are internally funded through the basic funding of the university (9 PhD students, 3 post.docs at NTNU during the last five years). To optimize the outcome of such projects, it is vital that swift support for travel can be given to take advantage of granted beamtime, for which allocation is increasingly competitive despite the growing number of facilities worldwide With this proposal, we apply for funding to cover travel costs not funded by other sources (e.g., RCN projects or Calipso support) for our use of SNBL, ERSF, and other synchrotron and neutron sources for beam times that develop techniques and our . This will help to develop a proficient user community at NTNU that will serve Norwegian science with competence needed within the field. Making an estimate for unsupported use of synchrotron and neutron facilities by NTNU research groups, we notice that there is a large demand for such funding. The full travel cost for use of synchrotron and neutron based facilities amounts to approximately 5.3 MNOK, of these 3.7 MNOK stem for travels not included in external projects as of today. Judging from earlier use we expect roughly 1/3 or 1.8 MNOK of the use to stem from internally funded projects, we apply for roughly half of this - 0.75 MNOK to be covered in this project.