IUCr 1996 Triennial Report - Commission on Synchrotron Radiation

Synchrotron radiation in the field of crystallography has during the triennium been in a very expansive phase. New third generation sources with strong crystallographic programmes have been commissioned in Grenoble, Argonne, Trieste, Berkeley and Lund and the Japanese SPring-8 project is in an advanced construction phase. The triennium has also seen the emergence of the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation published under the auspices of the IUCr to provide a forum for progress in the field. General information on synchrotron resources and application procedures are now readily available over the Internet for many of the facilities. The Commission's work during this period has been concentrated on spreading the information on the new experimental opportunities available by actively organizing microsymposia and giving general review talks. Some of the major efforts are listed below.

The Commission was responsible for the organization of a microsymposium on Synchrotron and Neutron Diffraction Results and Perspectives in the Geosciences at the 16th General Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association in Pisa, Italy, September 1994. The symposium was organized by W. A. Bassett and Å. Kvick and featured review talks mainly in the area of high-pressure applications and available experimental synchrotron facilities.

Synchrotron radiation featured prominently at the 16th European Crystallographic Meeting in Lund, Sweden, 5-11 August 1995. Three different half-day symposia: Synchrotron Radiation Applications I and II and Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation, were organized by the Chairman and applications both in small-molecule and macromolecular crystallography were covered. The instrumentation part included talks on microcrystal diffraction, detectors and novel optics development.

The Commission is involved in the Programme Committee of the Third International School and Symposium on Synchrotron Radiation in Natural Sciences, 31 May-8 June 1996, Jaszowiec, Poland. This school covers a very wide area of synchrotron-radiation techniques and applications in the natural sciences.

The Commission is heavily involved in the Seattle Congress and has been active in the Programme Committee. Three micro-symposia: Synchrotron Radiation I, II and III have been scheduled. In addition to the main Congress, a Synchrotron Radiation Satellite Meeting at the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne is being organized under the auspices of the Commission (4-7 August 1996). The main feature of the satellite meeting is to give a broad overview of the state-of-the art developments in the synchrotron-radiation field and in particular to give a review of the impact of the new third generation sources.

The next triennium also promises to be very dynamic with rapid advances in areas such as detectors and time-resolved studies predicted.

14 May 1996 Å. H. KVICK, Chairman

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