Beamline Scientist/ Senior Beamline Scientist

at  Diamond Light Source

ABOUT US

Diamond Light Source is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility. Located at Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire, we enable world-leading research across a wide range of scientific disciplines and industrial applications including structural biology, physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, earth and environmental sciences.
At Diamond we are currently undertaking a major upgrade of the facility, known as Diamond-II.
The ‘OCTOPI’ flagship project relates to the upgrade of the I13L Imaging and Coherence beamlines. Their scope is multiscale and operando imaging, performing tomography in real (phase contrast tomography; X-ray microscopy) and reciprocal space (coherent X-ray diffraction/imaging)[1].

We now have an opportunity for a talented and motivated Beamline Scientist (Grade 5) or Senior Beamline Scientist (Grade 4), subject to knowledge, skills, and experience.
The role is located on Diamond’s I13-2 Imaging beamline. Micro- and nano-structured materials from diverse scientific fields such as biology, materials, and earth science are studied in the energy range of 6-30keV. New instrumentation for high-resolution microscopy is being developed, a full-field microscope (TXM) with a large field of view is operational as a prototype. Recently a fully automated sample changer (robot arm) has been installed, permitting scanning several hundreds of samples per day. The beamline undergoes upgrades including the rebuild of major optical components and the endstation.
We are looking for someone to actively engage in a research programme in one of the following areas: materials science, bio-medical research, energy science, environmental science and geology, chemistry or engineering. The research can be carried out across I13L and other beamlines, with the opportunity of multiscale imaging. You will proactively seek collaboration in your area of research, engage in collaborative research activities with the Diamond users and develop the beamlines instrumentation in conjunction with the Principal Beamline Scientist.

Further responsibilities at Beamline Scientist level will include:

• Acting as the local contact to support users by setting up the beamline, providing advice and guidance on the best approach to experiments, data analysis and research techniques.
• Following up user experiments to the level of dissemination (publication).
• Setting up multiple complex and bespoke pieces of equipment to meet the requirements for user’s experiments.
• Managing the day-to-day coordination of support groups at Diamond to implement beamline upgrade projects.
• Carrying out collaborative research.
• Developing you own research and disseminating through publications and presentations.
• Collaborating on beamline upgrades and the development of new items of equipment or systems, including taking specific responsibility for certain components of the beamline such as design, manufacture, installing, testing and commissioning phases.
• Working with the software teams and principal beamline scientist to deliver a user-friendly environment for users and automatic data analysis pipelines.

Additional duties for appointment at Senior Beamline Scientist level will include:

• Leading design, procurement, testing, installation and commissioning of particularly significant items for the beamline or instrumentation, including for the Diamond-II beamline upgrade.
• Developing a well-identified independent scientific, technical or software research theme and become internationally recognized in this field of expertise.

[1] C. Rau et al. Physica Status Solidi (a) 208 (11). Issue 11 2522-2525 10.1002/pssa.201184272