Alba Synchrotron directors visit the ICMM and meet researchers to strengthen ties of collaboration

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Caterina Biscari, Alba Synchrotron's director, and Klaus Attenkofer, scientific Alba's director, visited the Material Science Insititute of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC) this week. The meeting aimed to know the centre and its need to strengthen ties of collaboration.

José Ángel Martín Gago, ICMM's director, received both Biscari and Arrenkofer with a presentation about the ICMM and its research lines and strategies. Then, some representatives of the most active ICMM groups in ALBA were invited to discuss their investigations in the area with the guests, who expressed their interest in improving the relationship between both institutions.

After the open discussion, Klaus Attenkofer visited some of the ICMM laboratories and talked personally with some of the main researchers who are using Alba's facilities. He saw the stardust and talked to Martín Gago and Irene Palacio, then went to Ana Espinosa's lab, with whom he talked about her research in the bio area. Carlos Prieto, research professor at the Heterostructures for Optics and Optoelectronics group, also showed his laboratory, and Agustina Asenjo, Miguel A. Camblor, and José Antonio Alonso did the same, focusing in the research they are preparing in Synchrotrons such as Alba, Soleil or the ESRF in Grenoble.

ALBA is a 3rd generation Synchrotron Light facility located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, (Barcelona). According to its webpage, it is a complex of electron accelerators to produce synchrotron light, which allows the visualization of the atomic structure of matter and the study of its properties.  

"The 3 GeV electron beam energy at ALBA is achieved by combining a LInear ACcelerator (LINAC) and a low-emittance, full-energy BOOSTER placed in the same tunnel as the STORAGE RING. ALBA's 270-meter perimeter has 17 straight sections all of which are available for the installation of insertion devices," explains the institution. ALBA currently has ten operational state-of-the-art beamlines, comprising soft and hard X-rays, which are devoted mainly to biosciences, condensed matter (magnetic and electronic properties, nanoscience), and materials science.