ALBA and AUSE publish synchrotron users survey results

More than 250 researchers have participated in the survey launched by the ALBA Synchrotron and the Spanish Association of Synchrotron Users (AUSE) to know the present and future scientific fields of interest of the ALBA synchrotron light source user community.

The survey, designed by the ALBA Synchrotron and the Spanish Association of Synchrotron Users (AUSE), includes information about the most used and interesting techniques for synchrotron users, as well as the social, scientific and industrial challenges of synchrotron-based research in the future. 266 responses were collected from Spanish institutions mainly. Synchrotron users who participated in the survey point out that diffraction, reflectivity and scattering techniques are the most used. In particular, macromolecular crystallography (PX), coherent diffraction (CD) and powder diffraction (PD) have been selected by the largest number of users. Diffraction techniques (Micro PX and Single Crystal Diffraction) and infrared spectroscopy (MIRAS) have also been the ones arising a higher degree of interest, showing a strong support by respondents. According to the survey participants, synchrotron-based research can significantly contribute to the development of biotechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials, with impact on Horizon 2020 challenges such as health, demographic change and wellbeing. The ALBA Synchrotron and the Spanish Association of Synchrotron Users (AUSE) thank the respondents as this information is very important to decide the future of new developments in ALBA. Download the complete report here.