[SA_Scat] GISAS Summer School, TU Munich, 17-22 July 2016

[stephen.king at stfc.ac.uk]

GISAS Summer School: experiments and data analysis

17-22 July 2016
Technical University Munich, Garching, near Munich


This summer school invites Master students and PhD students to join with their own thin film samples suitable for grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) and grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering (GISANS) measurements. The unique program will consist of lectures on experiment design and scattering theory, necessary to understand the method and to choose experimental parameters. The x-ray experiments will be carried out remotely at the ALS, Berkeley, USA, while the neutron experiments will take place at the FRM II on site. Furthermore there will be practical sessions with introduction to data analysis tools (HipGISAXS and BornAgain) and tutorials in applying them, where each student will work on their own data. Overall, this summer school will prepare students to carry out grazing incidence experiments at large scale facilities including the relevant data analysis.

Novel, smart thin film materials are the focus of many research projects ranging from sensing to displays and from wireless communication to energy conversion and energy storage. These are all active research fields where understanding of material properties will lead to innovation. Although the list of resulting applications is very wide, all these novel materials have something important in common: the physical properties, and therefore the industrial usefulness, is closely related to the molecular and nano-morphology of these materials.

Therefore, methods of characterizing such thin film materials are needed. Grazing incidence scattering techniques have proven here to be very successful. With this method the morphology inside thin films can be probed on the nanometer scale – not just on small micron spots – but on macroscopic areas of the sample, yielding industrially relevant information.

To aid students to carry out successful grazing incidence scattering measurements this summer school will kick-start beginners and introduce new data analysis tools for students with scattering experience.

The school takes place at the TUM Garching Campus and can be easily reached using public transport from Munich.(U6 Garching Forschungszentrum).

http://www.hg.mse.tum.de/en/gisas/