§ To establish the leading Centre of Photon, Electron and Ion Advanced Methods for Natural Science in Poland.
§ To lead to better understanding of processes, mechanisms, phenomena and events leading to technological hazards with the aim of better quantifying risk level and improving data integration at the European level.
§ Integration of the Centre with the European Research Area through exchanging the scientists, twinning with selected European large facilities, networking with laboratories leading in the field of characterisation of matter and hazardous materials detecting.
§ Contribution to integration of the Polish laboratories working in the field of characterisation of matter and technological hazards monitoring.
§ Forming a bridge between advanced laboratories of the United Europe and the former Soviet Union countries.
§ To attract the young generation of scientists to the advanced methods for natural science which support the methodologies and improve the tools for assessment of consequences of hazards.
The society of twentieth first century is still seeking for new, economical and environment-friendly materials which can replace toxic or energy consuming components used nowadays in many technologies. Commercial and scientific laboratories are producing new materials with the old hope that they will exhibit properties better than these used nowadays. On the other hand, monitoring the interactions of new materials with environment or determining their toxicity level, which depends on the level of ionicity of formed bonds, seems to be of a special importance. For all these purposes the knowledge of elements content, atomic order and the nature of chemical bonds in the new compounds and low dimensional structures materials for novel technologies are especially desirable. In particular, to get this kind of information one should apply the advanced methods for materials characterisation. These methods use photon, electron or ion beams to sample the matter. The knowledge of the characteristic parameters of the incident beam and after its interaction with the sample supported by the advanced methods of detection and analysis can provide us all information mentioned above but with a certain level of confidence.
The main objective of the proposed package of measures is to spread and increase the knowledge about modern techniques for estimation of atomic and electronic structure of natural samples and new materials as well to perform the research to increase the level of confidence of the analysis.
Due to remarkable development of sources, detectors and optics used for leading, focusing and detecting X-ray and particle beams, a tremendous progress in instrumentation used for materials characterisation was made. The modern equipment applied for such investigations becomes more and more expensive. It is impossible to gather in one laboratory all the advanced methods used for sample characterisation or even improving them following the progress in instrumentation standards.
The second objective of the proposal is to exchange information about modern equipment available in the leading Polish and European laboratories, and to improve and intensify links with chosen European research centres giving access to the unique facilities important for development of materials characterisation and technology.
Several European synchrotron radiation centres – European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, synchrotrons in HASYLAB in Hamburg, in LURE, Orsay and in MAXLAB, Lund – are singled out at present as the most important partners at the Centre. Access to these facilities and contribution to development of the measuring equipment available there combined with long tradition of the Centre in application of the advanced techniques for samples characterisation are certainly, a powerful combination that can lead to the progress and novel solutions in analytical methods. Apart from purely utilitarian aspect, this objective will contribute to the process of unification of our region and Europe. We do hope that the language of science will provide a common denominator for this process.
In particular, it is
likely that new combined research teams will be formed to be competitive in
obtaining new sources of financing in the form of research grants within the
future Framework VI European Community programmes.
Thanks to the third generation of synchrotron radiation sources the efficiency of the equipment used for materials characterisation has risen tremendously. Therefore, very fast data collection and analysis systems are of great interest.
To follow and stimulate the progress in the methods of data acquisition, processing and analysis is the third objective of the performed measures of the proposed project.
To carry out the active research in the field of simulation of physical processes which modulate the spatial and energetic distribution of used beams, there is a challenge for the scientists gathered in the Centre. The comparison of the constructed models with the experimental data collected by using the most up-to-date equipment at synchrotron radiation facilities provides new opportunities for the Centre. All aspects of these studies (i.e. technology, experimental and theoretical investigation, interdisciplinary approach, in which different complementary methods of measurements will be applied to variety of samples and scientific problems), are to be pursued in the Centre.
The other objectives accompanying the main activity are to improve the quality of education carried out by the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences with participation of the Centre at various levels – both ,secondary school and university level – through organising the specialised short courses, lectures dedicated to the popularisation of the research carried out at the large facilities, workshops, and also creating a real possibility of active students’ participation in research. The most immediate motivation is to attract more students to science with a prospect of a greater number of the most gifted among them joining the research staff and, in consequence, contributing to the progress of science.
An objective of a more general nature in this educational context is to convince the society within Poland that research is a real way to improve the economy.
The Centre has the ambition to contribute to increase of students’ number taking university courses which is just occurring in Poland. The emphasis will be put on the X-ray physics, electrons and ions interaction with the matter which are the main objects of interest of the Centre, particularly, in training for sophisticated techniques of X-ray and electron diffraction and X-ray, electron and ion spectroscopy exercising the equipment gathered in the Centre.
The linkage between another groups working in Poland and engaged in characterisation of materials will be providing via joint seminars, personnel exchange and making accessible to the members of the groups the unique and costly equipment at the disposal of the Centre. In particular, we shall open our Laboratory to young researchers from the neighbouring eastern countries thus to spread the experience of the Centre enlarging the circle of influence of European ideas.
The Centre will maintain an attempt to increase the linkage to industry, pharmacology, environmental monitoring, medicine and other fields where the knowledge of sample composition, atomic order, content of heavy elements and level of elements’ ionicity or kind of chemical bonding formed is important. We would like to expand the variety of studied samples to organic samples (human and animals tissues), sediments, dusts and drugs and much more.
All this is aimed at
showing the universality of the advanced methods of characterisation of matter
for solving the basic problems in technologies applied to fulfil the human
needs and has a continuous character of process that will bring a profit in a
long-term scale.