News / In Focus

NSRRC, users’ meeting, 2023, Novel Materials, neutron, diffraction, reflectivity
The 29th Users' Meeting & Workshops Successfully Held from October 23 to 26
2023/12/07
The 29th Users' Meeting & Workshops was held from October 23 to 26. This year, the chairman of the Users Executive Committee (UEC) was Prof. Yu-Lun Chueh from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Natl. Tsing Hua Univ. (NTHU), and Dr. Yu-Chun Chuang from Materials Science Group at the NSRRC was responsible for organizing and planning. Apart from the users' meeting, two workshops and the celebration ceremony for NSRRC's "30th Anniversary of the First Light" were also held. Additionally, the "Sow-Hsin Chen Distinguished Lectureship on Neutron Science and Technology" focusing on cutting-edge research in neutron science, was also held in collaboration with NTHU. A total of 31 domestic and international scholars and experts were invited to make presentations in the four-day meeting. The actual number of attendees for this conference reached 550, marking the highest number in recent years and creating a vibrant atmosphere throughout the conference.

The first event was the celebration ceremony for the "30th Anniversary of the First Light," featuring the presence of the Premier, Dr. Chien-Jen Chen. Numerous distinguished guests were also present at the ceremony. During the ceremony, Director Chia-Hung Hsu briefed the development of the NSRRC from its beginning, followed by speeches given by the current and former members of Board of Trustees (BoT), chairmen of BoT and NSRRC directors. The current chairman of NSRRC's BoT, Prof. Min-Tsung Lin, delivered a keynote speech on the challenge and transformation for the technological advancement in Taiwan.

The second day began with an overview on the current status and future prospects of the NSRRC presented by Director Hsu. In the Users' Town Meeting, the chairmen of the UEC and the Neutron UEC reported on the recent updates related to users; it provided opportunities for all users to discuss various issues with NSRRC's supervisors. In the afternoon, the selection result for the third "Outstanding Paper Award" for the field of Natural Sciences was announced. This award went to the research team led by NSRRC Associate Scientist, Dr. Yao-Chang Lee. Dr. Lee shared his research findings with the attendees after receiving the award. Over the following two days, nine outstanding users from various fields were invited to give presentations on their researches using synchrotron radiation as a key tool for scientific discoveries.

The highly-anticipated NSRRC run kicked the third day off. At least 203 users and colleagues completed the running. In the afternoon, the "Sow-Hsin Chen Distinguished Lectureship on Neutron Science and technology" took place. For the Poster Sessions, 246 poster presenters shared their research findings which were acquired by using NSRRC facilities. Twelve posters reached the finals of the Oral Presentation Competition, and the rest of the posters were all included in the Poster Competition. The winners were selected after a meticulous review by the panel of judges; the most outstanding poster presenters are listed below (for the list of all winners, please refer to the meeting website). The Poster Awards were presented during the evening banquet on the third day, in which the representatives from Exchange Reception Student Association (ERSA) of NTHU served as the emcee and assisted in presenting awards, revealing NSRRC’s collaboration with universities in various aspects. Prof. Hao-Ming Chen of Natl. Taiwan Univ. (NTU) succeeded Prof. Yu-Lun Chueh as the UEC chair at the end of the banquet, marking a successful conclusion for the users’ meeting.
 Poster Award Category Winner Advisor Affiliation
Oral Presentation:
The Glory of Taiwan Award		 Biological Science Yung-Lin Wang   Tsung-Lin Li   Academia Sinica
Materials Science Yu-Cheng Kao Pin-Jiun Wu Natl. Cheng Kung Univ.
Phys./Chem. Science Truc Ly Nguyen Ashish Atma Chainani NSRRC
Poster Competition:
Award of Excellence		 Biological Science Ping-Chung Liang Yao-Chang Lee NSRRC
Chia-Yun Wu Yu-Yuan Hsiao Natl. Yang Ming Chiao Tung Univ.
Materials Science Bo-Chia Chen Hsin-Jay Wu Natl. Yang Ming Chiao Tung Univ.
Bo-Hao Chen Hsuan-Yi Huang Natl. Tsing Hua Univ.
Wan-Ting Chen Yao-Jane Hsu NSRRC
Keseven Lakshmanan Wei-Nien Su Natl. Taiwan Univ. of Sci. and Tech.
Yu-Hui Liang Chao-Hung Du Tamkang Univ.
Guan-Bo Wang Hao Ming Chen Natl. Taiwan Univ.
Yong-Jyun Wang Ying-Hao Chu Natl. Tsing Hua Univ.
Phys./Chem. Science Shih-Lun Chen Mau-Tsu Tang Natl. Tsing Hua Univ.
Shang-Wei Lin Hsiao-Ching Yang Fu Jen Catholic Univ.
Abhijeet Ravsaheb Shelke Ashish Atma Chainani NSRRC

Two workshops were held on October 26. The events are summarized below:

Workshop I: XAS-XMCD of Novel Materials
This workshop aims to gather experts in the field to share recent developments and research results on novel materials exhibiting spin-charge transitions and how XAS-XMCD can be used to investigate their electronic structure and magnetism. In the opening remarks made by Dr. Chia-Hao Chen, he highlighted on the recent performance and research output of the XAS-XMCD Dragon Beamline over the past 5 years, and then he explained the aim of developing a XAS-XMCD user community for the “new Dragon Beamline” TPS 33A, which is one of the TPS Phase-III beamlines.

The first session consisted of three well-known speakers: Prof. Pong Way-Faung (Tamkang Univ.), Prof. Jung-Chun Andrew Huang (Natl. Cheng Kung Univ.) and Prof. Yin-Hao Chu (NTHU). Prof. Pong discussed the 2D XY Spin glass properties of a perovskite oxide (Ni1-xMnx)TiO3, followed by Prof. Huang’s talk on ferromagnetic Cr2Te3 thin films, emphasizing the importance of 2D magnets for spintronics and opto-spintronic applications. Prof. Chu’s talk focused on the popular research of high-entropy alloys and high-entropy oxides as complex magnets.

Later on, Prof. Bo-Yao Wang (Natl. Changhua Univ. of Edu.) elucidated perpendicular magnetic anisotropy induced by antiferromagnetic thin films in antiferromagnet-ferromagnet heterostructures. Dr. Yan-Gu Lin (NSRRC) presented the valuable results acquired recently by his team using XAS for studying electrochemical interfaces. The last talk in the morning by Prof. Yuan-Chieh Tseng (Natl. Yang Ming Chiao Tung Univ.) showed how XAS and XMCD could be used to solve critical problems in ferroelectric semiconductors and spin-orbit torque based spintronic devices. 

After the lunch break, the third session consisted of talks on novel magnetic materials and phenomena by three very prolific scientists from NTU. Prof. Chi-Feng Pai clarified to us the role of spin-orbit torque in developing memory devices; Prof. Ssu-Yen Huang showed three important examples of spin to charge conversion phenomena and how they provided significant advantages for developing electrically controlled energy-efficient spintronic devices. Prof. Danru Qu presented the concepts of spin-current generation and explained the differences between conventional and unconventional methods of generating pure spin current in ferromagnetic metals. She also showed how pure spin current could be carried by magnons in magnetic insulators where no charge carriers were required at all.

In the last session, Prof. Yi-Ying Chin (Natl. Chung Cheng Univ.) presented her recent works regarding the fundamental issues on cobaltates and cuprates by using XAS-XMCD. Dr. Tzu-Hung Chuang (NSRRC) discussed the use of the Photoelectron Momentum Microscope, which is currently under commissioning at TPS 27A, for measuring three dimensional Fermi surfaces. He also showed the spin-resolved imaging capability of the Photoelectron Momentum Microscope. Finally, the last talk by Dr. Wen-Bin Wu (NSRRC) introduced the conceptual design of the new Dragon XAS-XMCD beamline at TPS 33A to the attendees.

The concluding remarks were made by one of the workshop organizers Dr. Ashish A. Chainani. He mentioned that the workshop was successful in highlighting the role of XAS-XMCD studies for future research, and also identified new researchers who could play a major role in future spintronic, opto-spintronic and memory devices using the XAS-XMCD techniques. Dr. Chainani proposed the formation of the XAS-XMCD user community which could meet online once in 3 or 6 months. It will become an open access for all users to discuss their need for future experiments at TPS 33A in terms of performance, specification, the preferred beam size, the energy resolution, temperature and applied field dependent measurements, sample preparations facilities, etc.

Workshop II: Neutron Diffraction and Reflectivity
The NSRRC has been devoted to developing synchrotron technology for decades, supporting the applications of synchrotron radiation to the academia and industries. In recent years, NSRRC were further supportive of the Neutron Group stationed at Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in Australia aiming to encouraging the research using neutron scattering technology in Taiwan. In this workshop, eight domestic scholars were invited to share their experiences and knowledge on neutron diffraction and neutron reflectometry.

First, the Deputy Director of the NSRRC, Dr. Der-Hsin Wei, delivered the opening remarks, followed by the presentations of the invited speakers. Prof. Chao-Hung Du (Tamkang Univ.) presented the studies on YBaCuxFe1-xO5 system using neutron diffraction and resonant X-ray scattering technique. The magnetic order and ferroelectric properties are largely co-related to the ratio and distribution of cations, which can be tuned by the sintering temperature and quenching conditions. Dr. D. Chandrasekhar Kakarla (Natl. Sun Yat-sen Univ.) reported the neutron diffraction results of several samples measured in ANSTO. After the group photo, Cheng-Ying Chen (Natl. Taiwan Ocean Univ.) presented the Kesterites-based solar cell materials. It is confirmed that conversion efficiency has decreased considerably due to the antisite defect, and doping silver ions could overcome the defect and improve its performance. The morning session is closed after Prof. Wei-Tin Chen‘s (NTU) presentation. Prof. Chen shared the results of several newly synthesized perovskite compounds, prepared by high pressure high temperature synthesis. These compounds display fruitful phase diagram of the crystal structure, magnetism and ferroelectricity. 

Prof. Ya-Sen Sun (Natl. Cheng Kung Univ.) gave a talk on the morphology change of block copolymer thin films characterized by neutron reflectivity and small-angle scattering techniques. Prof. Chih-Hao Lee (NTHU) talked about the boron diffusion from different capping layers and investigated by X-ray reflectivity and polarization neutron reflectivity. In the last session, Dr. Tzu-Yen Huang (NSRRC) presented neutron reflectometers and their applications in organic solar cells, while Prof. Yan-Ling Yang (Natl. Taiwan Univ. of Sci. and Tech.) showed the estimation of neutron reflectivity from polymer membranes through molecular dynamics simulations. In this workshop, users were able to exchange their experiences and suggestions for future research in neutron science and industrial applications.
Group photo of the NSRRC 2023 Annual Users’ Meeting & Workshops.
Selected photos from (top row) the celebration ceremony for NSRRC’s 30th Anniversary of the First Light; (middle row, left to right) the keynote speech, Outstanding Paper Award, and Sow-Hsin Chen Distinguished Lectureship on Neutron Science and Technology; and (bottom row, left to right) poster session, Workshop I, and Workshop II.