Time to move the 16 m of lead tubes between the Optics Hutch and the Experimental Hutch! How did we do this? With car transmission jacks, hey! The tubes moved between 12 cm at one end and up to 17cm at the other end... Now awaiting the lead walls to be modified to install the last 2 tubes at each end.

Almost finished moving the last tube in the right place...	Job done! The tubes a hell of a long way!
In the meantime, we used our painting skills to refresh the floor of the Optics Hutch to give it a younger look after 20 years of good service! Next: drill the holes to move the equipment to its new position...
Before taking out the slits and the toroidal mirror. Only the monochromator vessel left in the hutch...	After: freshly painted floor.
	Progress also on the Front End side. The adaptation chamber and the first valve were mounted. We cannot see the inside of the tunnel anymore! The machine is now baking that first section. Funny smell in the ring...

The modification of the lead panel to accommodate the new beam position with the new EBS source will start soon. Our new x-ray beam will move ~17 cm towards the wall (to the left). Also time also to clear up and upgrade our control electronics! Bye bye DPAPs! 30 years of ESRF electronics going to the skip…

BEFORE removing S4 slits vessel	AFTER removing S4 slits vessel
Beamline jungle of cables…	Old DPAPs after 20 years of service….

D-day for departure. Bon voyage to Huber Diffraktionstechnik and see you back next year!

First day of Spring and also last day at ESRF for our diffractometer. It was taken apart for safe transport back to Huber Diffraktionstechnik GmbH, Germany. Will be back next year, bigger and shinier!

£7million funding from EPSRC to grant the UK National Research Facility at the ESRF.

Press releases:

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/7_million_funding

https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2019/02/25/7million-funding-to-grant-xmas-wish/

After around 30 years of service, our bending magnet BM28 was extracted on February 11^th before being taken apart for recycling. It will be replaced by a much smaller magnet (Short Bend) in June 2020.

BM28 from the machine side! In the old days, it was called D28. The x-rays used to travel down the tube on the left hand side.	The big blue thing is our long bending magnet

The ESRF EBS shutdown started on 10^th December 2018 and will last 20 months to dismantle the old ring, remount the new one and test it. The new BM28 magnet (the short bend) will be install in June 2020. The XMaS users should be able to use the beamline in the autumn.

In the meantime, see a panoramic view of the new control cabin: the offline x-ray source lab (blue door) and small windows looking inside the synchrotron x-ray experimental hutch to the right.

Very active summer with the extension of the experimental hutch (EH1) and the construction of the new control cabin (June-July). From July, painting, installation of all the fluids, electrical and network cables, safety control system etc… Only a few more weeks to go!

We are all back from Grenoble, where we had a great time. Thank you to all the people who helped make this trip memorable for our winners, and to the girls themselves, who were so enthusiastic about science!

We are looking forward to our reunion for the Student Showcase, which will take place at the University of Warwick on Wednesday 12th September 2018.

The 5^th June was the World Environment Day. To celebrate the event, ESRF published an article on photovoltaic cells, which is focused on perovskites studies carried out at the ESRF. One of the cited studies took place at XMaS. The work resulted from a collaboration between the University of Sheffield, University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, University of Oxford, University of Warwick and also the Khalifa University of Science and Technology (formerly Masdar Institute, United Arab Emirates). The full article can be viewed here.