£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.

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.

- a panoramic view of the experimental hutch

XMaS, the UK-CRG beamline at the ESRF supported by EPSRC. Credit: O. Bikondoa/ XMaS-ESRF (France)

- some of the beamline equipment:

In-situ photovoltaics fabrication at XMaS/ESRF. Credit: S. Lilliu/ XMaS-ESRF (France)

Magnetic WAXS/SAXS setup at XMaS-ESRF. Credit: L. Bouchenoire/ XMaS-ESRF (France)

Bill Stirling, the co-originator of the XMaS project with Malcolm Cooper, was awarded the prestigious title of Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to British science and international science collaboration.

See HERE

Transfer hydrogenation catalyst deactivation solved through in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Bao Nguyen et al., University of Leeds, UK

http://www.esrf.fr/home/news/spotlight/content-news/spotlight/spotlight231.html

Complex modulated magnetism in PrPtAl

Huxley et al., University of Edinburgh, UK

http://www.esrf.fr/home/news/spotlight/content-news/spotlight/spotlight229.html