4 Transition MAX-‐lab to MAX IV 4.1 Ramping up to MAX IV Ramp-‐up towards MAX IV in terms of personnel and organization has started and is vital for the whole project. The ramp-‐up is delayed due to the late decision on the operations budget for 2013, which came only on 2012-‐12-‐14 thus limiting the staff that could be hired for 2013. For the future MAX IV Laboratory will take an optimistic and courageous point of view and ramp up staff and competences now to have qualified people in place 2016 when they are needed. It will assume that the funders will provide reasonable funding for the project. While being courageous and optimistic we will take great care to communicate the ambitions, the status and the pending issues to all funders in time, allowing them to take the necessary decisions. This document is part of this strategy!
4.2 Dark period After several decades of successful research the MAX I-‐III accelerators and beamlines will be permanently closed in December 2015.5 The opening of MAX IV, with its initial set of 8 beamlines, to users on June 21st 2016 will cause a minimum dark period of 6 months. However several communities, currently active at MAX I-‐III will have significantly longer dark periods. Examples are: • Non protein diffraction is presently done at BL I711 and BL I811, but there is not yet a funded such diffraction beamline at MAX IV. • SAXS is presently done at BL I911, but there is not yet a funded SAXS beamline at MAX IV. Funding for the CoSAXS beamline has been applied for and a decision is expected by November 2013. • Nuclear Physics has been a very strong activity at MAX-‐lab during the past 25 years. At present the user community is small and shrinking (leading professors have retired). In order for nuclear physics to play an important role at MAX IV would require strong signals by the Swedish universities such as replacing the retired professors. • Infrared spectroscopy and imaging has been done successfully at MAX I (BL 73) and III (BL D7), but today is challenged by ever improving laboratory instruments. At MAX IV the small diameter of the vacuum chamber makes it technically very difficult to extract the FIR part of the spectrum at competitive intensities. Therefore a very strong initiative by the user community would be needed to justify the extra technical effort.
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RFI decided February 7, 2013 to guarantee the amount of 52,5 MSEK for securing the operations of MAX I-‐III for 2015 and through this minimize the dark period.
Strategy Plan MAX IV Laboratory_August 23_2013 Dnr MAX 2013/95
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