User Guide

What are facilities like at eBIC?

eBIC is housed in a modern, purpose built facility, with microscopes located on the ground floor, with the exception of Titan Krios 1 which is a short walk away in Diamond's synchrotron building.

Samples are clipped in the laboratory space on the ground floor and loaded onto microscopes, then data collection is managed remotely from the Control Room (located on the 1st floor of the i14 building).

eBIC users who visit site have use of break-out areas and a kitchen (with tea/coffee & drinking water, plus the use of a fridge & microwave). A short stroll across the road is the on-site restaurant, where meals & snacks can be purchased.

Accommodation for eBIC visitors is normally booked at the on-site guest house, which is within easy walking distance of the eBIC facility.

The Diamond User Office organise accommodation bookings for rooms, with breakfast included.


What needs to be organised ahead of microscope sessions?

• Good quality samples required for the first day of a session
  Follow this link for further details on grids and samples.
   
• Register samples and ship dewar to eBIC using Diamond systems
  Follow this link for details on sample shipping.
   
• eBIC recommend users consider the imaging conditions and detector they wish to use, prior to visiting. Users are welcome to contact eBIC staff with specific questions prior to the visit.
   
• Liaise with the Diamond User Office to make arrangements for visiting eBIC

What guidance instructions are available for running a session?

• Guides for user sessions are available: User guide instructions.

BAG proposal sessions:

• BAG sessions may be longer than 48 hours
  eBIC recommends no more than 4 grids are loaded per 48hr session.
  The maximum number of grids which can be loaded at once is 11.
   
• Samples loaded on first day of BAG session
  All samples will be loaded on the first day of a BAG session.
  A second load maybe possible for sessions which are longer than 4-days.

Schedule for a standard microscope session at eBIC:

• Remote visits
  Users will be contacted by Local Contacts (LCs) prior to the start of a session,
  asking for data collection parameters. On the day of the session, users should check they can log on remotely after 9am and be ready to take over control of the microscope around 11am.
   
• Onsite visits
  Local Contacts (LCs) will meet users at the i14 entrance and take them to the 
  control room. LCs will then load samples and set up the microscope with the aim that users can take control of the microscope at around 11am. 
   

Users are expected to provide samples suitable for continuous automated data collection and have enough samples to actively use the whole of the allocated time. 
 

What guidance instructions are available for running a session?

• Guides for user sessions are available: User guide instructions.

RAPID proposal sessions:

• Rapid proposals are usually 48 hours
  Successful Rapid proposals are allocated a 48hr slot during weekdays and
  either 48 or 72 hr slots at weekends starting on Fridays.
   
• Successful Rapid proposals will be allocated time within six months of acceptance
  Rapid proposals are reviewed continuously.
  Successful proposals are allocated the next available rapid slot.
  Rapid proposals are only scheduled during Diamond run time of which 10% is dedicated to Rapid sessions. Please see machine operation calendar for run dates, details available from the Diamond home page: Quick Links - Operations Calendar.

Schedule for a standard microscope session at eBIC:

• Remote visits
  Users will be contacted by Local Contacts (LCs) prior to the start of a session,
  asking for data collection parameters. On the day of the session, users should check they can log on remotely after 9am and be ready to take over control of the microscope around 11am.
   
• Onsite visits
  Local Contacts (LCs) will meet users at the i14 entrance and take them to the 
  control room. LCs will then load samples and set up the microscope with the aim that users can take control of the microscope at around 11am. 
   

Users are expected to provide samples suitable for continuous automated data collection and have enough samples to actively use the whole of the allocated time.

What needs to be organised after microscope sessions?

• Return dewars to home institute
  eBIC users complete a Diamond dewar dispatch form. Dewars can be sent using Diamond's shipping agents. Diamond pay for sample shipping for UK users using Diamond shipping agents, 2 dewars per shift. Follow this link for details about returning a dewar.
   
• Experimental report
  Diamond require users to promptly submit an experimental report through the User Administration System UAS upon returning to the home establishment.
   
• Publishing work
  Users publishing work containing data from eBIC should ensure they:

How is data stored?

• Raw data - archived
  All raw data are permanently archived by Diamond to tape media but remain accessible on spinning disk for 40 days.
   
• HDD backup - no longer supported
  Support for HDD backups has been phased out and users should copy their data via high bandwidth file tansfer systems such as Globus or SFTP. Follow this link for the Remote access and analysis: User guide.
   
• Data backup - eBIC users responsible
  eBIC users are responsible for backing up data, to transfer it to local systems and provide long term data storage: Diamond data back up.

Monitoring an ongoing data collection

• eBIC users responsible
  The responsibility for monitoring an ongoing data collection session resides with the user.
   
• How to monitor?
  Instructions on how to monitor an ongoing data collection can be found in the Remote access and analysis: User guide.
   
• Contact EHC with any issues
  If a user observes an issue with ongoing data collection, eBIC request that the user informs the Experimental Hall Coordinators (EHC) on +44 (0) 1235 778787. The EHC will communicate the issue to a Local Contact as required.