9 Aug 2011
The Photon Factory (PF) of the Institute of Materials Structure Science, KEK has been forced to suspend experiments since the 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku struck the east Japan in March. To support researchers whose experiments at PF were suspended, many synchrotron radiation facilities in Japan and around the world have offered their facilities to these researchers, and indeed many PF experiments have been performed at these facilities including SPring-8 since May.
Oversea facilities offer their support, too. As of this publication，several PF experiments have been performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL, USA), the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC, Taiwan), and the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF, China). In some of these experiments PF's staff members have provided on-site technical assistance.
In July, PF experiments of small angle X-ray scattering were performed at Beamline 4-2 at SSRL, where Drs. Noriyuki Igarashi and Nobutaka Shimizu of KEK joined to implement technical assistance. This visit was covered by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and InMenlo, an online local information publisher, at their websites. In the interview, Dr. Igarashi appreciated SSRL for its support as well as updated the recovery status of PF.
SLAC NEWS CENTER, Feature Story
https://news.slac.stanford.edu/features/slac-welcomes-displaced-japanese-scientists
NSRRC, Taiwan, News Brief
http://www.srrc.gov.tw/ViewNews/MediaLayout03.aspx?ViewID=M20110729155840620&Lang=English