Compres

• NSLS : 

COMPRES provides funding for operations and equipment upgrades at high-pressure multi-anvil and diamond-anvil X-ray facilities and infrared DAC facilities at the NSLS, under Contributing User Agreements negotiated with the NSLS on behalf of the COMPRES community.
Leading members of the COMPRES community are consulted and engaged in planning and design of the new synchrotron facilities at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, NSLS II [which was highlighted as one of the key new innovations in the American Competitiveness Initiative, February 2006].

• ALS :

COMPRES provides funding for operations and equipment upgrades at high-pressure diamond-anvil X-ray facilities at ALS, as a partner in an Approved Program with the University of California and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

• GSECARS at the APS :

High pressure mineral physics research at synchrotron X-ray facilities in the U. S. is managed by two organizations supported largely by NSF and DOE:  GeoSoilEnviroCARS (GSECARS) at the University of Chicago and COMPRES. GSECARS is a national user facility for frontier research in the earth sciences using the high-brilliance, high energy synchrotron radiation at the third generation Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory. 

Together, COMPRES and GSECARS provide strategically vital support to the operations of high-pressure beamlines at synchrotrons, including funding of beamline scientists at the facilities and access and assistance for students, postdocs, etc. in the earth science community.  All the beam time at GSECARS and at the COMPRES-supported components at the NSLS and the ALS is open to the general community through proposals to the General User Programs [GUP] at each facility.  There are at least two distinct communities served by operations of high-pressure facilities at the national laboratories: (1) General group of users in geosciences [students, postdocs, staff]; (2)  Developers of new techniques or those who adapt new technologies developed in other disciplines.  The operators of the high-pressure facilities at the national laboratories have an obligation to serve each of these distinct and important communities.

GSECARS and COMPRES collaborate closely through coordination of community development activities and the design, construction and operation of advanced instrumentation through COMPRES-supported infrastructure projects.  For example, three major technological tools supported by the COMPRES Infrastructure Development program are being installed at GSECARS or associated space at the APS:  (1) a Brillouin spectroscopy system (installed at GSECARS and undergoing commissioning); (2) a CO₂ laser heating system (under development at GSECARS); and (3) a gas-loading facility for diamond-anvil cells (in design phase).  X-ray optics and software developed at GSECARS are being used at the COMPRES-operated x-ray beamlines at the NSLS.  Robert Liebermann, the President of COMPRES, is a GeoCARS representative on the CARS Board of Governors.

A joint statement of the relationship between COMPRES and GSECARS was prepared by the Principal Investigators of the two organizations in January 2006 and endorsed by the Program Director of the Instrumentation and Facilities Program in EAR at the NSF. 

High Pressure Summit Meeting

In September 2005, COMPRES convened a meeting among a number of organizations funded by the NSF and/or the DOE which are engaged in developing and operating facilities at national laboratories for high-pressure mineral physics research, including the following:

COMPRES:  COnsortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences
GSECARS:  GeoSoilEnviron Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources
HPCAT:  High Pressure Collaborative Access Team
SNAP:  Spallation Neutrons and Pressure at the Spallation Neutron Source [SNS]
ALS:  High-Pressure Partners at the Advanced Light Source
LLNL:  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
LANSCE:  Los Alamos Neutron Science Center
CHESS:  Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source
LCLS:  Linac Coherent Light Source at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center [SLAC]
CDAC:  Carnegie/DOE Alliance Center

The objectives of the meeting were to describe:

1.  The shared and broad missions for high-pressure mineral physics.
2.  The structure and responsibilities of the various organizations.
3.  The relative roles in the high-pressure community.
4.  Current funding status and future needs.

This meeting was held on September 24-25, 2005 in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York.  As an outcome of this meeting, the attendees prepared a report to the NSF and DOE Program Managers and presented this report in person at the NSF on November 29, 2005.  A copy may be found at:  http://www.compres.stonybrook.edu/Publications/index.html