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Caroline Curfs has joined ESS on Sept 1 as the sample environment group leader. She shall lead the team when ESS is now entering initial operations.

In addition to operational activities she will also provide sample environment project coordination including integration oversight.

Caroline is a materials scientist specialised in diffraction who has worked in large facilities for more than 20 years: at the ESRF in France, at HIFAR/ANSTO in Australia and at PETRA III/DESY in Germany.

ESS is now looking for a Mechanical Design Engineer for the Technical Projects Group within the Neutron Scattering Systems (NSS) Project division. 

The 1st of May, we have learned with deep sadness the decease of Serge Pujol after a few months of fight with a cancer. Well known by ILL instrument teams and numerous users from more than 40 countries for decades, Serge has been a key staff until his retirement in 2005 and contributed tremendously to the success of the ILL.

At the beginning of the 70s, when the facility started the user programme, physicists needed cryostats for cooling their samples. In 1975, after encountering numerous difficulties with cryostats purchased in different countries, Serge Pujol and Dominique Brochier designed and built a new type of cryostat which will later be called the Orange Cryostat.

They were so successful that they started building them in series and then invented the Cryofurnace in 1983 for answering the demand of chemists who wanted to work below and above room temperature. Physicists then required temperatures lower than 1.5 K, Serge built dilution inserts with Charlie Neumaier and Jean-Louis Ragazzoni and then a dilution cryostat with Alain Benoît (CNRS). These systems were much more practical because it was not necessary to remove cryogens for changing samples.

In order to access the full reciprocal space, Serge then built a 4-circle He flow cryostat in 1987 followed by a dilution cryostat insensitive to gravity with Alain Benoît in 1991. Today, this world-unique cryostat is still very demanded on the single-crystal diffractometer D10. He also designed and built the Cryoflipper and the first Cryopads, helping Francis Tasset to develop the Spherical Neutron Polarimetry technique.

Serge was passionate and an uncontested expert in cryogenics. He used to share his know-how with his colleagues and friends Jean-Paul Gonzales and Maurice de Palma and all others he was meeting on the instruments. Before the end of his carrier, he took the time to teach a new generation who now supports users with great success.

We are extremely grateful and mourn today a person of great value.

Thank you Serge.

Following a first poll, two logos were selected amongst more than 10. After some refinement performed by our colleagues from Oak Ridge to comply with standards, a second poll were organised to choose between these 2 candidates. After a hot but gentle battle, we are now very glad to present the official logo 😉

How do you interpret the ‘i’ of the logo? ISSE members develop Innovative environments? develop environments for synchrotron (circular) and neutron (reactor or linac) sources? launch environments on beamlines? bring equipment adapted to any collimated beam shapes (from circular to rectangular)?…

Following a first poll, two logos have been selected amongst more than 10. After some refinement performed by our colleagues from Oak Ridge to comply with standards, we are now glad to present the final 2 candidates.

This second and final poll is organised to choose the official logo of the ISSE. We count on your participation!