>> I already suggested to install such an "automatic" powder diffractometer
>> at ILL. As Alan wrote recently, this could be a question of manpower.
>> I think that this is rather a local political question : it is not a very
>> interesting job for a human being to be a simple sample loader...
>
>A scheme like this could open up NPD to a wider range of users...
>So long as it doesn't mean getting up every six hours then I
>think it sounds like a fantastic job.
The manpower problem is not that no-one is willing to do it, but just
that we don't have many scientists at ILL - 52 total for 25+ machines.
This means 2 (including me) for each of our 2 main powder diffractometers,
with 2-3 different user groups on each machine, each week ! And our
machines run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in cycles of 50 days
for 225 days/year :-)
Yes our machines are largely automatic, but our people don't have
much spare time for running Armel's samples if he can't come himself,
especially since half our scientists are on fixed term contracts and
looking for their next job.
Alan H.
Alan Hewat, ILL Grenoble, FRANCE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> tel (33) 4.76.20.72.13
ftp://ftp.ill.fr/pub/dif fax (33) 4.76.48.39.06 http://www.ill.fr/dif/
