Hutch Tab

Overview

The Hutch Tab allows the users to adjust various parameters for data collection by entering the desired values into the input boxes found in the Hutch Overview menu. If changes cannot be made, the input box is greyed out or inactive, hovering the mouse over the input box will return an error message. The changes are shown in red and are not made until the Move button is pressed. Hitting the Cancel button restores the edited motor values to their current position. Once the Move button is pressed, and the changes are initiated, the parameter being changed will be highlighted in red. Hitting the Abort button will stop the changes while they are being made. In general, all motors will remain at the position at which the Abort button was pressed.

Pull-Down Menus

  • The pull-down menus next to input boxes show the minimum and maximum values for the particular control with a range of values in between.
  • Any values can be input within this range. Entering values outside the range is strongly discouraged - you may get an error message , or hit a motor hardware limit, which will result in miscalibration of the motor.
  • Clicking on the units will produce another drop down menu with alternative units.
  • Clicking on the name of the parameter will produce a window presenting the option to undo the last change of that parameter.

Min. and max. values

Alternative units

Undo

  • If your experiment requires data collection outside the range provided, contact your support staff.

Video Documentation

Please see the Sample Tab for documentation of the sample video widget.

Sample Orientation

Some of the beamlines are equipped with a kappa diffractomenter. The Omega and Kappa motors are locked to avoid collisions with the detector and other beamline hardware.

If Omega or Kappa values need to be changed, please contact your support staff.

Adjusting Beam Attenuation


  • When the detector is saturated, or has too many overloads, the beam needs to be attenuated to ensure accurate data collection. Attenuating the beam can also account for exposure times shorter than the rotation time of phi. Aluminum filters are used to attenuate the beam.
  • The attenuation provided by the filters will be automatically recalculated if the energy is changed.
  • Filters already in place can be seen on video through the panel tab. On the drop down menu choose the Filter Controller view.
Critical: Note that it is possible to set the attenuation for each data collection run. The value entered for the data collection run will override the value entered in the hutch tab.

Adjusting Sample Position

See Sample Tab for documentation.

Adjusting Beam Size and Energy

Beam Size

See Sample Tab for documentation.

Energy

  • To change the energy use the box labeled Energy.
  • When first started, Blu-Ice shows the energy in eV. The energy units can be changed to keV and A by clicking on the current unit as seen in the second image above. Click Start to initiate any changes that you make.
  • The input value must be the same as the selected unit. Entering a value of a different unit will result in an error.
  • The beamline control software uses a new scripted device "optimized energy" which automatically optimizes the energy if it changes by more than 500eV (including during MAD experiments) and also every 1/2 - 2 hours depending on the beamline.

Adjusting Detector Position

  • To adjust the detector distance, vertical or horizontal position, change the values in the corresponding box. You will notice in the Resolution Predictor below the Detector Position control that the beam center and the predicted resolution circles move. See Determining Resolution Limits for more details.
  • Pressing Start will move the detector to the set position.
  • To view the detector position on video, go to the Hutch Tab in the video section and select overview from the presets on the left.

Determining Resolution Limits

  • The high and low resolution limit at a particular detector and beamstop position may be determined using the box labeled Resolution Predictor. When a change in the detector position, beamstop position or energy is made, the view in this box is updated automatically.
  • The label on the largest circle that fits in the detector shows the resolution to which complete data can be collected. Partial circles limit resolution shells that will be incomplete.
  • The label on the smallest circle corresponds to the lowest resolution to which data will be collected.
  • The Vertical and Horizontal positions of the detector (see Adjusting Detector Position section above) can also be used to determine the amount of detector offset you may require. Any movement of these positions will also be updated automatically on the Resolution Predictor.
  • If you do not wish to offset the detector, remember to reset the Horizontal and Vertical positions to the desired values before starting the data collection.