[en] A scheme for obtaining a stationary monochromatic beam that can be focused in the horizontal and the vertical planes and rapidly tuned to a desirable wavelength with the aid of a bending magnet on a Sibir'-2 synchrotron source has been designed. The channel parameters and the size and profile of a sagittally bent single crystal of the double-crystal monochromator were chosen with the use of numerical simulation

[en] Design modifications made in the initial project of the Belok station in the Sibir-2 storage ring and the alignment and calibration methods are considered. The main operating parameters of the station are reported. Protein single crystals in a capillary at T = 293 K and without a capillary at T = 95 K, powders (angular resolution Δ2θ = 0.04 deg.), and nanocrystalline Na and Cl₂ precipitates (sizes, shape, and orientation) in electron-irradiated NaCl crystals have been investigated. The problem of focusing of a short-wavelength synchrotron radiation beam with sagittal bending of the second crystal in the double-crystal monochromator at a limited source-to-sample distance is solved in the Belok project

[en] A new crystal monochromator is designed and tested. The crystal monochromator allows for the use of a large curvature of the sagittal bending and makes it possible to focus synchrotron radiation at a short wavelength and a limited distance from the synchrotron radiation source to the sample

[en] The thermal load caused by the absorption of synchrotron radiation in X-ray optical elements of the Belok and RSA stations leads to optics elements heating and induces strains upon simultaneous cooling. The heating of the cooled first crystal in the double-crystal monochromator causes its bending and increases the reflected beam divergence, which, in turn, results in the monochromatic beam intensity loss [1]. Numerical simulation makes it possible to more accurately determine the strains, choose the optimal monochromator design, estimate the vertical sizes of the focal spot and wavelength resolution in the focusing channel, correctly design the system for cooling the mirror at the channel input, and choose a design providing the minimum temperature of the beam-limiting slit knives.

No abstract available

[en] The design of the station for structural analysis of polycrystalline materials and single crystals (including nanoobjects and macromolecular crystals) on a synchrotron radiation beam from the superconducting wiggler of the Siberia-2 storage ring is described. The wiggler is constructed at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The X-ray optical scheme of the station involves a (1, -1) double-crystal monochromator with a fixed position of the monochromatic beam and a sagittal bending of the second crystal, segmented mirrors bent by piezoelectric motors, and a (2θ, ω, φ) three-circle goniometer with a fixed tilt angle. Almost all devices of the station are designed and fabricated at the Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Bruker APEX11 two-dimensional CCD detector will serve as a detector in the station

[en] An upgraded X-ray Topography and Microtomography (XRT-MT) station is described, the parameters of the optical schemes and detectors are given, and the experimental possibilities of the station are analyzed. Examples of tomographic reconstructions are reported which demonstrate spatial resolutions of 2.5 and 10 μm at fields of view of 2.5 and 10 mm, respectively.

No abstract available

[en] A space experiment on the crystallization of lisozyme and glucose isomerase proteins in UK-1 and UK-2 crystallizers on the scientific equipment BELKA on the Bion-M no. 1 spacecraft was performed in April–May 2013. A ground-based experiment was carried out simultaneously at the Institute of Crystallography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IC RAS). Transparent crystals were obtained in both cases. The lisozyme crystals grown in microgravity are larger than their terrestrial analogs. An optical study of glucose isomerase crystals grown in space has shown that the coalescence of equally oriented crystallites leads to the formation of quasi-single-crystal blocks. An X-ray diffraction experiment on lisozyme crystals has revealed the resolutions for crystals obtained under terrestrial conditions and in space to be 1.74 and 1.58 Å, respectively

[en] Various human footprints on the flux of biogenic greenhouse gases from permafrost-affected soils in Arctic and boreal domains in Russia are considered. Tendencies of significant growth or suppression of soil CO₂ fluxes change across types of human impact. Overall, the human impacts increase the mean value and variance of local soil CO₂ flux. Human footprint on methane exchange between soil and atmosphere is mediated by drainage. However, all the types of human impact suppress the sources and increase sinks of methane to the land ecosystems. N₂O flux grew under the considered types of human impact. Based on the results, we suggest that human footprint on soil greenhouse gases fluxes is comparable to the effect of climate change at an annual to decadal timescales.