Iranian Researchers Gain Access to ALBA Facilities

The director of the Laboratory Network of Strategic Technologies of Iran’s Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology (VPST), Reza Asadi-Fard, announced that Iran has signed an applicable contract with Spain’s ALBA Synchrotron to provide Iranian researchers and experimentalists with the opportunity to use the facilities of the Spanish lab, observe the experiments conducted there and carry out experiments in its advanced laboratories.

According to a Farsi report by ISTI, ALBA is a third-generation synchrotron Light facility located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, (Barcelona), the newest source in the Mediterranean area.

Asadi-Fard added that, as per the contract, the Iranian researchers and experimentalists will be able to use the lab’s synchrotron radiation to conduct research and experiments in different fields of study including physics, chemistry, materials science, medicine, biology, archaeometry, and natural environment.

He added as stipulated in the contact, signed between ALBA Synchrotron, the VPST and Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, the signatories to the deal will secure the fund for the cooperation.

Asadi-Far said a large number of the laboratories, which are members of the Laboratory Network of Strategic Technologies, provide services for Iranian users.

“All these users can perform their advanced experiments, which cannot be conducted in small labs, using a synchrotron accelerator similar to the one available in ALBA lab.”

He said the agreement signed with ALBA allows Iranian researchers and experimentalists to carry out experiments in the Spanish lab for 480 hours (20 days) in 60 working shifts and be able to use synchrotron ray.

“To use this opportunity optimally and in an expert manner, Iranian scientists and researchers, involved in different fields of study, have been invited to work out their proposed plans regarding the ways synchrotron radiation can be used and register them in a special system created for this program,” he noted.

Asadi-Fard said 10 to 15 groups of Iranian researchers and experimentalists are expected to be dispatched to Spain to carry out their experiments.

“A number of Iranian experts will accurately assess the research plans on how to use synchrotron radiation, working as part of the scientific task force of Iran-ALBA Users Program. Also, in addition to the domestic professors and experts, four Iranian users of synchrotron, who are currently working in international labs, have been selected to be of assistance in the process of judging and selecting the plans.”

He added more than 330 member laboratories of the Laboratory Network of Strategic Technologies are currently providing over 1 million types of services to Iranian researchers and experimentalists. The members include university centres, research institutes and knowledge-based companies.

He listed some of the members of the Laboratory Network of Strategic Technologies, which provide services for Iranian university professors, researchers and students, and their numbers as: 41 X-ray fluorescence, 68 X-ray powder diffraction, 16 transmission electron microscopy, 61 scanning electron microscopy, 100 infrared and related technologies and two small angle X-ray scattering laboratories as well as an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy one.

Asadi-Far stressed that those Iranians who are engaged in the fields of science, research and technology are required to be provided with access to the ALBA facilities, adding, those involved in the country’s steel production, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, energy, food as well as cosmetics and toiletries industries constitute a substantial number of the applicants for using ALBA facilities.