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2023A J-PARC MLF Call for General Use Proposals (Short-term and One-year)

[Closed]

The Call for General Use Proposals (Short-term, and One-year for BL11) is open from October 17, 2022.

Note:

1. Submission Deadline:

  November 7, 2022 at 17:00 Japan Time (UTC+09:00)

* Demand on the Proposal Submission System is typically very high on the closing day. You are strongly recommended to submit your proposal well in advance of the deadline.

2. How to submit proposals

The proposals should be submitted via the J-PARC Proposal Submission System.

【Attention!】 Application will not be accepted if the latest template file is not used.

Estimation of beamtime

Estimate the beamtime with beam power of 800 kW.

Language

  • Please write the application form in English. (Application written in Japanese is accepted only for P7 Industrial Applications and P9 New User Promotion.)

The proposal types and Experiment period

Type Experiment period Applicable Beamline Non-Proprietary Use /
Proprietary Use
Short-Term Proposal Regular proposal April-June 2023 All Muon and Neutron beamlines Non-Proprietary Use and Proprietary Use
Industrial application Neutron beamlines (Except BL03 and BL20) Non-Proprietary Use and Proprietary Use
New User Promotion (NUP)* BL01, BL02, BL11, BL15, BL17, BL18, BL22 Non-Proprietary Use
P-type proposal Muon beamlines Non-Proprietary Use
One-year proposal April 2023-March 2024 BL11 Non-Proprietary Use

Click here for further information on the proposal types

*NUP requires prior consultation before the proposal is submitted. More information

Prior consultation

【Sample environment and experiment conditions】
Please consult the instrument scientists in advance about the sample environment and experiment conditions. The proposal may not be approved if it is considered that the experiment cannot be implemented because the necessary sample environment/experiment conditions cannot be provided.
Contact information: List of Instruments

【Proposals using BL08 or BL16】
Please be sure to contact the instrument scientists in advance to discuss the experiment details if you apply for beamtime of BL08 (SuperHRPD) or BL16 (SOFIA).
Contact information:BL08BL16

【Joint research with the instrument scientists using muon beamlines】
In order to conduct joint research with the instrument scientists of muon beamlines, please consult with the instrument scientists in advance and agree on their roles in the experiment before submitting the application.
Contact information: Muon D1Muon D2Muon S1

【First time and novice users of neutron/muon beamlines】
J-PARC Center is accepting consultations from first time and novice users of neutron/muon beamlines. If you are considering using the neutron/muon beamlines, please contact us through Neutron and Muon Users Poral Site (J-JOIN).

Other important points for proposal application

  • If you cite text or figures from other papers or other sources, please be sure to clearly indicate the source of the citation. If plagiarism is identified in the application during the review process, the application may be withdrawn.
  • Consent of the person is required if you include his/her name in the application form as a collaborator. This also applies to a member of MLF staff, and please be sure to obtain his/her consent in advance of submitting the proposal. Proposals may be rejected if a person is included as a collaborator without his/her consent.
  • This call for proposal does not accept application for Ibaraki Neutron Beamlines (BL03,BL20) from proposers belonging to private companies. To apply for Ibaraki Neutron Beamlines for industrial use, please apply for the proposal call conducted by the Ibaraki Prefecture.

【Contact】AQBRC Ibaraki Prefecture Office
                 Email: info-neutronprefibaraki.lg.jp

3. Evaluation process and criteria

Submitted proposals will be reviewed, through the prescribed review process, from comprehensive and specialized viewpoints based on the evaluation criteria. The beamtime of the proposal will be determined in consideration of the scientific merits of the proposal and adequacy of the necessary beamtime.

4. Eligibility to apply

1.Researchers belonging to a university, private company, public research institute, etc.
2.Graduate students (masters and PhD students)*

* If you are a graduate student intending the proposal application, please note the following:

  • Please contact the instrument scientists before submitting the proposal.
  • Enter “Graduate Student” in the field of the applicant’s job title.
  • Indication of AS and ES
    • The applicant’s academic supervisor must be registered as a Collaborator. In the field of job title, add “AS” after his/her job title.
    • An academic staff member of the applicant’s university, which includes his/her academic supervisor, and research collaborator (not including graduate students) is required to attend and supervise the experiment (experiment supervisor). The experiment supervisor must be included as a Collaborator. In the field of the job title, add “ES” after his/her job title.
      e.g. : Professor, AS   Research staff, ES   Professor, AS, ES

    ※Application without AS and ES cannot not be received.
  • If the proposal has been approved, the academic supervisor is required to submit the specified pledge for implementing the experiment.

Regarding applicants belonging to the organizations listed in the Foreign End User List of METI or the nationals of non-NPT countries, eligibility to apply is decided in consultation with MEXT etc.

5. Instruments available for this proposal round

Please contact the instrument scientists for the specification of the instrument etc.

Instrument available for General Use Proposal (Short-term)

Neutron Instruments

Neutron Diffraction
Inelastic Neutron Scattering
SANS and Neutron Reflectometry
Other Neutron Instruments

Muon Instruments

Muon Spectroscopy

Instrument available for General Use Proposal (One-year)

Neutron Instrument

6. Selection of the review field

The submitted proposals are reviewed by each research field. Please choose the appropriate research field when applying.
List of keywords for each research field.

Neutron

P1 Structural Science (Crystal, Amorphous and Liquid)
P2 Energy Science and High-Pressure Science
P3 Soft Matter and Biological Matter
P4 Magnetic Material and Strongly Correlated Electron System (Structure)
P5 Magnetic Material and Strongly Correlated Electron System (Dynamics)
P6 Fundamental Physics, Nuclear Physics, Instrumentation, Imaging
P7 Industrial Applications(*1)
P8 Materials Engineering
P9 New User Promotion (*2)

(※1)Application for P7 “Industrial Applications” is limited to the proposals from PIs belonging to a private company.
(※2)Prior consultation is necessary for choosing “P9 New User Promotion”. More information

Muon

Q1 Electronic Properties of Matter & Hydrogen in Matter
Q2 General Applications

7. Points to note for planning the research

  • Use of samples including nuclear fuel materials/elements is prohibited. Only RI samples permitted by the MLF may be used.
  • If the review panel has judged that there is a more appropriate beamline than the one requested, the beamline may be changed.
  • Users who intend to bring in electrical equipment whose power output rating is 7.5kW and above/7.5kVA and above or equipment whose current rating is 30A and above must include the detailed equipment specifications in the research plan.
  • KEK beamlines cannot accept undergraduate students as Collaborators. However, they can participate in the research as interns. If a graduate student participates as a Collaborator, write “Graduate Student” in the field of the job title.
  • If researchers belonging to a private company want to use a muon instrument, please contact us at the email address indicated at the bottom in advance.
  • J-PARC also welcomes P-type proposals to conduct test experiments in preparation for general use and Project use (S-type use) proposal as well as proposals from the users who have no experience in muon use. For more details, please click here.

8. Indication of keywords

Please list up to 5 keywords that briefly describe the proposal in the Research Plan template.

9. Complementary Use proposals

Please indicate if your proposed research includes, or is likely to include in the future, the complementary use of other major research facilities such as, but not limited to, synchrotron radiation sources (SPring-8, SACLA, PF, etc.), JRR-3, supercomputer (HPCI including Fugaku computer etc.), or other quantum beam facilities.
If the above applies to your proposal, indicate the details in the Research Plan template. This information will be used only to survey current trends in research proposals at the MLF.

10. Conditions for conducting experiments for approved proposals

  • In principle, the instrument scientists will not conduct the experiment on behalf of the users. Please ensure that the PI or another team member comes to the MLF to conduct the experiment (including the preparation).
  • If the PI and the instrument scientist agree by 30 days prior to the scheduled experiment day that there is no prospect of implementing the experiment, the beamtime will be canceled. (If such a member is coming from abroad and a visa is necessary, be sure that he/she can obtain an appropriate visa.)
  • Please refer to the websites of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for information on necessary procedures, conditions for coming to Japan, etc.
  • Experiment is not allowed to be implemented if it is attended only by students (including graduate students).
  • In principle, experiments implemented by non-residents of Japan or residents of Japan with strong association to foreign countries are subject to export control (research team members, sample, obtained data, etc.). Please note that there is a case where the implementation of the experiment will not be permitted depending on the results of the screening of export control even if the proposal application has been received or the experiment has been approved through proposal selection screening.

11. Charge for use for Proprietary Use Proposals

Proprietary Use Charge is 2,983,000 JPY (tax included)/ day

12. Publication of results (Non-Proprietary Use)

  • PI of Non-proprietary use experiment is required to submit an Experimental Report within 60 days after the end of the experiment period (deadline of report is here). The report will be published on the J-PARC website.
  • Please publish the results of the experiment within 3 years after the completion of the experiment.
  • Submission of the Experiment Reports of the past experiments conducted at the MLF and the publication of the results will be taken into account in the future proposal review.
  • When publishing the results, it is recommended to consult with the instrument scientists in advance about who should be the co-author. It is also important to take into account the support provided by the instrument scientists and other staffs maintaining and operating the facility when deciding the co-authors. Please also indicate the proposal number and the beamline(s) used for the experiment in the publishment. ( Sample Acknowledgements)

13. Disclosure of information

  • The information below on the approved and completed experiments (Non-proprietary use and Proprietary use) will be published on the website.

Approved Experiments

Proposal number, PI’s name, Affiliation, Nationality of the PI’s affiliation, Beamline number, Allocated beamtime.

Completed experiments

Title of Proposal, Allocated beamtime

14. Additional call for proposals

There may be an additional call for proposals in the case where the total of the applied beamtime in this call for proposal is less than the available beamtime. In that case, information will be released on the website etc.

15. Notification of review result

The review results will be sent to the applicants’ email addresses registered in the Proposal Submission System. The provisional notification will be sent around February 2023, and the official notification is planned to be sent after all the review process has been completed, which will be in March 2023.

16. Contact Us

J-PARC Center Users' Office

For Non-Proprietary Use:j_proposalmlj-parc.jp
For Proprietary Use: j_proposal_pmlj-parc.jp
For General Questions: jimurisokumlj-parc.jp