The 2015 Award for Excellence in Beamline Science at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) was awarded on May 11, 2015, to Daniel Haskel, Group Leader of the Argonne X-ray Science Division Magnetic Materials Group.
The award recognizes Haskel's pioneering work in x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and x-ray resonant magnetic scattering using hard x-rays at the APS. He has also developed many new capabilities for users of the APS, including high-pressure, low-temperature, high-magnetic-field x-ray absorption near edge structure and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the APS Sector 4 x-ray beamlines. The combination of these environments is challenging to implement, yet crucially important for understanding the resultant magnetic phase transitions. As a direct result of his efforts, the APS user base in the areas of magnetism and strongly correlated materials has expanded significantly.
Haskel’s science program has resulted in over 100 publications in high-impact journals. He has directly mentored 3 Ph.D. resident students, 5 post-docs, and 3 visiting students, and organized a number of scientific symposia and workshops to educate the user community. Daniel is also an Adjunct Professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
His research activities focus on the development of novel polarized x-ray techniques enabling studies of the interplay between structure and magnetism in complex, functional magnetic materials. These include extension of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism and polarized x-ray absorption near-edge/fine structure techniques to the diamond-anvil cell for high-pressure studies of electronic structure and magnetism; magnetic reflectivity for studies of interfacial magnetic structure and depth-resolved magnetization profiles in artificial layered nanostructures; and magnetic diffraction anomalous fine structure for studies of element- and site-specific magnetism in single crystalline bulk and film samples.
After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Haskel came to Argonne as a post-doctoral research associate in 1999, joining the APS as an assistant physicist in 2001, and was promoted to physicist in 2005. He became the Group Leader of the Magnetic Materials Group in 2013 with responsibility for APS beamlines at sectors 4, 6 and 29.
Haskel is the holder of one patent, presenter of over 50 invited talks at national and international conferences, Editorial Board member for Nature Scientific Reports, and Secretary/Treasurer of the International X-ray Absorption Society.
The Award for Excellence in Beamline Science at the Advanced Photon Source is intended to recognize beamline scientists who have made significant scientific contributions in their area of research or instrumentation development and have promoted the user community in this area.
This award is conferred each year on an active APS beamline scientist, regardless of employer or rank. It may recognize a career of meaningful, sustained contribution; a body of recent important work; and/or a single work of particular importance. Potential nominees are limited to full-time beamline scientists at the APS with at least half of their time spent on user operations or instrument development.
Argonne National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.