SESAME scientific program: opportunities and challenges

SESAME is an international science organization, governed by an International Council, and funded by the member states. SESAME operates a modern 2.5 GeV storage ring for producing x-rays, and utilizes its beamlines for general scientific purposes. It has become operational in 2018 with two beamlines dedicated to x-ray absorption spectroscopy and infrared studies. Two additional beamlines dedicated to x-ray diffraction and macromolecular crystallography are expected to be operational in 2019. There can be as many as 18 beamlines built at full operations.

The beamtime allocation is based on proposal system. There were 54 proposals in the first round. Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran and Jordan submitted the most proposals.The list also included Italy, Cyprus, Kenya, Palestine, France, Sweden, and Colombia. Most of the proposals were submitted in life sciences, chemistry, physics and materials sciences. There were also five proposals in the archeology/cultural heritage studies, indicating strong interest in this field. Half of the proposals are allocated beamtime, already putting SESAME in oversubscription form by a factor of two.