How do I go about submitting a sample?
Bring the sample container to the X-ray lab (FNT B.104 (lab); FNT B..108 (office); 471-4042).  DON’T take the crystals out of the solution.  Bring the entire container.

How do I grow X-ray quality crystals?
There are many websites with useful ideas for growing crystals.  A few are listed below.  The two most common methods for crystal growth are slow evaporation and vapor diffusion.
http://web.mit.edu/x-ray/cystallize.html
http://www.cryst.chem.uu.nl/lutz/growing/growing.html

How do I know if my crystals are ‘X-ray quality’?
You don’t until you put it in the X-ray beam and see if it diffracts.  But good crystals will have a well defined shape, be it plates, needles, prisms.  Where two crystal faces join, the edge will be well defined.  When in doubt, bring them by the X-ray lab and look at them through the microscope.

What is the optimum size for my crystal?
There is none.  If you can see the crystals with the naked eye, they are probably big enough.  Crystal quality and sample composition are both important components in determining a crystal’s usefulness for structure determination.

Can I run my own X-ray experiments?
The powder diffraction instruments are self serve.  You will have to run your own powder samples.  For single crystal experiments, you can be trained to run your own samples or you can submit them to the lab manager for analysis.  See the lab manager for more information.

How can I ensure that an instrument is available?
Once you been trained and taken the safety courses, you can reserve instrument time on any of the available instruments (http://faces.ccrc.uga.edu/).  For single crystal work, you should reserve the instrument for the entire day.  If you decide after screening some crystals, that your sample is not suitable, you should cancel your reservation.  If you cancel before noon, you will not be charged for the day.

How long does it take to get results?
For powder diffraction on the Spider with a loose powder, a typical exposure time is between 10 and 20 minutes.  Setup may take about the same amount of time.  Processing the data takes a few minutes.  Generally, a one hour reservation is sufficient for one sample.
For single crystal work, data collection generally will run overnight once a suitable crystal is found.  Workup of the data may take an hour or so.  Once the data is processed, routine structures can be ready to publish in an hour or two.  More difficult structures may take many hours or days.