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Sample Submissions

Sample Submissions Guide

If you would like to submit a sample to the single crystal service please follow the steps below:

  • To save your and our time, please, first of all show the potential sample to one of the crystallographers (Dmitry Yufit or Toby Blundell – CG072) for examination under microscope. About 30-40% of samples are rejected at this stage as non-crystalline materials or non-single crystals.
  • We can not re-crystallize the rejected samples for you but we will be happy to give you advice on crystallisation.
  • If your sample is of acceptable quality, we will guide you through the rest of the submission process. It consists of registration in DIMAS – Durham Integrated Management and Access System (for the first time users).
  • XRD service is not a self-service, however if you expect to study a number of crystals during your long stay in Durham and would like to collect your own data we will be happy to discuss the options with you and your supervisor.
  • Usual turnaround time from the submission of the sample to receiving results of final model refinement vary from several hours to several weeks (in a worst case scenario), however usual time is 2-4 working days (for ~75% of the samples).