The document presents the NEP Data Management Plan (NEP-DMP), and describes the measures envisaged to efficiently manage the Research Data collected and generated during the project. The NEP-DMP is intended to be a living document in which information can be made available on a finer level of granularity through updates as the implementation of the project progresses and when significant changes occur. The document is therefore versioned in order to keep track of changes and improvements. The NEP-DMP describes the standards and methodologies for the collection and generation of Research Data that will be applied throughout the duration of the project, as well as the conditions for publishing such data. This document aims to facilitate the creation of common understanding and, where possible, common practices.

Under Horizon 2020 gender is a cross-cutting issue and 3 objectives underpin the strategy on gender equality: 1. Fostering gender balance in research teams, in order to close the gaps in the participation of women. 2. Ensuring gender balance in decision-making, in order to reach the target of 40% of the under-represented sex in panels and groups and of 50% in advisory groups. 3. Integrating the gender dimension in research and innovation (R&I) content. In Horizon 2020 funded projects grant beneficiaries commit themselves to promoting equal opportunities and a balanced participation of women and men at all levels in research and innovation teams and in management structures. Moreover, gender balance is a feature of H2020 projects evaluated under Impact. This document aims at having a detailed snapshot of NEP performances about gender in the first 18 months from the beginning of the project, also in comparison with the numbers presented in SHE FIGURES 2021 (https://ec.europa.eu/assets/rtd/shefigures2021/index.html), and at identifying actions to pursue to better address gender issues outlined in NEP proposals.

This document summarises all the internal rules and procedures established for granting users transnational access to NFFA-Europe facilities. Before the detailed presentation of all steps in Sections 2 – 4, the route towards their definition is briefly mentioned in Sect. 1, to highlight differences with the previous NFFA-Europe project (http://nffa-europe.nffa.eu/). Finally, in Sect. 5 the temporary internal procedures necessary for a smooth management of the first calls are described.

The present deliverable describes the overall design and structure of the integrated online system to support the IDRIN operation. Taking into account the outcome of Task 2.1 (Infrastructure set-up and operation, guidance to access providers and users) described in Deliverable D2.1 (Detailed procedures for integrated TA), the system has been designed to integrate into a Single Entry Point all the tools for the management of the techniques catalogue, the proposals, the users, the projects, in a set of standardized online procedures. The system will collect and organize a large set of data and information that will be the base for a Business Intelligence Analytics tool, that will allow a continuous monitoring of the IDRIN operation. This deliverable describes the technical aspects of the different components of the platform and offers an overview of its main functionalities.

After four quarterly calls, NEP has received about 150 proposals from institutions from 35 different countries. About 60% of those proposals have been granted access to 80% of NEP beneficiaries making use of half of the techniques offered in the NEP catalogue. The evaluation of proposals in terms of eligibility, feasibility and scientific merit has followed the already well-oiled procedure of former NFFA with TLNet and ARP as main actors. The granted access amounts to 1282 Units of Access (UoA), which represents 26% of the committed NEP offer. Since about sixteen calls are foreseen during the action lifetime, it can be considered that the demand received and the success rate associated to the evaluation procedure is adequate for the capacity mobilized by NEP. The NEP catalogue is arranged around six different installations (all have received demand) covering collectively up to 43 different families of techniques (90% of them have received demand). NEP capacity has been pre-distributed with a tentative split of UoA among the six installations and among the different beneficiaries/providers; no pre-arrangement has been defined for the relative weight of the different families of techniques, though. Details on installations, families of techniques and providers are given in section 2. Quantitative access data of the first four calls, and the assessment of how these installations, families of techniques and providers have fared in terms of access (demand, success rates…) is covered in section 3. NEP contemplates a couple of capacity redistribution exercises at installation and provider levels. Section 4 covers further insights on how to adapt or re-steer NEP original provisions about access capacity to the demand obtained so far. It also has an open window of opportunity to extend the catalogue to newer directions. In terms of technical outreach, NEP has already increased its presence in the engineering, chemical and biological domains, as intended, but there are technical possiblities in the catalogue related to those areas that remain untapped. At this stage, it is considered better to consolidate the access to those communities to better exploit the current catalogue before attempting to reach any other new ones.

According to the Grant Agreement, in the lifetime of NFFA-Europe Pilot the Transnational Access offer must enlarge to meet (i) the qualitative needs of users that could be better met with new specialized providers, or (ii) quantitative needs resulting in oversubscription of the current capacity. To this aim, two calls for additional access providers were foreseen at M24 and M40, respectively. This report describes the rationale that led to the text of the first call for additional access providers, i.e. from the evaluation of the needs – mainly based on the analysis provided in the deliverable D2.3 “First balance of access provision” - to the search for alternative solutions to widen and strengthen the current offer.

This document contains the first report on the status of the data management in NFFA Europe Pilot. After a summary of the general philosophy used for the data management, we will briefly recall the solutions implemented, and we will present the initial statistics and/or feedback from partner and users.

This report is a deliverable of Task 2.6 dedicated to the harmonisation of nanosafety procedures as part of WP2 “Pilot scheme for the management of a distributed research infrastructure offering harmonised, interoperable and integrated services”. The primary motivation within the context of NEP for the investigation of nanosafety procedures is the practical consideration that, when providing users with access to the facilities operated by the NEP beneficiaries, the staff of those beneficiaries routinely have to handle nanomaterials provided by the users. And while the users may have some information about the materials that they are providing, e.g., from their work on producing or modifying those materials, in many cases NEP is asked to perform the types of analytical measurements (e.g., of particle sizes, morphology, or composition) that ultimately can be part of the basis for evaluating the potential hazards posed by the (nano)material in question. In other words, until the measurements requested by the users have been performed via access provided by NEP, information about the (nano)materials being handled may be limited. The challenge of making decisions about the potential hazards posed by (nano)materials based on limited information, of course, is not unique to NEP but rather is encountered by other entities that routinely handle materials provided by third parties. This challenge is also related to the framework for evaluating the safety or potential hazards of nanomaterials that is under development in the European Union and worldwide, due to the proliferation of nanomaterials— both incidental and deliberately engineered—encountered in industry/commerce and environment. Accordingly, the work in this task focused on collecting information and analysing resources that have been created by previous and ongoing dedicated nanosafety efforts by expert communities (both from NEP beneficiaries and external entities), rather than independently developing nanosafety procedures. The results from this task are considered in the context of NEP and interactions with the expert community, with conclusions and recommendations provided in the final section of this report.

WP2 aims at optimizing the implementation of all access-related activities leading to integration and interoperability of a single Interoperable Distributed Research Infrastructure for Nanoscience (IDRIN). Optimization of user access experience, effectiveness of usage of the infrastructure and scientific output are the ultimate goals. To this effect, a continuous monitoring scheme for a smooth and harmonized operation is being put in place. Careful monitoring of the user proposals wallow identifying the scientific trends in user needs. Scientific outcomes are monitored and analyzed, both in terms of scientific publication and scientific data made available. To this effect one of its tasks is the technical and operational continuous upgrade of the IDRIN to better serve an expanding user community and to set the basis of an evolutionary model for an advanced and sustainable distributed research infrastructure. Particularly, this deliverable originates from task 2.5 (Technical and scientific evolution of the IDRIN). It foresees the analysis of the use of the TA-VA infrastructure and its scientific outcome as a whole, identifying new user communities to be targeted and preparing the calls for additional providers. The collective effort of TA-VA WP leaders, as well as the TLNet, contributes to the evaluation the scientific use of the distributed installations, identifying capacity criticalities if any, and/or capturing new science opportunities to be supported by the offer to the nanoscience users. As a result, it is foreseen that the NEP catalogue undergoes periodical revisions giving an answer to both (i) identified unmet qualitative needs of users and (ii) quantitative needs resulting from oversubscription of the current capacity.

According to the Grant Agreement, in the lifetime of NFFA-Europe Pilot the Transnational Access offer must enlarge to meet (i) the qualitative needs of users that could be better met with new specialized providers, or (ii) quantitative needs resulting in oversubscription of the current capacity. To this aim, two calls for additional access providers were foreseen at M24 and M40, respectively. This report describes the rationale that led to the text of the second call for additional access providers, i.e. from the evaluation of the needs – mainly based on the analysis provided in the deliverable D2.7 “Second balance of access provision” - to the search for alternative solutions to widen and strengthen the current offer.

The Integrated Distributed Research Infrastructure for Nanoscience (IDRIN) has been conceived as a coordinated and interoperable operational model for a distributed research infrastructure bringing together the facilities and services offered by the NEP consortium under a common coordinated framework. The NFFA-Europe IDRIN encompasses a broad ensemble of access providers, including both beneficiaries and Third Parties providing access against Payment (TPaP), whose complementary scientific and technological capabilities collectively form a single and unique European Research Infrastructure (RI) for the science of matter and advanced materials at the nanoscale, with upscale to micro analysis and technology. While maintaining the distributed nature of its constituent facilities, the IDRIN is designed to operate as a single integrated RI. Its operational model combines geographically distributed installations with central coordination mechanisms and local operational nodes, enabling harmonised access procedures, coordinated service delivery, and effective interoperability among providers. Through this approach, users can access via a Single Entry Point (SEP) a broad portfolio of techniques, instruments and expertise through a common framework, independently of the location of the resources required to perform their research. The coordinated operation of IDRIN relies on several dedicated components, each addressing a specific aspect of the infrastructure management. Scientific quality is ensured through the Access Review Panel (ARP), an independent external peer-review body responsible for evaluating the scientific merit of user proposals. Technical coordination is ensured by the Technical Liaison Network (TLNet), a distributed network composed of a central coordinating node and local nodes at provider sites, assessing technical feasibility, supporting users, and coordinating the implementation of optimised work plans across co-located and distributed facilities. The user-oriented dimension of the infrastructure is supported by the User Office Network (UONet) that coordinates the activities of local User Offices, aiming at the provision of harmonised administrative and logistical services throughout the access lifecycle. Through common procedures and shared service standards, UONet supports users in matters such as travel and subsistence reimbursement, logistics, legal and insurance aspects, while contributing to the integration of administrative information across the infrastructure. A further fundamental component of IDRIN is the data management framework, which supports the implementation of FAIR data principles and promotes advanced data stewardship practices across all infrastructure activities. The data management platform provides an integrated environment linking scientific datasets, metadata and access-related information, enabling the production, storage and exploitation of FAIR research data while supporting monitoring, reporting and future socio-economic analyses of the infrastructure usage. Together, these coordination components provide the scientific, technical, operational and datamanagement foundations required to operate the IDRIN as a coherent distributed infrastructure. To support the development of sustainable schemes for the long-term technical and scientific management of the IDRIN, the coordinators of the main operational components were invited to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the current operational model and explain their view on the needs for its further evolution. The analysis presented in this deliverable is based on their contributions and on the common themes emerging across the different coordination areas.

Virtual Access (VA) is a novel service offered in NEP. It comprises innovative online simulation services, databases, machine learning services, data and metadata services, which will be seamlessly integrated into the NEP infrastructure and provided as cloud services to authenticated users. The access will be provided by the facilities hosting the services. Each Access Provider will operate its own infrastructure, made of one or more installations. All involved Access Providers will offer identified User Access to the VA services under their own schemes based on institutional policies. Part of the online data services that will be made available as VA are currently (or will be) developed in the Joint Activity (JA) 6 on FAIR data approach. According to the NEP proposal, seven services are planned, even though scouting activities to enlarge the offer are foreseen. The services are at different stages of development, and will be gradually completed and integrated into the offer. This deliverable presents the first prototype of a VA service: the MetaRepo, a metadata repository to register and validate Metadata Schemas and Metadata Documents. The document is structured as follows: Section 1 describes the MetaRepo service, and Section 2 shows the functionalities of its Graphical User Interface (GUI). Being the purpose of this Section only demonstrative, for the sake of simplicity the functionalities of the MetaRepo GUI are shown on basic examples instead of being applied to a real NEP use case. This choice has been made to prevent the confusion which might arise due to the complexity of the Metadata Schemas. A real usage example is presented in Milestone 10. Section 3 shows how the Authorization and Authentication has been implemented for the MetaRepo. Section 4 explains how the monitoring of user accesses and actions is performed.

This deliverable presents the list of Virtual Access (VA) services currently provided in NEP. The offer comprises online simulation and machine learning services, as well as data and metadata services, integrated into the NEP infrastructure and provided as cloud services to authenticated users. The access is provided by the facilities hosting the services. Each Access Provider operates its own infrastructure, made of one or more installations, which offers identified User Access to the VA services under its own scheme based on institutional policies. Most of the VA services have been developed in the Joint Activity 6 on FAIR data approach. For these services, the deliverable in which they have been described is reported.

This deliverable presents the second set of Virtual Access (VA) services integrated into the NEP infrastructure. These online services, all running on a virtual machine (4 CPUs, 16 GB RAM, 50 GB SDD, OS: Debian 11, SSL via Apache reverse proxy) hosted by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), were developed within the Work Package (WP) 16 and were designed to improve the data FAIRness and to facilitate the user experience on (meta)data generation, postprocessing or exploration. The services are authenticated upon the NEP Single Sign-On (SSO) system via Keycloak [14]. The usage is monitored by aggregating the Units of Access (UoA), which are established to be every single action made by a logged-in user on one of the services, and monitored: whenever a loggedin user performs an action, the service backend sends a REST request to the NEP backend including the service ID and increases the usage counter by 1 UoA. No information about the users is handled or stored by the services. The Keycloak token, used by the Single Sign-On, is the only piece of information needed to grant access to the service. The document consists of three sections describing one VA service each. For completeness, each section explicitly mentions the corresponding WP16 task in which the service was framed and the deliverable in which it was described, if applicable.

The multidisciplinary research context requires an effective and reliable integration of different research infrastructures and academic facilities. NFFA-EUROPE is an interoperable multi-technique, multi-competence, multi-site distributed research infrastructure, offering a wide ensemble of tools for nanoscience and nanotechnology devoted to research and innovation, covering many TRLs, and therefore involving different competences. The Open Access to such a complex distributed research infrastructure is managed by a support service structure, the Technical Liaison Network (TLNet): a centralized technical authority, involving all nodes, in charge to assess the technical request/offer, and to establish the feasibility and the best work-flow for the peer-review prioritised research. The full TLNet service, i.e. a widespread network of experts, rules of engagement and well defined technical evaluation procedures, and an efficient communication system, have been implemented with the objective to be us much as possible user-friendly for both (new) providers and (new) users, by making wide use of smart front-ends, interfacing with a huge database managed with a complex back-end, for creating a common platform to share data and exchange information among providers offering different competences, and between users and providers. The TLNet has been implemented as a distributed network consisting of a Central coordinating TLNet node (at the Coordinator headquarters) and Local TLNet nodes at the providers, as established in June 2021. The network has been initially operative with a temporary IC platform hosted on the GARR network, ready for the 1st Call for proposals. Then, from the 2nd Call (technical evaluation in February 2022), a final set of online monitoring tools, directly implemented in the Single Entry Point, have been used, allowing the TLNet to reach a full perceptiveness on the access.

During the first year of NEP project the beam line towards the generation of intense circularly polarized XUV radiation was under development and implementation. The two techniques for the generation of intense circular polarized XUV radiation were installed to the MW beamline based on the Attosecond Science and Technology (AST) Laboratory of IESL-FORTH. By applying the two-color counter rotating electric fields setup under loose focusing conditions we were able to generate highly elliptical extreme ultraviolet radiation in Ar gas as generating medium. The energy of the XUV radiation emitted per laser pulse is found to be of the order of ~100 nJ with the spectrum spanning from 17 to 26 eV (See Figure 3(b)). Preliminary results in Xe and Ne gas as generating medium are also available. Briefly, it was found in Xe that under optimal conditions the energy content of highly elliptical XUV radiation was of the order of the order of ~200 nJ with a spectrum spanning from 17 to 22 eV. On the other hand in the case of Ne as generating medium the energy content was in the order of pJ in the spectral region 17-29 eV. The current performance of high-harmonic generation sources offers a temporal resolution of a few tens of femtoseconds and an energy resolution of approximately one hundred meV. However, some of the most intriguing open problems in materials science arise from phenomena taking place at faster time-scales, in the few-femtosecond range. This includes physical processes, such as the collapse and recovery of metallic or magnetic states, electron hopping, screening phenomena, or charge transfer mechanisms. During the first year of the project, in order to access such temporal scales by means of time and angular-resolved photo-electron spectroscopy (tr-ARPES), we started to implement an optical setup, which allowed us to generate laser pulses in the sub-10 femtosecond range. The few-cycle pulses have been generated by focusing the driving laser of the CITIUS light source at Nova Gorica university into a capillary wave-guide, placed in an environment filled with noble gas. This induced a proper amount of self-phase modulation, i.e., a controlled increase of the pulse bandwidth. The latter has been then recompressed by means of “chirped” mirrors, designed to introduce a proper amount of dispersion, down to a few femtoseconds.

The recent development of Free Electron Lasers (FELs) opens the way for pump-probe experiments in the extreme ultra violet (EUV) and X-Rays regime. In particular, seeded FELs are the best candidates for experiments in which high wavelength purity and power stability is required, such as coherent non-linear experiments. In this case, the fine control of photon energy and polarization is the key for accessing the dynamics of core level electrons in solid state systems, thanks to the species selectivity given by the variable photon energy of FEL pulses.

During the second year of the NEP project, the development and extension of a Four-Wave-Mixing (FWM) technique, called Transient Grating (TG), has been continued and finalized. The deliverable has been postponed due to a huge problem with the main laser that was stopped for a very long period. The requirement to short pulse length didn’t allow the use of a different laser currently available in our lab. The main scope of this deliverable is the development of a FWM setup (in detail, TG), based on short pulse duration and covering an extended wave vector region, allowing to probe various dynamical ranges, not reachable by already existing schemes. The new setup was installed at SPRINT lab of the Istituto Officina dei Materiali (IOM) of Consiglio Nazionale dellle Ricerche (CNR) in Trieste. The TG approach is mainly devoted to the excitation and detection of optical and acoustic phonons in materials. In the first case, a very short pulse duration is required, in order to follow the typical high frequencies of optical phonons (THz range). In the second case, the possibility of varying the induced wave-vector in the sample allows to measure the dispersion of acoustic phonons, and so the speed of sound extraction. The explored wave-vector region in standard laser-based TG setup is limited by the use of special optics, which cannot allow for large angles between pump pulses. The same optics fix a finite number of selected wave-vectors, not variable in a continuous way. Moreover, the use of very long pulses (hundreds of fs) in TG devoted to acoustic phonons, doesn’t allow to measure contemporary the optical ones. Here we propose a new setup for measuring both optical and acoustic phonons, with a continuous variation of the induced wave-vector, which is also extended above any previous setup. The system has been tested on various samples, and the measured frequencies have been compared with the literature. In detail, we report the analysis on optical phonons on alfa-quartz and optical and acoustic phonons on a glass slab, covering a wave-vector region up to 10 um-1.

During the first year of NEP project a new setup for Four-Wave-Mixing (FWM) experiment was under development and implementation. Due to some problems with the laser amplifier and oscillator, the experiment was stopped for almost one year. Knowing the long time generally required for repairing this systems, we decide to implement the setup using a different type of laser, which furnishes pulses with 300 fs time length, a repetition rate of 100 kHz, and 400 uJ/pulse at 1030 nm. The main scope of this deliverable is demonstrating if it is possible to measure magnetic properties with a FWM approach, and comparing it with well-known technique for magnetic measurements.

The investigation of ultra-fast phenomena and metastable systems strongly interacting with their environment often requires dedicated instruments characterized by a low degree of interoperability. In this context, one of the objectives of JA1 is to extend the range of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) experiments to multiphase environments. Specifically, sub-task 11.1.1 is devoted to extend the real-time capabilities of SPM-based measurements in NFFA-Europe to realistic environments, in particular near-ambient pressures (NAP) conditions. To this purpose, a protocol to modify a commercial scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) setup to routinely perform NAP-STM experiments has been conceived. Instrumentation and hardware for the setup has been purchased, with particular focus on the critical technical issues (pumping stages, purification of the sample environment, high-pressure ultra-pure gases, materials for holders and STM tips). Practices and protocols to achieve this goal have been firstly designed and implemented at TUM on a dedicated system already intended for NAP measurements, with the aim to transfer the conceived approach to the commercial ultra-high vacuum (UHV) STM system located at CNR-IOM.

Investigating materials and processes in realistic environments is crucial for understanding and designing materials for applications in energy storage, catalysis, corrosion resistance, and nanotechnology. In this context, one of the key objectives of JA1 is to integrate operando capabilities into scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments in multiphase environments. Specifically, sub-task 11.1.2 focuses on setting up versatile electrochemical STM (EC-STM) systems and developing user-friendly protocols for in-situ electrochemical STM, enabling operation at solid/liquid interfaces under well-defined gas atmospheres and with electrochemical control. To this end, two custom-built EC-STM systems have been set up that are based on the same platform developed by the Wandelt research group (Uni Bonn) that is characterized by a rugged design, great flexibility concerning various electro-chemical environments, and excellent performance regarding lateral spatial resolution [1]. While the system at ICN2 has been developed to offer optimized, user-friendly protocols for external users and will complement the advanced characterization tools available at ICN2 through the NFFA, the reference system at TUM has been optimized to host high-speed capabilities, enabling operando experiments on electrochemically relevant systems with sub-s time resolution. Given TUM's extensive technical and research experience in electrochemical STM, and the fact that both systems share the same design, the transfer of knowledge in nearly all technical aspects has been crucial for the successful implementation of the ICN2 system.

We report on the fabrication of hard X-ray aberration correctors to improve the performance of nanofocusing X-ray lenses by correcting the shape deviations that arise due to fluctuations and anisotropies during the manufacture of X-ray optics. After carefully characterizing the aberrations of the focusing X-ray lens, the tailored profile of a correction phase plate can be inferred. In this deliverable, we have developed the micro and nanofabrication processes for the production of the refractive phase plates by two-photon polymerization based 3D printing. The refractive phase plate is made of polymer, which introduces the required phase shift corrections while hardly introducing any extra absorption. The process parameters have been optimized to obtain the tailored aberration correction profiles. The refractive phase plates have been produced on multiple substrates such as silicon, silicon nitride and diamond membranes and they can be fabricated reliably and on-demand. The methods and procedures to easily align the focusing optics and the refractive phase plate are currently under development.

Compound refractive lenses (CRLs) are widely used at synchrotron radiation facilities for X-ray beam shaping [1, 2] and focusing [3]. They are made by pressing a parabolic lens profile into a thin foil of aluminum or beryllium via a coining process. Their focusing capability depends on the manufacturing quality of the stamp and mechanical alignment during the coining process, both of which are limited by today’s technology [4]. Recently, diamond CRLs made by laser ablation and mechanical polishing emerged, which exhibit similar shape errors [5]. It has been shown that each lens shows a typical shape deviation of 500 nm from an ideal paraboloid of rotation [3]. When many of these lenses are stacked in order to create sub-micrometer X-ray beams, these shape errors add up and lead to spherical aberration, impacting the resolution and imaging capabilities of X-ray microscopes. A solution to overcome these challenges is the correction of aberration by an additional optical element, called a refractive phase plate [6]. It is tailor-made for the specific lens configuration and needs to be aligned with respect to the optical axis to within a few micrometers, requiring a motorization within a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. Here, we present the development of a new CRL lens holder with an integrated mechanism to align a phase plate and keep the aligned position over time and in between experimental campaigns in order to enable usability by non-expert users and to provide aberration-corrected nanobeams with CRLs within the NFFA catalogue for end users.

We implemented two methods for generating intense XUV beams carrying OAM. In the first one, in situ, we took advantage of the vortex nature of harmonics emitted in a helical undulator of a free- electron laser (FEL). For that, we exploited high-harmonic and nonlinear harmonic generation to obtain intense, femtosecond, coherent XUV vortices from a chain of six undulators at the FERMI FEL. The method can be easily implemented at other existing FEL facilities. The second technique, ex situ, relies on the use of a spiral zone plate (SZP), which is placed directly into the FEL beam path. The setup produces a focused, micron-sized, high-intensity optical vortex without requiring extensive modifications of the FEL beamline. The latter method can be also used to generate OAM light, with variable topological charge, using a high-order harmonic generation (HHG) source. In the following, we review the results obtained using both in situ and ex situ methods for generating, characterizing and optimizing FEL light carrying OAM.

Compound refractive lenses (CRLs) are widely used at synchrotron radiation facilities for X-ray beam shaping and focusing. They are mainly made by pressing a parabolic lens profile into a thin foil of aluminum or beryllium via a coining process. Their focusing capability depends on the manufacturing quality of the stamp and mechanical alignment during the coining process, both of which are limited by today’s technology. Recently, diamond CRLs made by laser ablation and mechanical polishing emerged, which exhibit similar shape errors. It has been shown that each lens shows a typical shape deviation of 500 nm from an ideal paraboloid of rotation. When many of these lenses are stacked in order to create submicrometer X-ray beams, these shape errors add up and lead to spherical aberration, impacting the resolution and imaging capabilities of X-ray microscopes. A solution to overcome these challenges is the correction of aberration by an additional optical element, called a refractive phase plate. It is tailor-made for the specific lens configuration and needs to be aligned with respect to the optical axis to within a few micrometers, requiring a motorization within a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. Here, we present the further development of the lens unit with integrated phase plate kinematic and the application at a high x-ray energy of 32 keV in a user experiment at beamline P06 at DESY. The performance of the focusing unit was evaluated at-wavelength in the high-coherence mode with ptychography and in the high-flux mode with a fluorescence knife-edge. Both methods are available to users at the beamline.

Electromagnetic waves with orbital angular momentum (OAM) are increasingly used in optical communications, quantum technologies, and optical tweezers. Recently, they have shown potential for detecting helical dichroic effects in chiral molecules and magnetic nanostructures. In this study, we used single-shot ptychography on a nanostructure with extreme ultraviolet OAM beams of varying topological charge (ℓ) at a free-electron laser. By adjusting ℓ, we improved image resolution by 30% compared to standard Gaussian beams, advancing coherent diffraction imaging and enabling sub-100 nm time-resolved microscopy over large sample areas.

This deliverable report summarizes the main aspects of the workshop that took place at EMRS 2022 Spring Meeting, which was hold on-line May 30 and May 31. All the workshop information is stored at the E-MRS website: https://www.european-mrs.com/new-trends-advanced-lithography-and-patterntransfer-methods-emrs

The Joint Activity JA3 (WP13) is aiming at development of methods of high-resolution lithography and pattern transfer by collaborative efforts of all four participants of the WP. Among the goals of the JA3 one can mention extended applicability of the tools offered in TA and new functionalities in lithographic and patterning techniques to be available among the TA providers. Both “top-down” and “bottom-up” lithographic approaches that include high-resolution optical Talbot displacement lithography, thermal scanning probe lithography, He+ ion beams and block copolymers are being used within the JA. Those lithographic methods are combined with high-resolution patterning, such as reactive ion etching and atomic layer etching. We focus our activity to provide relevant packages of nano-engineering methods combined with optimum protocols and know-how. The results generated within the current JA will be used in other work packages, such as WP14 and WP 15.

The current deliverable D13.3 gives an overview of some important methods of pattern transfer in semiconductor nanofabrication where all 4 partners, LUND, EPFL, CSIC and C2N-CNRS are involved. The emphasis is put on atomic layer etching (ALE) that represent one of few approached in nanoprocessing that offer a potential of atomic layer control during removal of material. A related method of layer-by-layer epitaxial growth is added to give a more complete picture. Finaly, lithographic-based approaches of high-resolution patterning that do not yet provide atomic resolution are mentioned, too.

In the current document we report on a selection of new processes developed within the NFFA (NEP) project related to advanced nanoengineering for transnational access (TA). They form a new library of process steps enabling new or improved capabilities for some specific nanopatterning. They are complementary and generally compatible with state-of-the-art microelectronics industry. Besides developing the individual core technology, we paid particular attention to novel groupings in a mix-and-match approach to study possible combinations of processes to maximize enabling capabilities for nanosystems manufacturing.

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials are key players in the EU research and innovation processes having a tremendous impact on many domains of applications ranging from electronics, textiles, cosmetics, agriculture, and food to health applications. The next generation of nanomaterials i.e. smart nanomaterials is expected to represent a step forward by providing nanomaterials with new properties and functionalities and thus adding values to existing products and technologies with high benefits for human health and environment. Consequently, a large increase in the development and use of new kinds of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is expected in the near future. To favour safe innovation there is an urgent need for robust, standardized and advanced methods for nanomaterials safety assessments. ENMs safety assessment remains a challenging task due to the complexity of nanomaterials since they may display a wide range of properties including size, shape, surface functionalisation, surface charge, that affect their way of interacting with biological systems such as biological fluids (protein-surface interactions) and living cells (cellular uptake, mechanisms of toxic response). This report describes a set of workflows aiming for studying the interactions between ENMs and biological systems with an advanced ‘safe by design’ experimental platform. The workflows consist in integrated sequences of steps for guiding users with different comprehensive analysis methods among a wide range of facilities available within the NEP consortium. This platform will support materials scientists to design new or improved materials with a safer approach from the early stage of ENMs synthesis and nanosafety researchers to elucidate the interactions and effects of ENMs with biological samples (human, animal or plant cells) in order to understand the life cycle (uptake, dispersion, accumulation) of ENMs in biological systems.

This deliverable involves the development of a sustainable biological substrate holder installed in-operando at a microscope for the live imaging of the interactions of cells on patterned substrates with and without nanoparticles exposure.

This deliverable reports on the design and construction of a prototype setup for controlled delivery of nanoparticles in a continuous flow of cell medium for subsequent integration with the operando system developed in deliverable 14.2.

This report presents an experimental workflow designed to perform correlative measurements as part of the NEP-NFFA project, using silicon nitride (Si3N4) membranes equipped with platinum (Pt) markers. These membranes were developed through a collaboration between DESY NanoLab and ESRF-ID21. DESY NanoLab was responsible for the Pt deposition on the Si3N4 membranes, while ESRF-ID21 carried out the correlative measurements. The purpose of the Pt markers on the membranes is to act as fiducial points that help to precisely locate specific regions or points of interest (ROI/POI) with micrometric or nanometric accuracy. This is essential to analyze the same point of the sample using different techniques, and to collect complementary data for a better understanding of the sample. The proposed workflow involves complementary techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and synchrotron-based techniques like micro X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) performed at the nano-X-ray microscope (nano-SXM) at beamline ID21 of the Softhis report describes the initial design of the membranes with the markers, as well as the optimized version, based on results obtained during the first tests with nano-SXM. In addition, it shows how the Pt markers enable accurate correlation through the web-based graphical interface Daiquiri, linking the morphological information from optical microscopy with the chemical information obtained from µXRF. The technical feasibility of this approach has been confirmed, showing that the process is reproducible and potentially applicable to similar studies. This is possible due to the standardized Pt deposition process and the use of nano-SXM for sample localization and data acquisition.

This report aims to demonstrate the usefulness of the NFFA workflow to assess nanomaterials and their interaction with different cell lines. It also seeks to generate improved protocols and educational material that can be shared with other European users working with similar ENMs.

Workpackage JA5- Correlative Nano-Spectroscopy and Nano-Diffraction aims to establish a user platform for routine experiments at Nanolabs and analytical large-scale facilities (ALSFs) permitting to collect structural and chemical information from a statistically relevant number of distinct nanoscale objects. One of the objectives of JA5 is to provide dedicated sample environments to investigate the dynamical behaviour of nanoscale objects in situ during e.g., catalytic, electrochemical or corrosion experiments in liquid or gaseous environments. In view of this objective, task 15.3 (Sample environments for in situ correlative analysis) centralizes the work for the design, test and offer of a dedicated micro/nano fabrication platform for in situ sample environment. The present deliverable summarizes the efforts carried out during the first 12 months of the project towards the realization of the micro/nano fabricated platform. It includes the following aspects: 1) the definition of target experiments that will serve as demonstrators of the scientific interest of the platform; 2) the design and realization first prototype of a liquid cell for initial validation experiments; 3) the design and realization of membrane-containing microchips to be incorporated into the platform; 4) an outlook of next steps to be addressed in task 15.3.

This deliverable report 15.2 “Image registration procedures” of working package WP15 of NFFA-- Europe|PILOT (NEP) project aims to establish a unified and harmonized GUI platform for correlative experiments utilizing image registration and hierarchical markers for one-to-one and simultaneous microscopic and spectroscopic imaging. With this deliverable, DESY has developed a python-based GUI image registration software for correlative nano-spectroscopy and nano-diffraction that incorporates the nano-object transfer and positioning developed within the previous NFFA-Europe project, and additionally integrates image registration tools for further automatization.

The working package WP15 of NFFA-Europe PILOT on Correlative Nano-Spectroscopy and Nano-Diffraction - Joint Action 5 (JA5) - aims to establish a user platform for routine experiments at Nanolabs and analytical large-scale facilities (ALSFs) permitting to collect structural and chemical information from a statistically relevant number of distinct nanoscale objects. Importantly, one prerequisite for an optimal determination of one-to-one size-structure-property correlations is that the probes like e.g., electrons or X-rays are illuminating individual nanoparticles. For experiments with a focused X-ray beam the foot-print is typically in the range of a few 10 nm × 10 nm up to a few 10 μm × 10 μm depending on the setup and the angle of incidence on the sample surface. Isolation of the nano-objects is required to ensure that signals are collected from only single nanoparticles. According to this prerequisite, the design and the creation of the proper templates for this type of experiments and the careful selection of protocols for the individual nanocrystal arrangement on the templates are essential (Task 15.2). The purpose of the deliverable D15.3 which is a part of the Task 15.2 is to summarize the different protocols for the fabrication of the templates and those of the individual arrangement of the nanocrystals on them by their colloidal dispersions. Optimization of the templates and arrangement protocols is included in this report ensuring a successful correlative experiment.

Liquid cells equipped with on-purpose microfabricated thin silicon nitride membranes, with thickness in the 15-25 nm range, have been successfully tested at the HAXPES endstation of the GALAXIES beamline at the SOLEIL synchrotron radiation facility. Low stress membranes have been fabricated from 100 mm silicon wafers using standard lithography techniques and platinum alignment marks have been added to facilitate the positioning of the X-ray beam on the membrane. Two types of liquid cells have been used, a static one built on an Omicron-type sample holder with the liquid confined in the cell container, and a circulating liquid cell, in which the liquid can flow to mitigate the effects due to beam damage. The membranes are mechanically robust and withstand 1 bar pressure difference between the liquid inside the cell and vacuum and the intense synchrotron radiation beam during data acquisition, opening new opportunities for spectroscopic studies of liquids and dispersions of nanoparticles.

In this deliverable report 15.5, we introduce the "SMART" software platform, designed to provide an image registration-based tool for nanoparticle identification and re-localization. This advanced tool integrates Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) algorithms with real-time camera streaming for continuous monitoring, and incorporates precise image registration and position refinement features. Tested at the X-ray beamline P06 at PETRA III, DESY, SMART aims to improve the interoperability between microscopy, spectroscopy, and imaging systems across lab-based and X-ray beamline facilities for users, and to permit correlative work flows.

This deliverable presents the initial design of the infrastructure for the NFFA-Europe Pilot (NEP). The infrastructure is planned to consist of diverse elements for the Data and the Metadata Management, as well as different services (in the frontend, in the backend, and for Virtual Access) which will be gradually developed and integrated in a seamless way. We distinguish between the basic elements, which are essential parts of the infrastructure planned in the NEP proposal, and additional elements which were not initially planned but might improve the interconnections and facilitate the Research Users, in case they will be developed as output of the scouting activities of the Task 16.4 of the Joint Activity 6 (Work Package 16). The elements of the infrastructure will be connected to each other and will be accessed by users or by other services thanks to interfaces.

The present deliverable describes the initial set of data services made available to the NEP community. It is structured in four main sections: Section 1 describes the Data Stewardship Wizard (DSW) and its functionalities, Section 2 the STM Neural Network, Section 3 the STM Metadata Explorer and Section 4 the SEM Classifier.

Here we elaborate and implement FAIR-oriented procedures and recommendations to enforce data provenance in the NFFA scientific experiment’s workflow, from data creation to data usage. The set of procedures is developed by taking into account needs coming from various communities within NEP. Close attention is paid to identify and tailor existing electronic lab notebook (ELN) and laboratory information management system solutions for describing sample processing workflows and (semi-) automated metadata recording during the experiments as initial steps for implementing FAIR by design datasets.

This deliverable presents a description of the new data services developed by the Work Package 16 within NFFA Europe Pilot, extending the list of data services provided in Deliverable D16.2 at Month 18. All the services are intended to improve the FAIRness of the data, either by post-processing of already existing data or by design at new data generation. Some of these services are planned to be included in the Virtual Access offer at Month 31 or at Month 37, according to the schedule agreed in the Proposal. The document is structured in sections describing one data service each. For completeness, each section explicitly includes the details about the future Virtual Access developments of the service, if this has been planned.

This deliverable summarizes the experience and guidelines for the NFFA community in developing, deploying, and using data provenance tools. It is articulated in 3 sections, dedicated to 1) establishing the high-level provenance of the physical and digital entities of research workflows, 2) automatically integrating this into digital provenance tools, including electronic lab notebooks and workflow management systems, and 3) disseminating this in FAIR modes to the community at large.

This document outlines the communication strategy which NFFA-Europe Pilot will adopt, along with the related planned activities that will be carried out during the project lifetime, within task 17.1.1. “Communication plan definition”. Throughout the duration of the project, NFFA-Europe Pilot partners will concentrate their efforts on promoting the project among already established and potentially new groups of users, with the aim to raise awareness about NFFA-Europe infrastructures in general and in particular the new and more comprehensive research opportunities offered thanks to NFFA-Europe Pilot. The communication plan provides a list of these activities, including press releases, the communication of project concepts, communication activities online and via social media, as well as a reference table that explains how activities are related to each other. Throughout the duration of the project, the effectiveness of communication initiatives will be assessed by using an ad-hoc monitoring system; the plan also presents this tool and key performance indicators that will be adopted.

The NFFA-Europe Pilot is a Research Infrastructure project financed by the EU offering harmonised, interoperable and integrated services in the field of the European nanoscience research. European and non-European scientists can submit applications to access the offered instruments and become NFFA-Europe Pilot users. The Dissemination Plan (DP) of the NFFA-Europe Pilot project has an interconnected two-fold objective. The outputs and results developed within the project will be, on one hand, disseminated to proper target scientific communities and, on the other one, used to attract new potential users. The NFFA-Europe Pilot DP is based upon the project strategy outlined in the WP17 of the Annex 1 of NFFA-Europe Pilot Grant Agreement (GA), where the actions to disseminate the generated foreground represent the best available option according to the available budget. The present DP describes in detail the tasks and sets the rules for their implementation. To this respect, the WP17 Board is defined by the 4 task leaders present in the WP, and it is chaired by the WP Leader. The present plan is approved by the WP17 Board and will be forwarded to the management of the NFFA-Europe Pilot. It will be subjected to regular improvement throughout the project lifetime, according to the collected experiences.

This document outlines the development of the communication toolkit in support of NFFA Europe Pilot communication activities. A series of different materials have been produced to communicate effectively with target audiences, to support stakeholder-engagement, to promote the project among established and potentially new users and raise awareness about NFFA-Europe infrastructures in general and in particular about the new research opportunities offered thanks to NFFA-Europe Pilot. This deliverable describes the development of the communication toolkit including the updated NFFA-Europe and the resulting NFFA-Europe PILOT visual identity. The visual identity is the cornerstone of all material produced and runs like a red line through the entire design, and includes the logo, the word templates and the corporate presentation, used to present the NFFA-Europe project at conferences.

In the first 30 months of the NFFA-Europe Pilot project a lot of activities have been carried out in the field of communication and dissemination. They are listed and described in the detail in this document, and include the following ones: - an update of the Communication plan - the website and the social media have been updated regularly with news and information - website, social media and video analytics to prove their effectiveness - printed materials - dissemination events and academic dissemination - highlight proposals - scientific publications - worldwide network - training programme All the activities described here have the multiple effects to inform the scientific community on what the NFFA-Europe Pilot project can offer in terms of infrastructure and other opportunities and how to access them. The WP17 Board aims to identify those events that are strategically important for the awareness campaign as well as for the international networking. The pandemic biased the first part of the NFFA-Europe Pilot project, however the NFFA-Europe Pilot project was able to be on track thanks to the participation to virtual conferences.

This report is a deliverable of Task 18.1 dedicated to the Market Analysis as part of WP18 “Bridging academic and industrial research”. The main potential industrial users of NEP and related services, including of NFFA infrastructure beyond the NEP project, are entities from the two main cohorts: SMEs or large/multinational companies. The primary motivation for becoming a user of NEP is likely to be different between these two cohorts. SMEs may lack the resources to either acquire advanced instrumentation or obtain access to advanced facilities via commercial/contract services. The challenges of limited resources may be particularly relevant for start-ups. In contrast, large or multinational companies are likely to have substantial in-house resources and equipment as well as the financial ability to contract specialty services from external commercial providers. Nevertheless, for advanced research and development (R&D) activities of large companies, NEP is able to provide access to unique facilities and leading-edge expertise that are not commercially available. Accordingly, the access to infrastructure offered via NEP is not primarily in direct competition with services offered by existing analytical or fabrication companies. Rather, the preliminary and proof-of-concept R&D activities enabled by infrastructure access via NEP will be able to support the subsequent development, scaleup, and commercialization of new or improved processes, materials, or products. The primary domains of expertise of NEP partners are nanoscience and nanotechnology, i.e., the facilities and expertise offered by NEP are inherently interdisciplinary. This interdisciplinarity naturally extends into the industrial applications of nanotechnology, which, rather than being concentrated in one or two industries, span a broad range of sectors, including materials and chemical synthesis/engineering, electronics and photonics (including the associated advanced technologies, such as superconductivity, spintronics, or quantum technology), energy (including photovoltaics, batteries, electrodes, catalysts for energy conversion, thermoelectrics, etc.), and pharmaceutics and biotechnologies. A comprehensive analysis of all the above industrial sectors would extend well beyond the scope and resources of this project. Accordingly, the desk research addressed two representative crosssections of the communities that can provide users for NEP facilities, services, and expertise: semiconductors and nanomaterials. To collect primary information, a survey has been circulated among potential industrial users of NEP infrastructure, with questions designed to understand their needs in terms of services and to gain insights into their expectations. The collected information will enable NEP to optimize outreach channels in order to target industrial communities more appropriately in Task 18.2. The results from the desk research and the survey are analyzed in light of the objectives of the Task 18.1, WP18, and NEP project and recommendations are provided in the final section of this report.

This report is a deliverable of Task 18.2 dedicated to the outreach to the industrial community as part of WP18 “Bridging academic and industrial research”. This report proposes a marketing plan to raise awareness on the industrial community. It will cover the following topics: - THE INDUSTRIAL ENGAGEMENT OF NFFA EUROPE - THE INDUSTRIAL ENGAGEMENT GOALS AND THE TARGET AUDIENCES - AN ONLINE MARKETING PLAN INCLUDING THE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS AND THE EDITORIAL BOARD - AN OFFLINE MARKETING PLAN INCLUDING A SHORTLIST OF EVENTS TO ATTEND, THE LIST OF SUPPORTING MARKETING MATERIALS TO CREATE - THE INDUSTRIAL CONTACT OFFICE NETWORK (ICONET) CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORT THE SCHEDULED OUTREACH CAMPAIGN AND TO ASSIST COMPANIES IN DRAFTING AND PRE-ASSESSING HIGH-QUALITY PROPOSALS

This report is a deliverable of Task 18.2 dedicated to the outreach to industrial community as part of WP18 “Bridging academic and industrial research”. This report proposes a follow up of the activities that have been carried out in the framework of WP until M18. It follows a marketing and dissemination campaign that has started in April, just after the outreach strategy report (D18.2) have been issued at M13. This report includes the main objectives of the outreach activities, the activities that have been implemented so far and some guidelines about how to improve the future campaign and foster innovation. It will cover the different topics: - THE CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES, CURRENT KPI AND THE ONGOING MARKETING STRATEGY - THE FOLLOW UP ABOUT MARKETING, OUTREACH AND DISSEMINATION - GOOD PRACTISES AND NEXT STEPS FOR UPGRADED OUTREACH CAMPAIGN

This report is a deliverable of Task 18.2 dedicated to the outreach to industrial community as part of WP18 “Bridging academic and industrial research”. This report proposes a follow up of the activities that have been carried out in the framework of WP from M19 to M36. It follows a marketing and dissemination campaign that has started in April 2022, just after the outreach strategy report (D18.2) have been issued at M13 and the publication of the first outreach report at M36. It also follows This report includes the main objectives of the outreach activities, the activities that have been implemented so far and some guidelines about how to improve the future campaign and foster innovation. It will cover the different topics: - THE CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES, CURRENT KPI AND THE ONGOING MARKETING STRATEGY - THE FOLLOW UP ABOUT MARKETING, OUTREACH AND DISSEMINATION - GOOD PRACTISES AND NEXT STEPS FOR UPGRADED OUTREACH CAMPAIGN