Physics

Results 26–50 of 55

Thwarting oil-pipeline corrosion by identifying a nanoscale villain

June 6, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Steel pipes rust and eventually fail. To preempt disasters, oil companies and others have created computer models to predict when replacement is needed. But if the models themselves go wrong, they can be modified only through experience, a costly problem if detection comes too late. Now, researchers...

Categories: Chemistry, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: Aramco Research Center, DOE Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, nanoscale corrosion, rust, steel

Quantum computing steps further ahead with new projects at Sandia

January 7, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Quantum computing is a term that periodically flashes across the media sky like heat lightning in the desert: brilliant, attention-getting and then vanishing from the public’s mind with no apparent aftereffects. Yet a multimillion dollar international effort to build quantum computers is hardly going away. And now,...

Categories: Computing, Homeland security, Military / Defense, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: quantum algorithms, quantum computing, testbed

Wind tunnel and lasers provide hypersonic proving ground at Sandia National Laboratories

November 7, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s about speed, and Sandia National Laboratories, with a hypersonic wind tunnel and advanced laser diagnostic technology, is in an excellent position to help U.S. defense agencies understand the physics associated with aircraft flying five times the speed of sound. With potential adversaries reporting successes in their...

Categories: Military / Defense, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: aerosciences, hypersonic, large-scale testing, Sandia, wind tunnel

Steven Beresh and Russell Spillers place a model in the hypersonic wind tunnel

A splash of detergent makes catalytic compounds more powerful

May 30, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Researcher David Rosenberg examines images of a white powder under a powerful scanning electron microscope. Up close, the powder looks like coarse gravel, a heap of similar but irregular chunks. Then he looks at a second image — the same material produced by colleague Hongyou Fan instead...

Categories: Chemistry, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Physics

Topics: Advanced Materials Lab, catalyst, David Rosenberg, detergent, Georgia Institute of Technology, Hongyou Fan, modeling, nanomaterials, nanotechnology, synthesis, University of New Mexico

‘Impactful Times’ tells story of decades of Sandia shock physics research

October 17, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Mark Boslough and Dave Crawford of Sandia National Laboratories predicted the Hubble telescope could see a rising plume as comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter in 1994. Their prediction, however, went against the prevailing thought that the impac…

Categories: Materials Science, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: Impactful Times, materials science, shock compression, shock physics

Black hole models contradicted by hands-on tests at Sandia’s Z machine

August 28, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A long-standing but unproven assumption about the X-ray spectra of black holes in space has been contradicted by hands-on experiments performed at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine. Z, the most energetic laboratory X-ray source on Earth, can duplicate the X-rays surrounding black holes that otherwise can be watched only from a...

Categories: Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy

Topics: astrophysicists, black holes, plasma, Resonant Augur Assumption, stars, z machine, Z pulsed-power machine

World’s smallest neutrino detector finds big physics fingerprint

August 3, 2017 • Sandia part of COHERENT experiment to measure coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scatteringLIVERMORE, California — Sandia National Laboratories researchers have helped solve a mystery that has plagued physicists for 43 years. Using the world’s smallest neutrino detector, …

Categories: Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: COHERENT, COHERENT Collaboration, innovation, Neutrino, neutrino detector, neutrinos, Neutron Science, Nuclear Science and Technology, physics, Quantum Physics, subatomic particles

Origin of spooky meteor noises reappraised by Sandia researchers

February 17, 2017 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When a meteor is about to conk your neighborhood and gives fair warning by emitting sizzling, rustling and hissing sounds as it descends, you might think that the universe is being sporting. But these auditory warnings, which do occur, seem contrary to the laws of physics if...

Categories: Physics, Space / Astronomy

Topics: asteroids, astronomy, meteors, photoacoustic, space

Four Sandia researchers named American Physical Society fellows

December 7, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Four Sandia National Laboratories researchers have been named fellows of the American Physical Society (APS) for outstanding contributions to physics. The awardees are: François Léonard: for fundamental studies of the physics of nanoscale electronic…

Categories: Awards, Physics

Topics: American Physical Society, metamaterials, nanoelectronic, nanophotonic, physics of nanoscale, quantum search algorithms

Path to success: Sandia women honored for leadership, science

August 26, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two women at Sandia National Laboratories were recognized by professional organizations for their leadership and groundbreaking scientific research. The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) recently gave Sandia President and Laboratories Director Jill Hruby — the first woman to lead a national security laboratory — its 2016 Suzanne...

Categories: Awards, Physics

Topics: awards, community, ieee, leadership, national labs, physics, SWE, women in STEM

Sandia researcher wins high-voltage award

August 2, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Awards arrive at different levels of intensity, but no one can deny that Sandia National Laboratories researcher Mark Savage has won the highest voltage prize of all — the IEEE William G. Dunbar Award — for work achieved at extremely high voltage. Asked why he was selected...

Categories: Awards, Energy / Environment / Water, Physics, Renewable energy, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: high-voltage, ICF, inertial confinement fuison program, Megajoule Laser Facility, NIF, Z

Sandia physicist Jim Bailey wins major physics award for 10-year study of the sun

July 28, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — By testing bits of iron at the temperature of the sun, Sandia National Laboratories physicist Jim Bailey and his team have provided key data to improve the Standard Solar Model, widely used by astrophysicists to help model the behavior of stars. For this work, Bailey will receive...

Categories: Awards, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: astrophyisical, high energy density, iron, opacity, plasma, pulsed power, solar, stellar, sun, Z, z machine

Sandia researcher Melissa Teague awarded Presidential Early Career Award

June 15, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories materials engineer Melissa Teague has been awarded a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE), the highest honor the U.S. government bestows on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers. Teague was recognized for pioneering improved characterization...

Categories: Awards, Chemistry, Physics

Topics: Early Career, mesoscopic, MOX, nuclear reactor, pecase, TerraPower, travelling wave E

World’s fastest multiframe digital X-ray camera created at Sandia

June 2, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An adversary who steps inside a boxer’s sense of rhythm may land a punch the boxer never saw coming. A similar problem faces physicists struggling to achieve laboratory-scale nuclear fusion: A rogue event occurring between successively monitored images may knock an otherwise promising experiment off-kilter without anyone...

Categories: Nanotechnology, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: CCD cameras, HED, high energy density, inertial confinement fusion, NIF, NRL, plasma, pulsed power, University of Rochester, UXI, X-ray imager, Z, Z-Beamlet

Precise atom implants in silicon provide a first step toward practical quantum computers

May 24, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has taken a first step toward creating a practical quantum computer, able to handle huge numbers of computations instantaneously. Here’s the recipe: A “donor” atom propelled by an ion beam is inserted very precisely in microseconds into an industry-standard silicon substrate. The donor atom...

Categories: Computing, Nanotechnology, Physics

Topics: quantum computing, quantum dots, qubits, silicon, spin

Ingenious method enables sharper flat-panel displays at lower energy costs

April 26, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A perpetual quest of manufacturers and viewers is for ever-brighter colors and better images for flat-panel displays built from less expensive materials that also use less electricity. An intriguing method discovered by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Alec Talin and collaborators at the Center for Nanoscale Science and...

Categories: Chemistry, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Physics

Topics: electrochromic, electromagnetic waves, nanodots, NIST, pixels, plasmons, polaritons, polymers, television, TV

Unique phononic filter could revolutionize signal processing systems

January 12, 2016 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A unique filtering technology that combines light and sound waves on a single chip is expected to better detect radar and communications frequencies. “We have developed a powerful signal filtering technology that could revolutionize signal processing systems that rely solely on conventional electronics,” said Patrick Chu, manager...

Categories: Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: phononic, photodetectors, photonic, radar, rf

Thor’s hammer to crush materials at 1 million atmospheres

January 5, 2016 • Sophisticated features may influence eventual Z-machine rebuildALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new Sandia National Laboratories accelerator called Thor is expected to be 40 times more efficient than Sandia’s Z machine, the world’s largest and most powerful pulsed-power accelerat…

Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Materials Science, Military / Defense, Nanotechnology, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Renewable energy, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: change of state, extreme conditions, magnetic fields, particle accelerator, pulsed power, stockpile stewardship, Thor, Z, z machine

Sandia physicist accepts first joint faculty appointment with Washington State University

September 3, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories physicist Marcus Knudson is the first joint faculty appointee to serve both Sandia and Washington State University (WSU). In the position, Knudson will enhance fundamental research into the compression of materials under extreme conditions, using Sandia’s unique Z machine. “The science of dynamic material...

Categories: Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy

Topics: duvall, high energy density, Marcus Knudson, pulsed power, shock compression, Washington State, z machine

Sandia’s Z machine receives funding aimed at fusion energy

June 29, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A two-year, $3.8 million award has been received by Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) to hasten the day of low-cost, high-yield fusion reactions for energy purposes. High-yield means much more energy emerging from a fusion reaction than is put...

Categories: Energy / Environment / Water, Physics, Renewable energy, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: ARPA-E, laser, LLE, magLIF, plasma, pulsed power, University of Rochester, Z

Amplified light passes through the large tubes of Sandia National Laboratories’ Z-Beamlet laser, one of the most powerful in the world.

Sandia’s Z machine helps solve Saturn’s 2-billion-year age gap

June 26, 2015 • Research supports 80-year-old prediction ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Planets tend to cool as they get older, but Saturn is hotter than astrophysicists say it should be without some additional energy source. The unexplained heat has caused a two-billion-year discrepancy for computer models estimating Saturn’s age. “Models that correctly predict Jupiter to...

Categories: Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy

Topics: astrophysics, computer simulations, helium, hydrogen, Jupiter, Saturn, space

Pulsed-power physicist receives IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science award

May 5, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — William Stygar, manager of Sandia National Laboratories’ Advanced Accelerator Physics department, has been selected to receive the Erwin Marx Award by the Pulsed Power Science and Technology Committee of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Science Society. The award’s previous recipients “are a who’s who of the leaders...

Categories: Awards, Military / Defense, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering

Topics: accelerators, LTD, Marx generator, physics, pulsed power, Z

Iron rain fell on early Earth, new Z machine data supports

March 18, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have helped untangle a long-standing mystery of astrophysics: why iron is found spattered throughout Earth’s mantle, the roughly 2,000-mile thick region between Earth’s core and its crust. At first blush, it seemed more reasonable that iron arriving from collisions between...

Categories: Materials Science, Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy

Topics: astronomy, Earth, Geoscience, iron, mantle, planetary science, vaporization

An artist's concept shows a celestial body about the size of our moon slamming at great speed into a body the size of Mercury.

‘Iron Sun’ is not a rock band, but a key to how stars transmit energy

January 6, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Working at temperatures matching the interior of the sun, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have been able to determine experimentally, for the first time in history, iron’s role in inhibiting energy transmission from the center of the sun to near the edge of its radiative...

Categories: Physics, Science / Technology / Engineering, Space / Astronomy

Topics: astrophysics, energy transmission, fusion, iron, physics, Standard Solar Model, stars, sun, z machine

MINER shines in urban emergency response exercise

October 30, 2014 • Mobile imager of fast neutrons spots radiation source at a distance and through shielding[caption id="" align="alignright" width="250"] Sandia National Laboratories' Mark Gerling, left, and John Goldsmith demonstrated the effectiveness of the mobile imager of neutrons for em…

Categories: Homeland security, Nonproliferation, Physics

Topics: chicago, emergency exercise, nonproliferation, nuclear detector, nuclear material, radiation, radiation detection

Results 26–50 of 55