ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories-led team has for the first time used optics rather than electronics to switch a nanometer-thick thin film device from completely dark to completely transparent, or light, at a speed of trillionths of a second. The team led by principal investigator Igal Brener published a Nature Photonics paper this […]
Category Archives: Materials Science
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Nanotechnology experts at Sandia create first terahertz-speed polarization optical switch
September 14, 2017 – 5:00 am
Lighting up the study of low-density materials
July 17, 2017 – 7:25 am
Sandia Labs develops way to spot defects inside hard-to-image materials ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s hard to get an X-ray image of low-density material like tissue between bones because X-rays just pass right through like sunlight through a window. But what if you need to see the area that isn’t bone? Sandia National Laboratories studies myriads […]
Scintillating discovery at Sandia Labs
June 29, 2017 – 8:20 am
Bright thinking leads to breakthrough in nuclear threat detection science LIVERMORE, Calif. — Taking inspiration from an unusual source, a Sandia National Laboratories team has dramatically improved the science of scintillators — objects that detect nuclear threats. According to the team, using organic glass scintillators could soon make it even harder to smuggle nuclear materials […]
Predicting the limits of friction: Sandia looks at properties of material
March 23, 2017 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Normally, bare metal sliding against bare metal is not a good thing. Friction will destroy pistons in an engine, for example, without lubrication. Sometimes, however, functions require metal on metal contact, such as in headphone jacks or electrical systems in wind turbines. Still, friction causes wear and wear destroys performance, and it’s […]
Guiding Light: Sandia creates 3-D metasurfaces with optical possibilities
March 9, 2017 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Metamaterials don’t exist in nature, but their ability to make ultra-thin lenses and ultra-efficient cell phone antennas, bend light to keep satellites cooler and let photovoltaics absorb more energy mean they offer a world of possibilities. Formed by nanostructures that act as “atoms,” arranged on a substrate to alter light’s path in […]
Sandia using kinetics, not temperature, to make ceramic coatings
February 21, 2017 – 8:30 am
Room temperature coatings make design, fabrication flexible ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researcher Pylin Sarobol explains an elegant process for ultrafine-grained ceramic coatings in a somewhat inelegant way: sub-micron particles splatting onto a surface. That splatting action is a key part of a Sandia National Laboratories project to lay down ceramic coatings kinetically. By making high-velocity submicron […]
Research at Sandia looking at how brittle materials fail
February 13, 2017 – 1:45 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you want to see what happens if your phone falls onto concrete, you can actually drop it or let an engineer work out the consequences in advance. Odds are you’ll go with the engineer. Figuring out how brittle materials inside a device behave, and fail, is one goal of Sandia National […]
Battling corrosion to keep solar panels humming
February 2, 2017 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — People think of corrosion as rust on cars or oxidation that blackens silver, but it also harms critical electronics and connections in solar panels, lowering the amount of electricity produced. “It’s challenging to predict and even more challenging to design ways to reduce it because it’s highly dependent on material and environmental […]
Honey, I shrunk the circuit
December 20, 2016 – 11:00 am
Sandia research could improve defense electronics, electric vehicles, electrical grids ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers have shown it’s possible to make transistors and diodes from advanced semiconductor materials that could perform much better than silicon, the workhorse of the modern electronics world. The breakthrough work takes a step toward more compact and efficient […]
Diamonds Aren’t Forever: Sandia, Harvard team create first quantum computer bridge
October 14, 2016 – 12:30 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — By forcefully embedding two silicon atoms in a diamond matrix, Sandia researchers have demonstrated for the first time on a single chip all the components needed to create a quantum bridge to link quantum computers together. “People have already built small quantum computers,” says Sandia researcher Ryan Camacho. “Maybe the first useful […]
Materials society names Sandia metallurgist as fellow
September 21, 2016 – 7:35 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Don Susan, a researcher in Sandia National Laboratories’ Metallurgy and Materials Joining organization, has been named a fellow of ASM International in recognition of distinguished contributions to materials science and engineering. The citation from the society said Susan received the honor, one of the highest in the field of materials, for “sustained […]
Supercomputers receive funding to help predict, modify new materials
September 16, 2016 – 12:00 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Department of Energy (DOE) will invest $16 million over the next four years in supercomputer technology that will accelerate the design of new materials by combining theoretical and experimental efforts to create new validated codes. Sandia National Laboratories researcher Luke Shulenburger will head a team working to improve algorithms that predict […]
Blowing bubbles to catch carbon dioxide
September 1, 2016 – 5:00 am
Sandia, UNM develop bio-inspired liquid membrane that could make clean coal a reality ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico (UNM) have created a powerful new way to capture carbon dioxide from coal- and gas-fired electricity plants with a bubble-like membrane that harnesses the power of nature to reduce CO2 […]
Lessons from Fukushima
August 16, 2016 – 5:00 am
Sandia helps industry learn from Japanese reactor accident ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. –When you’re an operator or engineer at a nuclear power plant, there are things you want to know long before you’re faced with an emergency. Reactor safety experts from Sandia National Laboratories and elsewhere are sharing lessons learned in Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident and […]
Designing a geothermal drilling tool that can take the heat
July 21, 2016 – 5:00 am
Sandia Labs worked on new type of downhole hammer ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and a commercial firm have designed a drilling tool that will withstand the heat of geothermal drilling. The downhole hammer attaches to the end of a column of drill pipe and cuts through rock with a rapid hammering action similar […]