ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories and Arizona State University, two research powerhouses, are collaborating to push the boundaries of quantum technology and transform large-scale optical systems into compact integrated microsystems. Nils Otterstrom, a Sandia physicist specializing in integrated photonics, is at the forefront of scaling down optical systems to the size of a chip. This […]
Category Archives: Physics
Older postsSandia employees teaching quantum science to the next generation
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — QCaMP is returning to New Mexico for its third year, with the goal of inspiring the next generation of scientists in the rapidly growing field of quantum science. Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories, in collaboration with instructors from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will teach New Mexico high […]
Creating diamonds to shed light on the quantum world
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Diamonds are a scientist’s best friend. That much is at least true for physicist Andy Mounce, whose work with diamond quantum sensors at Sandia National Laboratories has earned him the DOE’s Early Career Research Award. As a scientist in Sandia’s Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, he specializes in making microscopic sensors to try […]
Sandia applied mathematician wins DOE Early Career Research Award
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Examination of very fine real-world data can improve the fidelity by which complex computer simulations are guided, says Sandia National Laboratories applied mathematician Pete Bosler. He investigates multiscale simulations that, integrated, could combine individual raindrops, thunderstorms and the entire global atmosphere, guided by data currently thought too fine to be used, that […]
Sandia researchers receive two EO Lawrence Awards
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories pulsed-power physicist Daniel Sinars and quantum information scientist Andrew Landahl have each received 2021 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Awards, the U.S. Department of Energy’s highest scientific mid-career honor. Sinars won in the category “National Security and Nonproliferation;” Landahl in “Computer, Information and Knowledge Sciences.” Susan Seestrom, associate laboratories director for […]
Seashell-inspired Sandia shield protects materials in hostile environments
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Word of an extraordinarily inexpensive material, lightweight enough to protect satellites against debris in the cold of outer space, cohesive enough to strengthen the walls of pressurized vessels experiencing average conditions on Earth and yet heat-resistant enough at 1,500 degrees Celsius or 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit to shield instruments against flying debris, raises […]
Neuromorphic computing widely applicable, Sandia researchers show
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With the insertion of a little math, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have shown that neuromorphic computers, which synthetically replicate the brain’s logic, can solve more complex problems than those posed by artificial intelligence and may even earn a place in high-performance computing. The findings, detailed in a recent article in the journal […]
Powerful Sandia machine-learning model shows diamond melting at high pressure
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories supercomputer simulation model called SNAP that rapidly predicts the behavior of billions of interacting atoms has captured the melting of diamond when compressed by extreme pressures and temperatures. At several million atmospheres, the rigid carbon lattice of the hardest known substance on Earth is shown in SNAP (Spectral […]
Program in fusion energy attracted interns’ eyes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A bold plan paid off this past summer when Sandia National Laboratories staff members LaRico Treadwell and Khalid Hattar combined their passions for increasing inclusion of people of color with developing materials to eventually derive energy from nuclear fusion. Standing to benefit from the pilot project were three undergraduate interns from North Carolina […]
Remote high-voltage sensor unveiled at Sandia gamma ray lab
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ever since the first human placed a bare hand on an uninsulated electric line, people have refrained from personally testing energetic materials. Even meters made of metal can melt at high voltages. Now, using a crystal smaller than a dime and a laser smaller than a shoebox, a Sandia National Laboratories team […]
Sandia researcher awarded Early-Career Research Program grant
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Working to solve a problem, supercomputing researchers may encounter incomplete data or flawed programs. For both issues, Sandia researcher Drew Kouri has attracted interest from the broad computing community for his ability to mitigate uncertainty in both supercomputer programs and data, optimizing each to reach the best solutions. His research was awarded […]
Look who’s turning 25
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is celebrating 25 years of research conducted at its Z Pulsed Power Facility — a gymnasium-sized accelerator commonly referred to as Z or the Z machine. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only a limited number of former leaders of the pulsed power program at Sandia will gather Friday to share […]
World’s smallest, best acoustic amplifier emerges from 50-year-old hypothesis
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have built the world’s smallest and best acoustic amplifier. And they did it using a concept that was all but abandoned for almost 50 years. According to a paper published May 13 in Nature Communications, the device is more than 10 times more effective than the earlier […]