ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A relatively new method to control nuclear fusion that combines a massive jolt of electricity with strong magnetic fields and a powerful laser beam has achieved its own record output of neutrons — a key standard by which fusion efforts are judged — at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z pulsed power facility, the most […]
Category Archives: Physics
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Machine-learning technique from Sandia Labs could improve fusion energy outputs
October 12, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Machine-learning techniques, best known for teaching self-driving cars to stop at red lights, may soon help researchers around the world improve their control over the most complicated reaction known to science: nuclear fusion. Fusion reactions are typically hydrogen atoms heated to form a gaseous cloud called a plasma that releases energy as […]
50 million artificial neurons to facilitate machine-learning research at Sandia
October 2, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fifty million artificial neurons — a number roughly equivalent to the brain of a small mammal — were delivered from Portland, Oregon-based Intel Corp. to Sandia National Laboratories last month, said Sandia project leader Craig Vineyard. The neurons will be assembled to advance a relatively new kind of computing, called neuromorphic, based […]
Basic laws of physics spruce up machine learning
August 6, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A proposed project to help scientists use the laws of physics to view multiscale physical events with a clarity never before achieved has won an Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy for Sandia National Laboratories researcher Nathaniel Trask. Such work may require observations over a millionfold change in […]
Sandia to receive Fujitsu ‘green’ processor
May 26, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This spring, Sandia National Laboratories anticipates being one of the first Department of Energy laboratories to receive the newest A64FX Fujitsu processor, a Japanese Arm-based processor optimized for high-performance computing. Arm-based processors are used widely in small electronic devices like cell phones. More recently, Arm-based processors were installed in Sandia’s Astra supercomputer, […]
Sandia initiatives to protect US energy grid and nuclear weapons systems
March 23, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — To deter attempts to disable U.S. electrical utilities and to defend U.S. nuclear weapon systems from evolving technological threats, Sandia National Laboratories has begun two multiyear initiatives to strengthen U.S. responses. One is focused on defending large U.S. electrical utility systems from potential attacks by hostile nations, as well as from damage […]
Sandia Fellow wins nuclear fusion award
January 16, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories Fellow Keith Matzen has been awarded the 2019 Distinguished Career Award by Fusion Power Associates, a national nonprofit research and educational foundation, for his many contributions to the laboratory development of nuclear fusion. The foundation annually brings together senior U.S. and international fusion experts to review the status of […]
Sandia establishes collaborative research facility for low-temperature plasmas
December 20, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is setting up a collaborative facility to help researchers worldwide study low-temperature plasmas, the most pervasive state of matter in the universe. The 5-year, $5.5 million project, called the Sandia Low Temperature Plasma Research Facility, is sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Participants will be selected […]
AI center to combine hardware, software for practical gains
October 31, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta are launching a research center that combines hardware design and software development to improve artificial intelligence technologies that will ultimately benefit the public. AI is an emerging field with eventual applications ranging from autonomous […]
Sandia experiments at temperature of sun offer solutions to solar model problems
September 10, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Experimenting at 4.1 million degrees Fahrenheit, physicists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have found that an astronomical model — used for 40 years to predict the sun’s behavior as well as the life and death of stars — underestimates the energy blockage caused by free-floating iron atoms, a major player in […]
Earthquake or underground explosion?
August 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers, as part of a group of National Nuclear Security Administration scientists, have wrapped up years of field experiments to improve the United States’ ability to differentiate earthquakes from underground explosions, key knowledge needed to advance the nation’s monitoring and verification capabilities for detecting underground nuclear explosions. The nine-year […]
Thwarting oil-pipeline corrosion by identifying a nanoscale villain
June 6, 2019 – 5:00 am
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 at Sandia National Laboratories, the […]
New device in Z machine measures power for nuclear fusion
April 10, 2019 – 10:07 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If you’re chasing the elusive goal of nuclear fusion and think you need a bigger reactor to do the job, you first might want to know precisely how much input energy emerging from the wall plug is making it to the heart of your machine. If somewhere during that journey you could […]
Quantum computing steps further ahead with new projects at Sandia
January 7, 2019 – 5:00 am
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, four new projects led by […]
Wind tunnel and lasers provide hypersonic proving ground at Sandia National Laboratories
November 7, 2018 – 5:00 am
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 own programs to develop aircraft […]