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 of purchased from a catalog […]
Category Archives: Physics
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‘Impactful Times’ tells story of decades of Sandia shock physics research
October 17, 2017 – 9:00 am
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 impact would be a visual fizzle since it would happen on the planet’s far side. […]
Black hole models contradicted by hands-on tests at Sandia’s Z machine
August 28, 2017 – 9:50 am
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 great distance and then theorized […]
World’s smallest neutrino detector finds big physics fingerprint
August 3, 2017 – 12:15 pm
Sandia part of COHERENT experiment to measure coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering LIVERMORE, California — Sandia National Laboratories researchers have helped solve a mystery that has plagued physicists for 43 years. Using the world’s smallest neutrino detector, the Sandia team was among a collaboration of 80 researchers from 19 institutions and four nations that discovered compelling […]
Origin of spooky meteor noises reappraised by Sandia researchers
February 17, 2017 – 9:35 am
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 they are caused by the […]
Four Sandia researchers named American Physical Society fellows
December 7, 2016 – 5:00 am
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 devices. Andrew Landahl: for outstanding leadership and conscientious service to the quantum information community and pioneering contributions to quantum computing […]
Path to success: Sandia women honored for leadership, science
August 26, 2016 – 5:00 am
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 Jenniches Upward Mobility Award and […]
Sandia researcher wins high-voltage award
August 2, 2016 – 5:00 am
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 for the honor, Savage quipped, […]
Sandia physicist Jim Bailey wins major physics award for 10-year study of the sun
July 28, 2016 – 5:00 am
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 the American Physical Society’s annual […]
Sandia researcher Melissa Teague awarded Presidential Early Career Award
June 15, 2016 – 5:00 am
PECASE is highest US honor for early-stage researchers 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 […]
World’s fastest multiframe digital X-ray camera created at Sandia
June 2, 2016 – 11:00 am
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 seeing the cause. To narrow […]
Precise atom implants in silicon provide a first step toward practical quantum computers
May 24, 2016 – 8:45 am
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 — in this case, antimony […]
Ingenious method enables sharper flat-panel displays at lower energy costs
April 26, 2016 – 5:00 am
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 Technology at the National Institute […]
Unique phononic filter could revolutionize signal processing systems
January 12, 2016 – 5:00 am
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 of applied photonic microsystems for […]
Thor’s hammer to crush materials at 1 million atmospheres
January 5, 2016 – 5:00 am
Sophisticated features may influence eventual Z-machine rebuild ALBUQUERQUE, 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 accelerator, in generating pressures to study materials under extreme conditions. “Thor’s magnetic field will reach about one million […]