January 5, 2021 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If everything moved 40,000 times faster, you could eat a fresh tomato three minutes after planting a seed. You could fly from New York to L.A. in half a second. And you’d have waited in line at airport security for that flight for 30 milliseconds. Thanks to...
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Mirage software automates design of optical metamaterials
March 27, 2019 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New software lets users design science-fiction-like materials with the same efficiency that architects draft building plans. Sandia National Laboratories has created the first inverse-design software for optical metamaterials — meaning users start by describing the result they want, and the software fills in the steps to get...
Sandia light mixer generates 11 colors simultaneously
June 28, 2018 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A multicolor laser pointer you can use to change the color of the laser with a button click — similar to a multicolor ballpoint pen — is one step closer to reality thanks to a new tiny synthetic material made at Sandia National Laboratories. A flashy laser...
Nanotechnology experts at Sandia create first terahertz-speed polarization optical switch
September 14, 2017 • 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...
Lighting up the study of low-density materials
July 17, 2017 • 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 of low-density materials, from laminate...
Categories: Materials Science, Science / Technology / Engineering
New fog chamber provides testing options that could improve security cameras
June 17, 2015 • ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fog can play a key role in cloaking military invasions and retreats and the actions of intruders. That’s why physical security experts seek to overcome fog, but it’s difficult to field test security cameras, sensors or other equipment in fog that is often either too thick or...