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 […]
Tag Archives: plasma
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sandia plasma-materials researcher wins DOE Early Career Award
May 10, 2016 – 5:02 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Robert Kolasinski has received a $2.5 million, five-year Early Career Research Program award from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science to support his work on how intense fusion plasmas interact with the interior surfaces of fusion reactors. Kolsinski’s research will develop the scientific foundations needed to […]
Sandia’s Z machine receives funding aimed at fusion energy
June 29, 2015 – 10:20 am
Laser beam ‘smoothing’ with University of Rochester to play key role ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A two-year, $3.8 million award has been received by Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) to hasten the day of low-cost, high-yield fusion reactions for energy purposes. High-yield means much more energy emerging from […]
IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Society Merit Award honors Sandia radiation effects expert
July 17, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia radiation effects researcher Jim Schwank has won the 2014 IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Merit Award, which recognizes outstanding technical contributions to the fields of nuclear and plasma sciences. “I feel highly honored,” said Schwank, who is the second active Sandia employee to win the award and the sixth person […]
Sandia researcher Mike Desjarlais wins 2014 IEEE Plasma Science and Applications Award
May 23, 2014 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The 2014 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Plasma Science and Applications Award has been won by Sandia National Laboratories researcher Mike Desjarlais. His work was cited for “pioneering contributions to the understanding of electrical and thermal transport properties, and [for] equations of state for materials at extreme conditions through the use […]