News Archive | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Scientists used a combination of four techniques, represented here by four incoming beams, to reveal in unprecedented detail how a single atom of iridium catalyzes a chemical reaction. (Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Study Shows Single Atoms Can Make More Efficient Catalysts

Detailed observations of iridium atoms at work could help make catalysts that drive chemical reactions smaller, cheaper and more efficient.

The National Science Foundation’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile houses the Dark Energy Camera. Photo: Fermilab

Dark Energy Survey Completes Six-year Mission

Scientists’ effort to map a portion of the sky in unprecedented detail is coming to an end, but their work to learn more about the expansion of the universe has just begun.

Sandia National Laboratories researchers are looking to shape the future of computing through a series of quantum information science projects. As part of the work, they will collaborate to design and develop a new quantum computer that will use trapped atomic ion technology. (Photo by Randy Montoya)

Quantum Computing Steps Further Ahead with New Projects at Sandia

Quantum computing steps further ahead with new projects at Sandia

Funding: Department of Energy Announces Early Career Research Program for FY 2019

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today it is accepting proposals for the tenth year of the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program to support the research of outstanding scientists early in their careers. Support will begin in 2019 for over 50 early career researchers for five years at U.S. academic institutions and DOE national laboratories.

SLAC/Stanford researchers have switched a material in and out of a topological state with novel electronic properties. The scientists controlled the switch with an invisible form of light, called terahertz radiation, which made layers of the material swing back and forth. (Edbert Sie/Stanford University; Ella Maru Studio)

SLAC/Stanford Team Discovers New Way of Switching Exotic Properties On and Off in Topological Material

Ultrafast manipulation of material properties with light could stimulate the development of novel electronics, including quantum computers.

In the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, a beam of neutrinos will be sent from Fermilab outside Chicago straight through Earth’s mantle to Sanford Lab in Lead, South Dakota. Fermilab recently finalized an agreement with construction firm Kiewit-Alberici Joint Venture to start pre-excavation work for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, which will house the detectors.

Pre-excavation Work on LBNF/DUNE Begins in South Dakota

An international project to build the largest physics experiment ever constructed in the United States took a major step forward as a new phase of work has begun at the project’s South Dakota site.

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) is actually two accelerators in one. Beams of ions travel around its 2.4-mile-circumference rings in opposite directions at nearly the speed of light, coming into collision at points where the rings cross.

Startup Time for Ion Collisions Exploring the Phases of Nuclear Matter

19th year of operations at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider will continue search for critical point in transition from protons and neutrons to quark-gluon plasma.

Scientists at Argonne, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University have moved quantum optic networks a step closer to reality with their latest work on semiconducting nanoplatelets that act as tiny light switches. The Argonne team is pictured here. Left to right: Xuedan Ma, Benjamin Diroll, Richard Schaller and Gary Wiederrecht. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.)

Scientists Move Quantum Optic Networks a Step Closer to Reality

A crucial step has been achieved in understanding quantum optical behavior of semiconductor nanomaterials.

Revealing Hidden Spin: Unlocking New Paths Toward High-Temperature Superconductors

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) used a SARPES (spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy) detector to uncover a distinct pattern of electron spins within high-temperature cuprate superconductors.

Funding: U.S. Department of Energy Announces $33 Million for Small Business Research and Development Grants

The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will award 189 grants totaling $33 million to 149 small businesses in 32 states. Funded through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, today’s selections are for Phase I research and development.

Yugang Zhang, Oleg Gang, Fang Lu, and Mingzhao Liu hold structural models of "nanowrappers" made of gold and silver and featuring holes in the corners. The scientists synthesized these hollow, porous nanostructures through a chemical reaction and characterized them using electron microscopy and optical spectroscopy capabilities at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials.

Carrying and Releasing Nanoscale Cargo with "Nanowrappers"

Nanocubes with hollow interiors and surface openings whose shape, size, and location are precisely controlled could be used to load and unload materials for biomedical, catalysis, and optical sensing applications

A closeup of the magnets that will drive the upgraded APS beams.

Beam Us Up

The upgrade of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory will make it between 100 and 1,000 times brighter than it is today.