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

Due to the local terbium environment in TblnO3, a honeycomb lattice of terbium spins emerges in the crystal structure upon cooling. Credit: University of Liverpool

Scientists Discover New Quantum Spin Liquid

An international research team led by the University of Liverpool and McMaster University has made a significant breakthrough in the search for new states of matter. In a study published in the journal Nature Physics, researchers show that the perovskite-related metal oxide, TbInO3, exhibits a quantum spin liquid state, a long-sought-afterandunusual state of matter.

DOE Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar is greeted by Caltech scientist Maria Spiropulu, who leads the Fermiab Quantum NETwork. Photo: Reidar Hahn

DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar Visits Fermilab to Discuss Quantum Program

On Dec. 18, 2018, DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar visited Fermilab. The main focus of the visit was Fermilab’s rapidly advancing quantum science and technology program.

Skyrmions are nanoscale whirls or vortices of magnetic poles that form lattices within a magnetic material, a type of quasiparticle that can zip across the material, pushed by electrical current.

Taking Magnetism for a Spin: Exploring the Mysteries of Skyrmions

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have discovered the relaxation dynamics of a zero-field state in skyrmions, a spinning magnetic phenomenon that has potential applications in data storage and spintronic devices.

EMSL scientist Scott Lea leads a multi-institutional team developing a BioImager, a novel spectral imaging platform, funded through BER’s Bioimaging Technology Program.

EMSL Scientist Awarded $3.75M to Develop a Novel Imaging Platform

EMSL scientist Scott Lea will receive $3.75M over three years from the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research’s Bioimaging Technology Program to develop a “BioImager,” a novel spectral imaging platform.

Allison C. Aiken brings her innovative aerosol chemistry background and eight years of ARM data experience to the User Executive Committee. Photos are from ARM and Aiken.

User Executive Committee Profile: Aerosols Advocate

While still a graduate student, Allison C. Aiken—now an aerosol scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico—developed a new analysis technique for organic species found in the atmospheric particles she studies. In 2014, she was named one of the world’s most influential scientific minds by Thomson Reuters.

The most direct — and thus most solid — prediction of Big Bang nucleosynthesis concerns helium-4, each nucleus of which consists of two protons and two neutrons. However, helium-4 is also a standard product of stellar nuclear fusion. In order to infer the primordial helium-4 abundance, astronomers turn to certain dwarf galaxies. This image shows an important example, the galaxy "I Zwicky 18," a dwarf galaxy rather close to us by intergalactic standards, a mere 45 million light years away. Image courtesy of NASA (Download Image)

Scientists Predict Reaction Data for Fusion Research, Insight Into Universe's Origins

Using simulations and calculations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) nuclear scientists for the first time have accurately predicted the properties of polarized thermonuclear fusion. Analogous calculations could be used to answer some of the most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and the evolution of stars.

Argonne Intern Expands His Universe by Working with Data from the Dark Energy Survey

Alec Lancaster thought he was bound for a career as a university physicist. But a 10-week internship at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory gave him a different vision of the road ahead.

Zahid Hussain holds his DOE Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award certificate. (Credit: Berkeley Lab)

Berkeley Lab Pioneer in Synchrotron Techniques and Tools Receives DOE Secretary’s Award

Zahid Hussain, a longtime scientist at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has always been more focused on achievements than accolades, though his lists run long in both categories.

Crews work at the site of the POLARBEAR-2/Simons Array experiments in Chile. There are plans to combine data at this site with data collected near the South Pole for a next-generation cosmic microwave background experiment known as CMB-S4. (Credit: POLARBEAR Collaboration)

Scientists Team Up With Industry to Mass-Produce Detectors for Next-Gen Cosmic Experiment

Chasing clues about the infant universe in relic light known as the cosmic microwave background, or CMB, scientists are devising more elaborate and ultrasensitive detector arrays to measure the properties of this light with increasing precision.

Natalie Griffiths studies aquatic ecosystem dynamics in the Walker Branch watershed.

Fielding Scientific Questions with Natalie Griffiths

Growing up, Natalie Griffiths dreamed of playing shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays. With a stint on the Canadian national women’s baseball team under her belt, Griffiths has retired her glove and now fields scientific questions about carbon and nutrient cycling and water quality as an aquatic ecologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Center for Functional Nanomaterials hosted a day-long event held in recognition of its first 10 years of operations

Brookhaven's CFN Celebrates Decade of Discovery

The Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility located at Brookhaven National Laboratory and one of five Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs) built at DOE national laboratories—marked its first “Decade of Discovery” with a day-long celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.

Clarice Phelps: Dedicated Service to Science and Community

More than 70 years ago, United States Navy Captain Hyman Rickover learned the ins and outs of nuclear science and reactor technology at the Clinton Training School at what would eventually become the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Rickover applied his knowledge towards the creation of the US Navy’s nuclear-powered ships and submarines, earning him the moniker of “father of the nuclear navy.” Decades later, ORNL researchers like Clarice Phelps carry on the Navy Nuke legacy and use their nuclear expertise to solve some of the grand challenges of science.