Research & Development World

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy established LaserNetUS, a network of facilities operating ultrapowerful lasers. Organized and funded through DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), the new network was created to provide vastly improved access to unique lasers for researchers, and to help restore the U.S.’s once-dominant position in high-intensity laser research. Now,…

By Kelly Wright, Marketing Coordinator, MadgeTech The ultimate companion for quality assurance, the MadgeTech Titan S8 is a portable, precision test instrument and data logger with eight fully programmable inputs. Whether monitoring one or all eight channels simultaneously, the easy-to-use touchscreen interface allows users to quickly view and react to real-time data right from the…

By Anne Stark, LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are leveraging their extensive experience studying the movement of airborne hazards to better understand the movement of virus-like particles through the air and to identify effective countermeasures. While the burden of airborne diseases is known to be large, its true scope is underappreciated. LLNL researchers…

By Daniel Ackerman | MIT News Office Superconductors — materials that conduct electricity without resistance — are remarkable. They provide a macroscopic glimpse into quantum phenomena, which are usually observable only at the atomic level. Beyond their physical peculiarity, superconductors are also useful. They’re found in medical imaging, quantum computers and cameras used with telescopes.…

  Southwest Research Institute has completed a pilot-scale facility to create and test natural gas foam as a safe and stable alternative to water for hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking.” The six-year project is part of an effort to show that stable natural gas foam can be generated on-site at fracking locations using commercially…

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University (SBU) and other collaborating institutions have uncovered dynamic, atomic-level details of how an important platinum-based catalyst works in the water gas shift reaction. This reaction transforms carbon monoxide (CO) and water (H2O) into carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen gas (H2) — an…

By Michael Langley Tim Briggs has built a career at Sandia National Laboratories tearing and breaking things apart with his team of collaborators. Now, he’s developed a fracture-testing tool that could help make everything from aircraft structural frames to cellphones stronger. Briggs has filed a patent for a device associated with bonded structural composite materials…

Artificial Chemist 2.0 is a new technology that allows users to go from requesting a custom quantum dot to completing the relevant R&D and beginning manufacturing in less than an hour. The technology is completely autonomous and uses artificial intelligence (AI) and automated robotic systems to perform multi-step chemical synthesis and analysis. Quantum dots are…

For low-cost small satellites to tackle emerging commercial, scientific and national security missions they need to be capable of maneuvering while still being compatible with rideshare. To responsibly manage our ever more crowded orbit zones into the future, all satellites will soon be required to de-orbit at end-of-life and avoid collisions with space debris at…