Levitating particles could lift nuclear detective work
Los Alamos scientists Alexander Malyzhenkov
and Alonso Castro demonstrate levitating uranium
particles with laser beams. LANL photo.
Laser-based 'optical tweezers' could levitate uranium and plutonium particles, thus allowing the measurement of nuclear recoil during radioactive decay. This technique provides a new method for conducting the radioactive particle analysis essential to nuclear forensics
"Our idea relies on trapping a particle using 'optical tweezers,' a technique which is the subject of this year's Nobel prize in Physics," said Alonso Castro of the Lab's Actinide Analytical Chemistry group. (full story)
Detecting nuclear decay with recoil
Small particles levitated in an optical trap can recoil from radioactive decays in a way that identifies their nuclear composition, a new theoretical study suggests. Alonso Castro and colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, propose a novel way to identify isotopic compositions of nuclear material by measuring the recoil of radioactive particles suspended in laser beams.
In nuclear decay, an unstable atom transmutes into a stable daughter atom and emits a gamma ray, an alpha particle, or a beta particle. The emission carries with it some momentum, and so the daughter atom responds by moving in the opposite direction. (full story)
Also in the Los Alamos Daily Post
National Labs bring emerging tech to bear on grid security
Federal researchers are looking to leverage quantum computing, artificial intelligence and dedicated networks to help shield electric grid networks from remote cyber attackers as well as physical exploits involving unauthorized access to infrastructure.
"Fiber systems are relatively easy to tap. You put a bend in a cable, and the photons shoot right of there," Alia Long, lead development researcher in cyber-physical systems in Los Alamos National Lab's Advanced Research in Cyber Systems group. (Full story)
ARM is the NNSA’s new secret weapon
Cray XC-50, Cray image.
Los Alamos has invested heavily recently in standard Intel-based machines recently without the bells and whistles of other leadership class national lab machines in order to stay focused on mission versus tuning to exotic systems, and while that has changed with the introduction of Marvell (formerly Cavium) 64-bit ThunderX2 into the NNSA supercomputer fleet, Deputy Division Leader on the HPC side at LANL, Gary Grider, tells us that the jump to Arm was far easier than one might imagine, even with some of the world’s most complex simulation codes. (Full story)
The Melting Arctic: And why it’s important to the rest of society
The Arctic is turning green. It is not snowing or getting colder—instead, plants are growing in the cold tundra. A team from Los Alamos National Laboratory, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently conducted research that supports that areas of the Arctic, which were once frozen for thousands of years, are now thawing. Along with signs of green life flourishing in the region, increasing amounts of permafrost are beginning to melt.
According to Dr. Cathy Wilson of the Los Alamos lab, the melting of permafrost happens “as insulating snow accumulates atop tall shrubs, it boosts significant ground warming.” But why is the melting Arctic important to the rest of society? (Full story)
New management team takes over at LANL
Laboratory Director Thom Mason,
LANL photo.
On Nov. 1, Los Alamos National Laboratory began operating under the purview of Triad National Security LLC, a limited liability company consisting of Battelle Memorial Institute, the regents of the University of California and the regents of Texas A&M University. Fluor Federal Services, Huntington Ingalls Industries/Stoller Newport News, Longenecker & Associates, TechSource, Strategic Management Solutions and Merrick & Co. will support Triad National Security LLC in the performance of this contract. (Full story)
LANL group gives $70K in grants to 5 nonprofits
The Los Alamos National Laboratory Major Subcontractors Consortium, in partnership with New Mexico Community Foundation and Los Alamos National Security, has awarded a total of $70,000 in 2018 grants to five economic development nonprofits in the northern part of the state.
LANL MSC is a collaboration of 36 major LANL subcontractors that pool funds to support economic development projects serving the counties of Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, Mora, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Taos, as well as the Pueblos in those counties. (Full story)
