Study: Warm winters could aid spread of bark beetles
Warmer temperatures allow Bark Beetles to
expand their range. Courtesy photo.
It’s been more than a decade since a bark beetle epidemic wiped out swaths of piñon trees around Santa Fe, but a growing body of research predicts that warming winters could spell trouble for beetle-prone conifers in the area — and beyond.
A new study by Los Alamos National Laboratory is the first large-scale analysis to demonstrate that higher temperatures allow the destructive beetle to multiply rapidly and expand its range. (Full story)
Also from Laboratory Equipment
Researchers report first nanostructured material for broad mixing of light waves
Courtesy photo.
A multicolor laser pointer you can use to change the color of the laser with a button click—similar to a multicolor ballpoint pen—is one step closer to reality thanks to a new tiny synthetic material made at Sandia National Laboratories.
The metamaterial was made using processes borrowed from semiconductor device fabrication. This fabrication was conducted at several Sandia facilities including Sandia's Microsystems Engineering, Sciences, and Applications complex and the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a Department of Energy Office of Science user facility jointly operated with Los Alamos National Laboratory. (Full story)
LANL: Exploring Carbon Nanotube Optics As Pathway For Quantum Information Processing
Depiction of a carbon nanotube defect site
generated by functionalization of a nanotube
with a simple organic molecule.
Researchers at Los Alamos and partners in France and Germany are exploring the enhanced potential of carbon nanotubes as single-photon emitters for quantum information processing. Their analysis of progress in the field is published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature Materials.
“We are particularly interested in advances in nanotube integration into photonic cavities for manipulating and optimizing light-emission properties,” said Stephen Doorn, one of the authors, and a scientist with the Los Alamos National Laboratory site of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT). “In addition, nanotubes integrated into electroluminescent devices can provide greater control over timing of light emission and they can be feasibly integrated into photonic structures. We are highlighting the development and photophysical probing of carbon nanotube defect states as routes to room-temperature single photon emitters at telecom wavelengths.” (Full story)
