Warfare has always been about exerting political will. In the most basic way, that’s accomplished by one side inflicting enough pain on the other to compel them to acquiesce—and technology has always played a key role in doing that. The Greek phalanx, the crossbow, the cannon, poison gas: all introduced new, powerful methods of destruction on the battlefield and fundamentally changed the way war was fought.
Today, however, science and technology are being used to exert political will far from the traditional battlefield. Adversaries are exploiting space, cyberattacks, biology and other emerging technologies to significantly disrupt the systems underpinning our society—including telecommunications infrastructure, power grids, public health systems, transportation systems and financial institutions. In short, an adversary can gain advantage without ever firing a shot. (Full Story)
Kilopower first step to safe and power nuclear fission for space and other applications
Reactor core design, LANL image.Dr. David Poston, Los Alamos National Laboratory talks about the simple and safe NASA Kilopower Project. KRUSTY showed that developing a small reactor is not inherently expensive. A new reactor concept was designed, fabricated and tested for less than $20M. KRUSTY demonstrated a space reactor concept that can be used for near-term space science and exploration. KRUSTY/Kilopower is the first step towards truly astounding space fission capabilities. The early stage system can reach 10,000 watts and weigh 1500 kilograms. This is almost 7 watts per kilogram. They are working on a 2 Megawatt electrical power heat pipe nuclear reactor that would weigh 35-45 tons. (Full Story)
Cryogenic cooling goes solid state
The LANL/UNM research team. From machine design.A team of researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of New Mexico have for the first time demonstrated an all-solid-state optical refrigerator that operates at cryogenic temperatures and has no moving parts.
Solid-state cryocooling is an optical effect in certain materials that takes advantage of anti-Stokes fluorescence. In this process, a solid excited by a laser subsequently fluoresces at a slightly greater mean energy (shorter wavelength) than that of the exciting laser. This effect was first observed by Richard Epstein at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1995. (Full Story)
Carbon nanotubes give two excitons for the price of one
In a carbon nanotube (top, gray cylinder), the capture of a photon (green arrow) generates two excitons (blue and red spheres bound together) at oxygen doping sites (top, red balls). The excitons recombine and emit photon pairs (bottom, pink stars).Tuning the electronic properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), a process known as doping, is emerging as an effective means for enhancing the emission properties of these nanotubes and introducing new functionalities.
This latest research from scientists at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies and their collaborators at Los Alamos National Laboratory identifies the latter process as the responsible party and further clarifies the details of the process. (Full Story)
In the Lab with Priscila Rosa: The power of research
Priscila Rosa aligns a single crystal in an x-ray diffractometer, LANL photo.Priscila Rosa knows the importance of applying pressure to achieve goals. That is how she summoned the drive to leave Brazil, her home country, for a joint postdoctoral fellowship in the United States.
Rosa is the principal investigator of an early-career Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project using pressure to measure thermal expansion in quantum materials. This fundamental understanding is essential to ultimately knowing how to control and tailor such materials for potential applications. (Full Story)
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