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The DEMAND single crystal diffractometer at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR, is the latest neutron instrument at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to be equipped with machine learning-assisted software, called ReTIA. Credit: Jeremy Rumsey/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Neutron experiments can take days to complete, requiring researchers to work long shifts to monitor progress and make necessary adjustments. But thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, experiments can now be done remotely and in half the time.

Takaaki Koyanagi

Takaaki Koyanagi, an R&D staff member in the Materials Science and Technology Division of ORNL, has received the TMS Frontiers of Materials award.

 

Group of young kids sitting at a lab table.

A group at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory made a difference for local youth through hands-on projects that connected neutron science and engineering intuitively.

Credit: NAIC Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF; (INSET) Michelle Negron, National Science Foundation

For more than half a century, the 1,000-foot-diameter spherical reflector dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was the largest radio telescope in the world. Completed in 1963, the dish was built in a natural sinkhole, with the telescope’s feed antenna suspended 500 feet above the dish on a 1.8-million-pound steel platform. Three concrete towers and more than 4 miles of steel cables supported the platform.

Xiao-Ying Yu portrait

Xiao-Ying Yu, a distinguished scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named a Fellow of AVS: Science and Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing, formerly American Vacuum Society.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were the first to use neutron reflectometry to peer inside a working solid-state battery and monitor its electrochemistry.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were the first to use neutron reflectometry to peer inside a working solid-state battery and monitor its electrochemistry.

HFIR

Creating energy the way the sun and stars do — through nuclear fusion — is one of the grand challenges facing science and technology. What’s easy for the sun and its billions of relatives turns out to be particularly difficult on Earth.

Herwig shared the impacts of neutron science with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm during a tour of SNS in November 2021. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Ken Herwig's scientific drive crystallized in his youth when he solved a tough algebra word problem in his head while tossing newspapers from his bicycle. He said the joy he felt in that moment as a teenager fueled his determination to conquer mathematical mysteries. And he did.

ORNL’s Yun Liu stands before one of the 10 laser comb-based beam diagnostics stations at the Spallation Neutron Source. The laser comb solves the longstanding problem of measuring changes in the beam across time. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

When opportunity meets talent, great things happen. The laser comb developed at ORNL serves as such an example.

Image of outerspace

Few things carry the same aura of mystery as dark matter. The name itself radiates secrecy, suggesting something hidden in the shadows of the Universe.