Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Visualization of the evolution of the nuclear size and shape from indium and tin isotopes between the major nuclear shells at N=50 and N=82, where N is the number of neutrons in the nucleus.

Testing the Possible Doubly Magic Nature of Tin-100, Researchers Study the Electromagnetic Properties of Indium Isotopes

Scientists are closing in on a major cornerstone of nuclear physics, Tin-100.

To make element 116, researchers fused isotopes of titanium and plutonium.

New Progress Toward the Discovery of New Elements

Scientists demonstrated a new way to produce the superheavy element livermorium (element 116) with titanium-50.

(a) Architecture of real-time field control on the DIII-D and KSTAR tokamaks. (b) This real-time 3D control drives plasma to the highest performance state for normalized fusion gain (energy out vs energy in, <em>G</em>) and confinement quality (<em>H</em><sub>89</sub>) without edge bursts.

Controller with Integrated Machine Learning Tweaks Fusion Plasmas in Real Time

Integrating machine learning with real-time adaptive control produces high-performance plasmas without edge instabilities, a key for future fusion reactors.

A neutrino moves through a gas of neutrons and is sensitive to correlations in spin and density in the neutron matter. These correlations determine how much energy transfers from the neutrino to the neutrons.

Improved Spin and Density Correlation Simulations Give Researchers Clearer Insights on Neutron Stars

New lattice simulations compute the spin and density correlations in neutron matter that affect neutrino heating during core-collapse supernovae.

A computer that uses electronic synapses made of terminals with a top electrode (TE), dielectric layer (DL), and bottom electrode (BE) can emulate the human brain. A neural network using these synapses shows improved image recognition in an MNIST test.

Emergent Device Boosts Neuromorphic Computing

Researchers open a new avenue for future brain-inspired computer hardware.

Robotic stacking of 2D material layers on a heated substrate while applying pressure pushes out residues such as polymers from between the layers, resulting in atomically clean interfaces between layers (Bottom inset: TEM cross section of the interface).

For Layered 2D Materials, Robotics Produces Cleaner Interfaces Between Stacked Sheets

Robotic stacking of 2D layers provides the atomically clean interfaces critical for high performance assembled materials.

Microscope image of one of the small fragments of asteroid 162173 Ryugu studied by scientists at the Advanced Photon Source. This fragment is roughly 400 microns in diameter, or about the width of six human hairs.

Illuminating the Journey of a 4-Billion-Year-Old Asteroid

By examining tiny fragments from one of our nearest cosmic neighbors, scientists uncovered more about the history of our solar system.

A gas-phase X-Ray scattering experiment captures cyclopentadiene rapidly transforming into the strained bicyclo[2.1.0]pentene. This structure change is triggered by a pump pulse (blue) and detected through X-ray scattering (yellow).

Carbon Rings Under Stress

Ultrafast X-ray experiments provide direct evidence that interaction of light with a hydrocarbon molecule produces strained molecular rings.

Wavefunction matching replaces the short distance part of the two-body wavefunction for a realistic interaction with that of a simple easily computable interaction. The result is a new interaction that can be handled in quantum many-body calculations.

Making Difficult Quantum Many-Body Calculations Possible

Solving quantum many-body problems with wavefunction matching.

Four layers of a surface-conducting material (Bi2Te3) between two single layers of a magnetic insulator (MnBi2Te4). This structure creates the conditions to align the manganese spins (red arrows) and support a zero-resistance, spin-polarized current.

Could a Magnetic Sandwich Make Your Electronic Devices Work More Efficiently?

Layers of a surface-conducting material, sandwiched between layers of a magnetic insulator, could lead to more powerful, energy-efficient electronics.

Illustration of electron transfer driven by an ultrashort laser pulse across an interface between two atomically thin materials. An electronic interlayer “bridge” state emitting lattice vibrations in the layers facilitates this electron transfer.

New Mechanism Explains Rapid Energy Sharing Across Atomic Semiconductor Junctions

Electron transfer between atomically thin materials triggers the ultrafast release of heat.

Schematic of a plasma wakefield accelerator using optical laser beams and electron driver, escort, and witness beams for generating bright, coherent X-ray laser beams with attosecond duration and sub-Angstrom wavelength.

Ice-Cold Plasma Electron Beams Prepare to Power Future Hard X-ray Laser Beams

Scientists chart a path to sub-femtosecond hard X-ray Free-Electron-Laser pulses powered by compact plasma-based accelerators.