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Angel Garcia-Esparza wins 2023 Spicer Young Investigator Award for studying catalysts in action

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Grant and Award Announcement

Angel Garcia-Esparza wins 2023 Spicer Young Investigator Award for studying catalysts in action.

SLAC researchers take important step toward developing cavity-based X-ray laser tech

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers took an important step toward developing next-gen technology for making X-ray free-electron laser pulses brighter and more stable: They used precisely aligned diamond mirrors to steer X-ray laser pulses around a rectangular racetrack inside a vacuum chamber. Setups like these are at the heart of cavity-based X-ray free-electron lasers, or CBXFELs, which scientists are designing to make X-ray laser pulses brighter and cleaner – more like regular laser beams are today.

Journal: Nature Photonics
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Natural or not? Scientists aid in quest to identify genetically engineered organisms

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Ever since gene editing became feasible, researchers and health officials have sought tools that can quickly and reliably distinguish genetically modified organisms from those that are naturally occurring. Now, such tools exist. A suite of techniques was developed and refined over the course of a six-year program funded by the United States Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Carpets retain a stubborn grip on pollutants from tobacco smoke

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In rooms where smoking has taken place regularly, tobacco's imprint lingers on indoor surfaces, even long after regular smoking has stopped. The leftover residues, known as thirdhand smoke, can be a long-term source of indoor pollutants. New research from a team led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) zeroes in on carpets as an especially potent – and difficult to clean – reservoir of tobacco contaminants.

Journal: Environmental Science & Technology

Electrons now moving through the superconducting accelerator that will power SLAC’s X-ray laser

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

After more than a decade of work, electrons are now flying through a new superconducting accelerator at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, preparing to power the world’s most powerful X-ray free electron laser. This project – named the Linac Coherent Light Source II (LCLS-II) – is now steps away from releasing X-ray flashes that will open a new era in scientific research at that atomic level.

Researchers show how to increase X-ray laser brightness and power using a crystal cavity and diamond mirrors

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SLAC researchers have shown how to make X-ray pulses at X-ray free-electron lasers even brighter and more reliable by building a special cavity chamber and diamond mirrors around an XFEL. The researchers calculated how the cavity system captures incoherent X-ray pulses and transforms them into more coherent, brighter X-rays.

Making renewable, infinitely recyclable plastics using bacteria

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists engineered microbes to make the ingredients for recyclable plastics – replacing finite, polluting petrochemicals with sustainable alternatives. The new approach shows that renewable, recyclable plastics are not only possible, but also outperform those from petrochemicals.

Journal: Nature Sustainability

New catalyst could dramatically cut methane pollution from millions of engines

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Today's catalysts for removing unburnt methane from natural-gas engine exhaust are either inefficient at low, start-up temperatures or break down at higher operating temperatures. A new single-atom catalyst solves both these problems and removes 90% of the methane.

Journal: Nature Catalysis
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Berkeley Lab and Genentech are building better lipid nanoparticles for drug delivery

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Berkeley Lab and Genentech are collaborating to make the next generation of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for drug delivery. Combining structural biology with cutting edge pharmaceutical science, the team is designing LNPs that can precisely deliver vaccines and therapeutics to target tissues while improving the product’s shelf life and duration of action.

Journal: ACS Nano

A foundation that fits just right gives superconducting nickelates a boost

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at SLAC and Stanford made thin films of an exciting new nickel oxide superconductor that are free of extended defects. This improved the material’s ability to conduct electricity with no loss and gave them the first clear view of its properties. They discovered that this nickelate is more like the superconducting cuprates than previously thought.

Journal: Nature
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

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