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First light from the first high-energy superconducting undulator

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory

More than eight years of effort by Advanced Photon Source physicists, engineers, and technicians culminated on Jan. 21, 2013, with the production of the first X-rays from the prototype of a novel superconducting undulator.

Resistance is futile

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of researchers from Russia, Spain, Belgium, the UK and the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory announced findings last week that may represent a breakthrough in applications of superconductivity. The team discovered a way to efficiently stabilize tiny magnetic vortices that interfere with superconductivity -- a problem that has plagued scientists trying to engineer real-world applications for decades.

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

By their powers combined

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Thanks to new research by an international team of researchers led by the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, physicists have developed new methods for controlling magnetic order in a particular class of materials known as "magnetoelectrics."

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, NASA

High-energy X-rays shine light on mystery of Picasso's paints

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Art Institute of Chicago teamed up with Argonne National Laboratory to unravel a decades-long debate among art scholars about what kind of paint Picasso used to create his masterpieces.

Journal: Applied Physics A
Funder: Department of Energy

Bubble study could improve industrial splash control

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For the first time, scientists witnessed the details of the full, ultrafast process of liquid droplets evolving into a bubble when they strike a surface. Their research determined that surface wetness affects the bubble's fate. This research could one day help eliminate bubbles formed during spray coating, metal casting and ink-jet printing. It also could impact studies on fuel efficiency and engine life by understanding the splashing caused by fuel hitting engine walls.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Research Foundation of Korea, Creative Research Initiatives of MEST/N

High-pressure science gets super-sized

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study of materials at extreme conditions took a giant leap forward with the discovery of a way to generate super high pressures without using shock waves whose accompanying heat turns solids to liquid. This discovery will allow scientists for the first time to reach static pressure levels exceeding four million atmospheres, a high-pressure environment where new unique compounds could be formed, materials change their chemical and physical properties, and metals become insulators.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation

Songs in the key of sea

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have used special algorithms to create musical patterns from data collected from microbes in the western English Channel.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

World's most powerful digital camera opens eye, records first images in hunt for dark energy

DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists in the international Dark Energy Survey collaboration announced this week that the Dark Energy Camera, the world's most powerful digital camera, has achieved first light. The camera is mounted on the Blanco telescope in Chile, and the first pictures of the southern sky were taken by the 570-megapixel camera on Sept. 12.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Scientists use sound waves to levitate liquids, improve pharmaceuticals

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have been using an "acoustic levitator" to find new ways to achieve containerless drug processing. Please check out the brief and striking video: http://www.anl.gov/videos/acoustic-levitation.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Clearer look at how iron reacts in the environment

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have developed a the first way to watch electrons hop in semiconductors. This opens research possibilities for premeditation, solar cells, batteries, hydrogen generation, catalysis.

Journal: Science
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy