News By Location

Experts assembling sPHENIX, a state-of-the-art particle detector at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, successfully installed a major tracking component on Jan. 19. The Time Projection Chamber, or TPC, is one of the final pieces to move into place before sPHENIX begins tracking particle smash-ups at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) this spring.

Alistair Rogers, a plant physiologist who leads the Terrestrial Ecosystem Science & Technology (TEST) Group in the Environmental and Climate Sciences Department at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been named a 2022 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science, visited DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory on Jan. 27 to celebrate the fast-approaching debut of a state-of-the-art particle detector known as sPHENIX. The house-sized, 1000-ton detector is slated to begin collecting data at Brookhaven Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a DOE Office of Science User Facility for nuclear physics research, this spring.

Not every laser color is available with the right properties for a specific job. To fix that, scientists have found a variety of ways to convert one color of laser light into another. In a study just published in the journal Physical Review Applied, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory demonstrate a new color-shifting strategy that’s simple, efficient, and highly customizable.

Everyone knows that holding two magnets together will lead to one of two results: they stick together, or they push each other apart. From this perspective, magnetism seems simple, but scientists have struggled for decades to really understand how magnetism behaves on the smallest scales. On the near-atomic level, magnetism is made of many ever-shifting kingdoms—called magnetic domains—that create the magnetic properties of the material. While scientists know these domains exist, they are still looking for the reasons behind this behavior. Now, a collaboration lead by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Max Born Institute (MBI) published a study in Nature in which they used a novel analysis technique—called coherent correlation imaging (CCI)—to image the evolution of magnetic domains in time and space without any previous knowledge. The scientists could not see the “dance of the domains” during the measurement but only afterward, when they used the recorded data to “rewind the tape.”

Given the choice of three different “spin” orientations, certain particles emerging from collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), an atom smasher at Brookhaven National Laboratory, appear to have a preference. Recent results reveal a preference in global spin alignment of particles called phi mesons. Conventional mechanisms—such as the magnetic field strength or the swirliness of the matter generated in the particle collisions—cannot explain the data. But a new model that includes local fluctuations in the nuclear strong force can.

Scientists at Brookhaven Lab have successfully demonstrated that autonomous methods can discover new materials. The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technique led to the discovery of three new nanostructures, including a first-of-its-kind nanoscale “ladder.”

Plant biochemists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new level of regulation in the biochemical “machinery” that plants use to convert organic carbon derived from photosynthesis into a range of ring-shaped aromatic molecules. The research suggests new strategies for controlling plant biochemistry for agricultural and industrial applications.

Meet Adrien Florio, a postdoctoral research associate and fellow in Brookhaven Lab’s Nuclear Theory Group that is contributing his unique perspective and experience to the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage's theory and applications subthrust.

Experts from around the country traveled to Hauppauge, NY, to discuss research in advanced accelerator physics and technology as well as the application and impact of that work. The workshop presented a great opportunity to also spark the interest of students and engage local university faculty. Mark Palmer, of Brookhaven Lab’s Accelerator Test Facility, worked with DOE and the New York City College of Technology to give students an in-depth look at accelerator science through lectures, workshops, and an on-site laboratory tour.