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Building block detectors for plants

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

While a plant's overall health can often be determined through simple observation, researchers sometimes need to see what's happening on the inside. That's where Jefferson Lab group leader Drew Weisenberger and his colleagues come in. They are working to develop tools that can image inside plants.

Result tickler: Lead nucleus may bury positive side under neutral facade

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

Results from the Lead (Pb) Radius Experiment (PREx), performed last year at Jefferson Lab, suggest that the nucleus of a lead atom buries its positive "personality" beneath a neutral exterior. The preliminary result is consistent with the idea that neutrons form a kind of "neutron skin" around the protons in the nucleus in heavy nuclei. It is important for understanding heavy nuclei and for theoretical equations that describe the life cycles of neutron stars.

Odd particle left out in the cold

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

The old saying birds of a feather flock together may also be true for the smallest bits of matter. According to a study recently published in Physical Review Letters, like particles inside protons and neutrons band together, leaving the odd one out.

Bound neutrons pave way to free ones

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study of bound protons and neutrons conducted at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has allowed scientists, for the first time, to extract information through experimentation about the internal structure of free neutrons, without the assistance of a theoretical model. The result was published in the Feb. 4 issue of Physical Review Letters.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, Israel Science Foundation, National Science Foundation, US-Israeli Bi-National Science Foundation

Jefferson Lab laser twinkles in rare color

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Peer-Reviewed Publication

December is a time for twinkling lights, and scientists at the Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility are delivering. They've just produced a long-sought, rare color of laser light 100 times brighter than that generated anywhere else. Jefferson Lab's Free-Electron Laser delivered vacuum ultraviolet light in the form of 10 eV photons (124 nanometers). This color is called vacuum ultraviolet because it's absorbed by molecules in air, requiring its use in a vacuum.

Lasers used to make first boron-nitride nanotube yarn

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers have used lasers to create the first practical macroscopic yarns from boron nitride fibers, opening the door for an array of applications, from radiation-shielded spacecraft to stronger body armor, according to a just-published study.

Journal: Nanotechnology
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, NASA Subsonic Fixed Wing program, Commonwealth of Virginia, NASA Langley Creativity and Innovation Program
Meeting: 2009 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting

Proton's party pals may alter its internal structure

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent experiment at the US Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has found that a proton's nearest neighbors in the nucleus of the atom may modify the proton's internal structure.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy, South African National Research Foundation, National Science Foundation

American-made SRF cavity makes the grade

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The US Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility marked a step forward in the field of advanced particle accelerator technology with the successful test of the first US-built superconducting radiofrequency niobium cavity to meet the exacting specifications of the proposed International Linear Collider.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

NuTeV anomaly helps shed light on physics of the nucleus

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new calculation clarifies the complicated relationship between protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus and offers a fascinating resolution of the famous NuTeV Anomaly. The calculation, published in the journal Physical Review Letters on June 26, was carried out by a collaboration of researchers from the US Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Tokai University and the University of Washington.

Journal: Physical Review Letters
Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

Jefferson Lab begins awarding contracts for construction of $310 million upgrade

DOE/Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Business Announcement

The US Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility has awarded three contracts as part of a $310 million upgrade project that will provide an international community of physicists with a cutting-edge facility for studying the basic building blocks of the visible universe.

Funder: DOE/US Department of Energy

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