Research
Highlights...
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SLAC's Hogan researches hot topics.
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![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20080925034949im_/http://www.ornl.gov/news/pulse/DOE_Pulse.jpg) |
Number 74 |
February 12, 2001 |
Breast
probe detects malignant tumors instantly
![](smartprobe2.jpg) |
Smart
Probe |
DOE's
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has partnered
with San Jose-based BioLuminate,
Inc. to develop "Smart Probe," a tool for earlier, more accurate
breast cancer detection that removes no tissue and is expected
to achieve accuracy levels comparable to surgical biopsies
in detecting cancerous cells. The Smart Probe, smaller than
the needle used in routine blood tests, is inserted into breast
tissue after an initial screening indicates an area of concern.
The probe looks for multiple known indicators of breast cancer,
instantaneously providing physicians with information they
can use to determine whether more invasive and costly tests
are necessary. First human studies using the device are expected
to begin this spring.
[Anne M.
Stark, 925/422-9799,
stark8@llnl.gov]
Clean
chip making
Scientists
at DOE's Los Alamos
National Laboratory have developed a new technology application
that could almost eliminate the use of hazardous corrosives
and the production of wastewater in the fabrication of integrated
circuits, or chips, for computers. In the usual process, high
intensity light along with aggressive acids and corrosives are
used to create a chip's tiny integrated circuits. Los Alamos
researchers have demonstrated a technology using carbon dioxide
at high temperature and pressure to replace the more expensive
and hazardous solvents and eliminate the need for the tremendous
quantities of ultra-pure water used to rinse the solvents from
the chips.
[Kay Roybal,
505/665-0582,
k_roybal@lanl.gov]
Device
delivers on-the-spot warnings
Playing in the
dirt was a common lab activity for scientists at DOE's
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as they created
an automated system that purifies soil, as well as air and
water samples. Called BEADS, for Biodetection Enabling Analyte
Delivery System, it was created for use in a biological warfare
detector. BEADS cleans samples so that micro-organisms can
be identified in places like food processing lines and water
treatment plants. Now, it's being enhanced to monitor health
hazards on submarines in a Navy-sponsored program led by the
New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology. BEADS can be
used in chemical, protein, nucleic acid or whole-cell detectors.
[Staci Maloof,
509/372-6313,
staci.maloof@pnl.gov]
Greenhouse effect threatens western U.S. water
Serious water problems are projected for the western United States by
the year 2049 because of an increase in atmospheric levels of carbon
dioxide, say scientists with the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory. Warmer overall temperatures may spell more
rain and less snow in the winter, which will mean more flooding in the
spring and a reduced water supply for increasingly dry summers. These
projections were presented by Jinwon Kim, a climatologist with Berkeley
Lab's Earth Sciences Division, at the 81st meeting of the American
Meteorological Society.
[Lynn Yarris, 510/486-5375
lcyarris@lbl.gov]]
New seismic sources spark deep ocean shockwaves
The cost and safety of deep ocean drilling depends heavily on drillers
"guessing" when to line the well hole with pipe and when to keep drilling.
Engineers at the DOE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are developing two new seismic sources to accurately determine
borehole pressures without removing pipe or stopping drilling. In early
tests, these two sources successfully directed controlled explosions below
the borehole, where the information is most critical -- the Regenerative
Combustion Source by setting off hydrogen gas and the Capacitive Discharge
Source by sparking the formation of an exploding air bubble.
[Mary Beckman, 208/526-0061,
beckmt@inel.gov]
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Hogan has a name to live up to
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SLAC's Mark Hogan likes to be outside. |
Mark
Hogan is a postdoctoral researcher in physics at DOE's Stanford
Linear Accelerator Center. "With a last name like Hogan, I get lots of
remarks. Sometimes it's the comparison to the pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, but
since I'm 6'6" and 185 pounds, I guess I wouldn't make it in that sport. And
TV fans always talk about Hogan's Heroes."
While he
may not be a TV star, Hogan and his thesis research on
self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) are hot stuff at SLAC right now.
"The Lab is in the R&D stages of work on a free electron laser and the SASE
model is an important component of that," says Hogan. A free electron laser
(FEL) will use the last one-third of the two-mile accelerator to produce a
new kind of light source, capable of producing 1010 times more X-rays than
current circular accelerators. If Federal funds are secured by 2003,
scientists could start using the machine to take data by 2006.
Hogan
will be ready. He has already written several publications on the
SASE effect and much of his doctoral work at UCLA and Los Alamos involved
the building and commissioning of a linear accelerator and two SASE Free
Electron Lasers.
Hogan
is currently working on plasma wakefield acceleration studies in the
Advanced Accelerator Research department, in a collaboration that includes
SLAC, UCLA and USC. The group is looking into a variety of designs that will
help guide future generations of accelerators.
After
his postdoc at SLAC, Hogan plans to stick around, if invited. Besides,
Hogan was born right next door to Stanford in Palo Alto and as he says,
"I won't be wrestling, but I'll do triathlons, run marathons and be outdoors
when I'm not working inside the lab."
Submitted
by DOE's Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
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