These are a few of the Laboratory's recent achievements in ST&E.

World's first neutron-detecting plastic

In a key discovery, a team of LLNL researchers has developed the first plastic material capable of efficiently distinguishing neutrons from gamma rays, something not thought possible for the past five decades or so. As a result, the new technology could assist in detecting nuclear substances such as plutonium and uranium that might be used in improvised nuclear devices by terrorists and could help in detecting neutrons in major scientific projects. With the material's low cost, huge plastic sheets could be formed easily into dramatically larger surface areas than other neutron detectors currently used and could aid in the protection of ports, stadiums and other large facilities.

"It has been established opinion since the 1950s that organic crystals and liquid scintillators can work for detecting neutrons, but that plastics are not suitable for neutron detection," said Natalia Zaitseva, an LLNL materials scientist. Scintillators are special materials that light up when excited by ionizing radiation. Read More »

Pathogen detector goes commercial

The Laboratory has licensed a microbial detection array technology to a St. Louis, Mo.-based company, MOgene LC, a supplier of DNA microarrays and instruments. Known as the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA), the technology could enable food safety professionals, law enforcement, medical professionals, and others to detect within 24 hours any virus or bacteria that has been sequenced and included among the array's probes.

Developed between October 2007 and February 2008, the LLMDA detects viruses and bacteria with the use of 388,000 probes that fit in a checkerboard pattern in the middle of a one-inch wide, three-inch long glass slide. The current operational version of the LLMDA contains probes that can detect more than 2,200 viruses and more than 900 bacteria. Read More »

NIF reaffirms status as most powerful laser

Fifteen years of work by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) team paid off on July 5 with a historic record-breaking laser shot. The NIF laser system of 192 beams delivered more than 500 trillion watts (terawatts or TW) of peak power and 1.85 megajoules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to its target. Five hundred terawatts is 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time, and 1.85 megajoules of energy is about 100 times what any other laser regularly produces today.

The shot validated NIF's most challenging laser performance specifications set in the late 1990s, when scientists were planning the world's most energetic laser facility. Combining extreme levels of energy and peak power on a target in the NIF is a critical requirement for achieving one of physics' grand challenges — igniting hydrogen fusion fuel in the laboratory and producing more energy than that supplied to the target. Read More »

Supercomputer coming online for national security research

Sequoia, a world-class IBM BlueGene/Q computer sited at LLNL, is now exploring a broad range of science to "shake out" the machine and fully develop the capabilities it will require to fulfill its national security missions, starting early next year. In this preparatory shakeout operations, researchers from LLNL, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories are testing Sequoia's power and versatility by exploring such unclassified science as high-energy-density plasmas and the electronic structure of heavy metals.

Once the 20-petaflop system is ready, Sequoia will transition in March 2013 to classified work for the National Nuclear Security Administration's Advanced Simulation and Computing Program — a cornerstone of the nation's stockpile stewardship program — to ensure the safety, security, and effectiveness of the nuclear deterrent without underground testing. Sequoia's mammoth computational power will be used to assess physical weapons systems and provide a more accurate atomic-level understanding of the behavior of materials in the extreme conditions present in a nuclear weapon. Read More »

Early-career scientists recognized nationally

Four Livermore scientists earned $10 million in funding through the Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Program (ECRP). The five-year awards are designed to bolster the nation's scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work. This year, the Office of Science awarded 68 recipients out of a total of 850 proposals. In comparison to other DOE labs, Livermore tied with Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories, which all won four awards each.

Celine Bonfils, a climate scientist in the Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison, earned the award for detection and attribution of regional climate change with a focus on the precursors of droughts. "I have been extremely fortunate to work with amazing mentors who believed in me and guided me in my research," Bonfils said. Read More »