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Lund University professor Frederik Ossler (left) and ORNL researcher Charles Finney are using ORNL’s CG-1D instrument to study biomass fuels as they pyrolyze using neutron scattering. Their research could lead to more efficient energy production from biomass. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Researching cleaner, more efficient bioenergy production using neutrons

Neutrons reveal a striking pattern of connected “bow ties” that is characteristic of the emergent electron motion in the quantum spin liquid state, observed in a three-dimensional material belonging to a class of minerals used in a wide range of technological applications. Credit: Kemp Plumb/Brown University and Genevieve Martin/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A calendar poster showcasing some recent scientific publications from HFIR and SNS.

SNS and HFIR 2019 Calendar Poster

Scientists analyzed the gamma rays emitted during the NPDGamma Experiment and found parity-violating asymmetry, which is a specific change in behavior in the force between a neutron and a proton. They measured a 30 parts per billion preference for gamma rays to be emitted antiparallel to the neutron spin when neutrons are captured by protons in liquid hydrogen.

Precision experiment first to isolate, measure weak force between protons, neutrons

$Ernest Wollan’s 1944 hand-drawn graph of the first observation of Bragg reflections using neutron diffraction at Oak Ridge.$

Celebrating 75 Years: A History of Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Tyler Cooksey, a graduate researcher at the University of Houston, uses ORNL’s Bio-SANS instrument at the High Flux Isotope Reactor to understand how micelles can be improved to create more effective drugs. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Neutron micelle measurements lend insights into improved drug delivery

Timken researchers Vikram Bedekar (left) and Rohit Voothaluru are aiming to improve bearing manufacturing processes by using neutrons at HFIR’s HB-2B. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Timken turns to neutrons to get its bearings on internal stresses

ORNL researcher Joanna McFarlane, prepares to test a sample with the IMAGING beamline at the High Flux Isotope Reactor. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Good Vibrations: Neutrons Lend Insight into Acoustic Fracking

ORNL’s Bianca Haberl and Amy Elliott hold 3D printed collimators next to a pressure cell loaded with a sample. These collimators were developed as a collaboration between the lab’s Neutron Sciences Directorate and Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

3D printed collimators for neutron scattering enables new science and lowers costs

Matthew Ryder is researching next-generation materials using neutron scattering as a Clifford G. Shull Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Neutron Sciences Directorate. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Matthew Ryder: Understanding the Stability of Next-Generation Materials

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts.

Neutron production at ORNL’s SNS reaches design power level

Rice University graduate student Lebing Chen spent three months perfecting a recipe for making flat sheets of chromium triiodide, a two-dimensional quantum material that appears to be a “magnetic topological insulator.” (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

‘Magnetic topological insulator’ makes its own magnetic field

VULCAN Pinhole and Detector Development research team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source. From left to right, Matt Frost, Kevin Berry, Alexandru Stoica, Ke An, Wei Wu, and Harley Skorpenske. Credit: ORNL/Kelley Smith

Neutron pinhole magnifies discoveries at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A heavy overhead crane is used to lower the 64,000-pound inner reflector plug into position, right in the heart of the Spallation Neutron Source. (image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Big jobs: Safety, planning key to increasing production performance at SNS

Tyson Lanigan-Atkins, a PhD student at Duke University, uses the cold (lower-energy) neutron triple-axis spectrometer at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor to study thermoelectric materials. Image Credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin

Cold neutrons used in hot pursuit of better thermoelectrics

UT researchers Zhili Zhang (left) and Cary Smith, in association with researchers from the US Air Force, use neutrons at HFIR’s CG-1D instrument to investigate fluid flow dynamics for potentially improved fuel systems in hypersonic vehicles and other industrial spray-related applications. (Image credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin)

Feeling the need for speed, neutrons study fluid flow for hypersonic flight

$Two neutron diffraction experiments (represented by pink and blue neutron beams) probed a salty solution to reveal its atomic structure. The only difference between the experiments was the identity of the oxygen isotope (O*) that labeled nitrate molecules (NO3-)—either 16O or 18O. The solution also contained potassium ions (K+) dissolved in heavy water (D2O). Credit: Lukas Vlcek, Hsiu-Wen Wang and Adam Malin/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy$

Seeing a salt solution’s structure supports one hypothesis about how minerals form

ORNL researcher Kate Page developed an early interest in materials science during a college internship.

Page's athletic past accents value of collaboration

An artistic rendition of the intriguing superionic crystalline structure of CuCrSe2, which has copper ions that move like liquid between solid layers of chromium and selenium, giving rise to useful electrical properties. Credit - Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Jill Hemman

Atomic insights into superionic crystals could lead to safer, more efficient rechargeable batteries

$Illustration of neutron diffraction data showing water distribution (red and white molecules) near lipid bilayers prior to fusion (left) and during fusion. Mapping the water molecules is key to understanding the process of cell membrane fusion, which could help facilitate the development of treatments for diseases associated with cell fusion.$

Neutrons produce first direct 3D maps of water during cell membrane fusion

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