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Understanding and controlling heat flow is critical for many applications, especially for electronics. As these devices become smaller, the interfaces between materials often become the bottleneck to removing heat. In this research, scientists uncovered a new mechanism for the transfer of energy across these interfaces that involves the coupling between electrons and atomic vibrations.

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Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) show promise as a way to trap toxic molecules and mitigate their harmful effects. In this research, scientists studied how the structure of MOFs can be tuned to enhance and optimize trapping of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.

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Gazing out on a freshwater pond, you may see tiny green plants with oval shaped leaves floating in clusters. In overgrown ponds, these plants coat the water’s surface. These plants – called duckweed or water lentils – can grow so fast that they can double their numbers in just one to two days.

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Scientists have developed a blueprint for producing ultrabright and ultrashort pulses of electron beams for the next generation of particle accelerators, plasma wakefield accelerators (PWFA). This could enable new scientific tools such as X-ray free-electron-lasers (XFELs) that can see matter at smaller scales and faster speeds than now possible.

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Spin is an intrinsic property of the electron. When electrons spin in the same direction at a given time, the quantity is called polarization. Understanding polarization helps examine the structure of nuclei of heavy elements. Now, nuclear physicists have measured the polarization of an electron beam more precisely than ever before.

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Scientists have for the first time mechanically detected individual nuclear decays occurring in a microparticle. The research used a new technique. Rather than detecting the radiation emitted by the nuclei, the researchers detected the occurrence of decay by measuring the tiny “kick” to the entire microparticle that contained the decaying nucleus as this radiation escaped.

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A total of 165 students will spend next summer learning, networking, and conducting scientific research at seven of the nation’s national laboratories via funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative.

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In 2D quantum materials, chiral edge states are 1D conducting channels in which electrons travel only in one direction and electron collisions are strongly suppressed. This means chiral channels act like resistance-free conductors.

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For the first time since X-rays were discovered, researchers have successfully performed X-ray spectroscopy to identify the element of a single atom at a time. The achievement takes advantage of improvements to synchrotron X-ray light sources.

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Researchers studied gene expression in plant/mycorrhizae symbioses by analyzing the roots of a model plant colonized by fungi and using a combination of techniques to measure gene activity in individual cells and visualize gene expression within two-dimensional sections of roots.

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When light shines on a semiconductor, it excites the electrons, leaving behind a “hole.” Electrons and these holes attract each other to form excitons, which can interact with other unpaired charges to alter the shape, direction, and/or frequency of a beam of light in the semiconductor. Researchers demonstrated that this response is unprecedently strong in a two-dimensional device made of three atomic layers of the semiconductor tungsten di-selenide.

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Leaders from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory celebrated the construction of the foundations for the lab’s newest facility on August 21, 2024. The Seismic Safety and Modernization (SSM) project is replacing the previous cafeteria building, which served the lab for 70 years. (The previous facility could not meet today’s standards for resilience in case of an earthquake, among other issues.) In contrast, the new facility has a 47,000-square-foot state-of-the-art design. It will encompass food service and conference facilities. The building will also be a home for operations services such as security, human resources, and the Health Services Clinic.

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A recent study shows that the superconducting edge currents in the topological material molybdenum telluride (MoTe2) can sustain large changes in the “glue” that keeps the superconducting electrons paired. To sustain these changes, the bulk and the edge of MoTe2 must behave differently. This surprise finding will help researchers create and control anyons and aid in the development of future energy-efficient electronics.