:: Next CMPMS Seminar

Monday, November 23, 2009
"Optical Second Harmonic Generation Measurements of BaTi205 and Low-k Dielectrics"
1:30 PM, Small Seminar Room, Bldg. 510

Materials Science, Superconductivity & Energy News

This page displays news items tagged as "materials science," "superconductivity," and "energy." For a complete index of all topics, click here.

Pinning Down Superconductivity to a Single Layer

October 29, 2009

Using precision techniques for making superconducting thin films layer-by-layer, BNL physicists have identified a single layer responsible for one such material’s superconductivity, opening a path for the design of tunable superconducting electronic devices.

453rd BNL Lecture Featuring Richard Ferrieri

October 28, 2009

All are invited to attend the 453rd Brookhaven Lecture featuring Richard Ferrieri, as he discusses how radiotracers and positron emission tomography (PET imaging) are providing a new look into plant processes that could lead to more renewable biofuels.

Collaborative Project Will Improve Nuclear Reactor Simulations

October 27, 2009

A collaboration between Brookhaven and Idaho national laboratories will improve the way scientists model the inner workings of nuclear reactors.

Popping the Cork on Biofuel Agriculture

October 19, 2009

BNL scientists have identified an enzyme that helps control water and nutrient transport in plants. Manipulating this enzyme could lead to easier agricultural production of biofuels.

Jinsheng Wen: Working on a Superconducting Energy Solution

October 14, 2009

Jinsheng Wen is a Stony Brook graduate student working on a superconducting energy solution at Brookhaven Lab.

Puzzled Physicists Solve Decade-Long Discrepancies

October 09, 2009

A team led by physicists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have resolved a decade-long puzzle that is set to have huge implications for use of one of the most versatile classes of materials available to us for future technology applications: copper oxide ceramics.

BNL Hosts Workshop on Materials in Next-Generation Energy Systems

October 06, 2009

Brookhaven workshop on materials under extreme conditions bridges disciplines, highlights role of light sources in studying next-generation energy systems.

Simultaneous Nanoscale Imaging of Surface and Bulk Atoms

September 20, 2009

Brookhaven Lab scientists have developed a new scanning electron microscope capable of selectively imaging single atoms on a surface while simultaneously probing atoms throughout the sample’s depth. The development could greatly expand scientists’ ability to understand and control chemical reactions, such as those in energy-conversion devices.

Renewable Energy Research and New Jobs

September 04, 2009

With $18 million in Recovery Act funding, site preparation has begun for a new state-of-the-art energy research facility at the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Scientists Detect 'Fingerprint' of High-Temp Superconductivity Above Transition Temperature

August 27, 2009

A new study shows that a “fingerprint” of high-temperature superconductivity remains intact above the super chilly temperatures at which these materials carry current with no resistance, offering hope for energy-saving applications under real-world conditions.

Recovery Act Pushes High-Field Magnet Development Forward

August 25, 2009

With stimulus funds in hand, a collaboration of national laboratories, universities, and industry is testing a new material that could revolutionize the superconducting magnet field.

International Workshop Held at BNL On Designs for Next-Generation Reactors

August 11, 2009

Some 30 international experts from six countries met to discuss new designs of nuclear reactors at a Gen IV Proliferation Resistance & Physical Protection Workshop.

Trapped! Scientists Immobilize Bacteria in Fibrous Hydrogel

August 03, 2009

Scientists at Brookhaven Lab and Stony Brook University have devised a way to encapsulate bacteria in a synthetic polymer hydrogel.

Magnetic Measurements Question Assumptions About High-Tc Superconductors

August 02, 2009

Brookhaven Lab scientists have grown large enough crystals of one well-studied high-temperature (high-Tc) superconductor to directly measure its magnetic properties. These measurements cast considerable doubt on assumptions commonly made in trying to understand the role magnetism plays in these materials’ ability to carry current with no resistance.

Finding the Path of Least Resistance

July 22, 2009

Although it was discovered in 1911, understanding superconductivity has been a decades-long process. Newly discovered high-temperature superconductors promise to revolutionize everything from mass transit to the power grid.

Brookhaven Physicists Win Onnes Prize for Superconductivity Experiments

July 14, 2009

J.C. Seamus Davis and John Tranquada, physicists at Brookhaven Lab, along with Aharon Kapitulnik of Stanford University, have been named the recipients of the 2009 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Prize for outstanding superconductivity experiments.

Research Offers New Insights, and a New Angle, on High-Temperature Superconductivity

June 30, 2009

Research reveales surprising information about how electron behavior influences the conduction of electricity in a class of high-temperature superconductors. An increased understanding of this mechanism could one day transform a number of technologies, including the transmission of electrical power.

Brookhaven Lab Scientist Yimei Zhu Elected Inaugural Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America

June 24, 2009

Yimei Zhu, a scientist at the Brookhaven Lab, has been elected the inaugural Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America, an affiliate of the American Institute of Physics and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

BNL scientists help clean up energy on Brookhaven Town Task Force

June 11, 2009

In the Spring 2009 edition the Town of Brookhaven’s Green Gazette, BNL appeared in a list of some of the most important players in the “green” energy game.

New Solar Energy System Displayed For Earth Week

May 04, 2009

Members of the Environmental Protection Division held an Environmental Vendor Fair at Berkner Hall on April 22 as part of their Earth Week celebrations. At the event, New Age Energy displayed a Tri-Generation solar power system that emits electricity, heat, and light simultaneously.

DOE to Establish Energy Frontier Research Center at Brookhaven Lab

April 29, 2009

Brookhaven National Laboratory will be home to one of 46 new multi-million-dollar Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) announced on Monday by the White House in conjunction with a speech delivered by President Barack Obama at the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences.

New Chemistry for Artificial Photosynthesis

April 15, 2009

On Wednesday, April 15, join James Muckerman for the 448th Brookhaven Lecture, "New Chemistry for Artificial Photosynthesis: A Theoretical Perspective." Muckerman will explain photosynthesis and illustrate how electrochemical systems driven by sunlight could carry out artificial photosynthesis to create usable fuels without creating pollutants and undesirable byproducts. 4 p.m., Berkner Hall.

Plant Gene Mapping May Lead to Better Biofuel Production

April 10, 2009

By creating a "family tree" of genes expressed in one form of woody plant and a less woody, herbaceous species, scientists at Brookhaven have uncovered clues that may help them engineer plants more amenable to biofuel production.

Scientists Identify Bacteria That Increase Plant Growth

January 26, 2009

Through work originally designed to remove contaminants from soil, scientists at Brookhaven Lab and their Belgium colleagues at Hasselt University have identified plant-associated microbes that can improve plant growth on marginal land.

New Catalyst Paves the Path for Ethanol-Powered Fuel Cells

January 25, 2009

A team of scientists at Brookhaven Lab, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible.

Disappearing Superconductivity Reappears -- in 2-D

December 01, 2008

Scientists studying a material that appeared to lose its ability to carry current with no resistance say new measurements reveal that the material is indeed a superconductor — but only in two dimensions. Equally surprising, this new form of 2-D superconductivity emerges at a higher temperature than ordinary 3-D superconductivity in other compositions of the same material.

Electron Pairs Precede High-Temperature Superconductivity

November 05, 2008

Like astronomers tweaking images to gain a more detailed glimpse of distant stars, Brookhaven physicists have found ways to sharpen images of the energy spectra in high-temperature superconductors — materials that carry electrical current effortlessly when cooled below a certain temperature. These new imaging methods confirm that the electron pairs needed to carry current emerge above the transition temperature, before superconductivity sets in, but only in a particular direction.

Scientists Engineer Superconducting Thin Films

October 08, 2008

One major goal on the path toward making useful superconducting devices has been engineering materials that act as superconductors at the nanoscale. Such nanoscale superconductors would be useful in devices such as superconductive transistors and eventually in ultrafast, power-saving electronics. In the October 9, 2008, issue of Nature, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory report that they have successfully produced two-layer thin films where neither layer is superconducting on its own,

Brookhaven Lab Scientist Masaki Suenaga Receives IEEE Award for Applied Superconductivity Research

September 15, 2008

Masaki Suenaga, a retired metallurgist who remains an active researcher at Brookhaven Lab, has received the IEEE Council on Superconductivity Award for significant and sustained contributions to applied superconductivity.

Scientists Reveal Effects of Quantum “Traffic Jam” in High-Temperature Superconductors

August 27, 2008

Scientists at Brookhaven Lab, in collaboration with colleagues at Cornell University, Tokyo University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Colorado, have uncovered the first experimental evidence for why the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors — the temperature at which these materials carry electrical current with no resistance — cannot simply be elevated by increasing the electrons’ binding energy.

Where's the glue?

April 10, 2008

New research indicates that the secret to superconductivity, a phenomenon which has the potential to revolutionize the distribution of electrical power, may rest on the ability of electrons to take advantage of their natural repulsion in a complex situation.

Working Toward New Energy With Electrochemistry

August 20, 2007

In an effort to develop alternative energy sources such as fuel cells and solar fuel from "artificial" photosynthesis, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory are taking a detailed look at electrons - the particles that set almost all chemical processes in motion.

Unlocking the Secrets of High-temperature Superconductors

March 07, 2007

Although it was discovered more than 20 years ago, a particular type of high-temperature (Tc) superconductor -- material that conducts electricity with almost zero resistance -- is regaining the attention of scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

One Mystery of High-Tc Superconductivity Resolved

November 16, 2006

Research published online in the journal Science this week by Tonica Valla, a physicist at Brookhaven, appears to resolve one mystery in the 20-year study of high-temperature (high Tc) superconductors -- materials that lose their resistance to the flow of electricity at relatively high temperatures. The research shows that a "pseudogap" in the energy level of the material's electronic spectrum is the result of the electrons being bound into pairs above the so-called transition temperature to the

More Evidence for "Stripes" in High-Temperature Superconductors

April 26, 2006

An international collaboration including two physicists from Brookhaven National Laboratory has published additional evidence to support the existence of "stripes" in high-temperature (Tc) superconductors. The report in the April 27, 2006, issue of Nature strengthens earlier claims that such stripes, a particular spatial arrangement of electrical charges, might somehow contribute to the mechanism by which these materials carry current with no resistance.

New Wrinkle in the Mystery of High-Tc Superconductors

March 16, 2006

In the twenty years since the discovery of high-temperature (Tc) superconductors, scientists have been trying to understand the mechanism by which electrons pair up and move coherently to carry electrical current with no resistance. "We are still at the beginning," says Tonica Valla, a physicist at Brookhaven, who will give a talk on his group's latest results at the American Physical Society meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday, March 16, 2006.

Helping Out a High-Temperature Superconductor

September 14, 2005

Researchers at Brookhaven have discovered a way to significantly increase the amount of electric current carried by a high-temperature superconductor, a material that conducts electricity with no resistance. This is an important step in the drive to create superconductor-based electric and power-delivery devices, such as power transmission lines, motors, and generators.

Research on "Holes" May Unearth Causes of Superconductivity

October 27, 2004

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered another possible clue to the causes of high-temperature superconductivity, a phenomenon in which the electrical resistance of a material disappears below a certain temperature.

New Physics Law Unifies Several Superconducting Compounds

July 30, 2004

A research group led by a scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory has discovered a simple relationship that mathematically links the properties of a class of high-temperature superconductors, materials that, below a certain temperature, conduct electricity with no resistance.

Why Calcium Improves a High-Temperature Superconductor

June 07, 2004

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have found evidence to prove why adding a small amount of calcium to a common high-temperature superconductor significantly increases the amount of electric current the material can carry.

Fluid "Stripes" May Be Essential for High-Temperature Superconductivity

June 02, 2004

Scientists at Brookhaven, in collaboration with researchers at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom and Tohoku University in Japan, have discovered evidence supporting a possible mechanism for high-temperature superconductivity that had previously appeared incompatible with certain experimental observations.

Another Twist in the Field of Superconductivity

March 23, 2004

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered an interesting type of electronic behavior in a recently discovered class of superconductors known as cobalt oxides, or cobaltates. These materials operate quite differently from other oxide superconductors, namely the copper oxides (or cuprates), which are commonly referred to as high-temperature superconductors.

Scientists Investigate the Mechanism Behind High-Temperature Superconductivity

February 23, 2004

Using crystal samples prepared at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, have ruled out two proposed theories for the subatomic mechanisms of superconductivity, a phenomenon in which the electrical resistance of certain materials drops to zero.

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Last Modified: July 23, 2009
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