Historical breakthrough for clean energy of the future

Lasers have ignited fusion: Virtually inexhaustible source of energy

14-Dec-2022 - Lasers have ignited a mini star on earth, laying the foundation for a clean energy source of the future: A historical breakthrough in inertial confinement fusion research at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and a defining moment for Photonics! One of the most ...

Atomistic simulations go the distance on metal strength

29-Sep-2017 - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have dived down to the atomic scale to resolve every "jiggle and wiggle" of atomic motion that underlies metal strength. In a first of its kind series of computer simulations focused on metal tantalum, the team predicted that, on reaching certain ...

Outperforming nature's water filtration ability with nanotubes

29-Aug-2017 - At just the right size, carbon nanotubes can filter water with better efficiency than biological proteins, a new study reveals. The results could pave the way to new water filtration systems, at a time when demands for fresh water pose a global threat to sustainable development. A class of ...

Americans use more clean energy in 2016

12-Apr-2017 - Americans used more renewable energy in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Overall, energy consumption was nearly flat. Each year, the Laboratory releases energy flow charts that illustrate the ...

Next-generation NIF optics to boost energy and limit damage developed

11-Apr-2017 - A new anti-reflective coating and a novel chemical process for laser optics, developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers, represents an important breakthrough in its effort to boost the energy of the National Ignition Facility's (NIF) 192 giant lasers, and cut the cost ...

Lord of the Rings

Five-membered ring nitrogen compound synthesized

22-Dec-2016 - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists in collaboration with University of South Florida (link is external) theorists recently reported the synthesis and equation of state of a long sought-after five-ring nitrogen (N5) compound. The ring-structure compounds, known as ...

3D printed metamaterial shrinks when heated

26-Oct-2016 - Members of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Additive Manufacturing Initiative are among a group of researchers who have developed 3D printed materials with a unique property -- instead of expanding when heated, they shrink. In a study LLNL engineers, along with scientists from the ...

Scientists identify enzymes that create a highly toxic form of mercury in Antarctic sea ice

02-Sep-2016 - Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) assisted a team from the University of Melbourne in discovering how methylmercury enters the Antarctic sea and bioaccumulates in the marine food web. LLNL scientists Michael Thelen and Adam Zemla performed protein sequence analysis ...

Feeling the force between sand grains

26-Aug-2016 - For the first time, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have measured how forces move through 3D granular materials, determining how this important class of materials might pack and behave in processes throughout nature and industry. Granular materials such as sand, soil and ...

Putting pressure on 3D-printed structures

29-Jun-2016 - Through a series of dynamic compression experiments on additively manufactured (AM) structured lattices, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team, supported by colleagues at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has found that the assemblies have unique properties not exhibited by disordered ...