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Interphases — the multicomponent interlayer structures that emerge between electrodes and electrolytes in batteries — critically determine the performance and durability of electrochemical cells.
// S&T Highlights

Machine learning uncovers how battery interphases can boost lithium-ion transpo…

In a recent study, published in Advanced Energy Materials, researchers at LLNL used large-scale molecular dynamics simulations accelerated by machine learning, combined with data-driven analysis, to tackle this challenge.
LLNL collaborated with Rocket Lab and the U.S. Space Force to rapidly deploy an advanced optical payload for the VICTUS HAZE mission, demonstrating a new inspection capability for space domain awareness.
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LLNL supports successful demonstration of a new space inspection capability

A team of scientists at LLNL partnered with Rocket Lab and the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) to deliver an optical payload for the VICTUS HAZE tactically responsive space (TacRS) mission under the Space Safari program office.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Collaborative Heavy-lift Aerial unManned Propellor Systems (CHAMPS) team participated in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Lift Challenge held in Dayton, Ohio. CHAMPS team left to right: Claire Knight, James Reimer, Marcus Worsley, Brian Wihl, Giovanna Bucci, Kenneth Entrom and Erika Ramos. Additional team members include Marissa Wood, Afolabi Olayiwola and Victoria Trang. (Photo: Garry McLeod/LLNL)
// S&T Highlights

LLNL CHAMPS team selected to develop a heavy-lift drone for DARPA competition

A team of LLNL scientists and engineers pushed the limits of unmanned aerial systems to earn a place at the DARPA Lift Challenge, hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
LLNL and NIST researchers have found a more robust method for entangling qubits by applying a ramped force (top). The approach controls trajectories in phase space (bottom) and allows for more precise entanglement control.
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A more robust way to create entanglement in trapped ion qubitsqubits

In a new study, published in Physical Review Letters, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the Ion Storage Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, created a robust process for entangling trapped-ion qubits.
TRISO fuel is made of tiny fuel particles, about the size of poppy seeds. Each particle is sealed inside several strong layers of carbon and ceramic materials. These layers help keep radioactive materials contained, even under extreme conditions such as high temperatures, corrosion, oxidation, and intense radiation.
// S&T Highlights

LLNL partners with industry to advance next-generation reactor fuel

Through a Strategic Partnership Project with micronuclear reactor startup AMPERA, LLNL engineers are applying a novel metallic-particle manufacturing capability toward producing this robust nuclear fuel.
The LLNL team precisely measured plutonium-241 beta decays to search for production of exotic heavy neutrinos, a warm dark matter candidate, to explain the missing mass of the universe. The photograph shows a dilution refrigerator used to cool the experiment to 0.01 Kelvin
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Using plutonium to probe the universe: Magneto‑ν experiment advances dark matte…

In a new experimental campaign called Magnetometry for Neutrino physics (Magneto-ν), scientists at LLNL are searching for the sterile neutrino using nuclear beta decays of plutonium-241.

A simulation from the study shows density (top) and temperature (bottom) just before the time when fusion reactions peak in an asymmetric implosion. The hottest point coincides with the densest point of fuel, illustrating the direct ignition of a dense jet of fuel driven by asymmetry. The image was recently selected for the cover of Physics of Plasmas.
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Livermore research shows how fusion reactions can survive flaws — up to a point

Researchers at LLNL have found that implosions designed for inertial fusion energy (IFE) can tolerate significant imperfections before performance abruptly declines, a finding that could inform the design of fuel targets for future fusion power plants.
Lawrence Livermore staff scientist and polymer chemist Johanna Schwartz leads the team for the SPOC (Studying-Polymers-On a-Chip) platform, one of six R&D 100 awards LLNL won this year. (Image: Garry McLeod/LLNL)
// Recognition

Lab scientists and engineers win six R&D 100 awards

LLNL scientists and engineers have earned six R&D 100 Awards, which recognize the top 100 inventions worldwide. LLNL was the lead laboratory on four of the winning inventions and contributed to two multi-lab invention wins.
Image of atomic nuclei structure resulting form an experiment at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
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Magnetic clues in atomic nuclei reveal the truth about mysterious gamma rays

A new study from an international scientific team led by the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) and LLNL was published in Nature, and work sheds light on the internal structure of atomic nuclei and has far-reaching implications for national security and astrophysics.
New melting experiments confirm that diamond floats in metallic liquid carbon at high pressures, much like ice cubes float in a glass of water.
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Melting diamond could unlock triple fusion gain and the secrets of ice-giant pl…

In a new study, published in Nature Physics, researchers at LLNL document how diamond melts under pressures three times greater than the conditions at the Earth’s core.