Science Highlights

Isotope production facilities depend on cooling for proper function of target systems during irradiation. Examining these systems is challenging due to high radiation levels during target irradiation that make real-world measurements impossible. Researchers turned instead to a mock apparatus to collect temperatures and high-speed video of cooling water boiling, then used deep-learning tools to validate a model that predicts boiling in cooling systems.

A new study conducted on the Frontier supercomputer gave researchers new clues to improving fusion confinement. This research, in collaboration with General Atomics and UC San Diego, uncovered that the interaction between ions and electrons near the tokamak's edge can unexpectedly increase turbulence, challenging previous assumptions about how to optimize plasma confinement for efficient nuclear fusion.

Theorists have performed the first systematic study of whether and how the viscosity of quark gluon plasma from heavy nuclei collisions changes over a wide range of collision energies. The calculations predict that the fluid’s viscosity increases with net-baryon density. The results will help researchers probe the entire phase diagram of nuclear matter.

The NGC 2419 globular cluster contains potassium and magnesium in ratios not found in other, similar globular clusters. Scientists have so far been unable to find the source for this unexpected pattern. However, previous uncertainties in the potassium-hydrogen fusion reactions hindered the predictions of stellar models. This new study offers crucial experimental insights that enable refined stellar models to probe the peculiarities of NGC 2419.

Understanding how materials can convert heat into electricity benefits from a view of those materials at the atomic scale. New research examined how the vibrational modes called phonons work in nanostructures and the interfaces between materials to more fully understand how heat transfers in those materials. This information can help researchers tailor thermoelectric properties on the nanoscale and design advanced nanodevices.

Quantum information devices need particles to be synchronized in space and time. In nickel molybdate (Ni2Mo3O8), nickel ions (Ni2+) form a triangular array of tetrahedrons and octahedrons with opposing magnetic spins. Electric fields in Ni2Mo3O8 induce parallel alignment of the spins; this alignment changes with time, producing spin excitons. These spin excitons may be why Ni2Mo3O8 is magnetic.

By unraveling vibrational signatures and observing ion exchanges, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team revealed how chemical species form in a highly reactive molten salt mixture of aluminum chloride and potassium chloride.