In or Out: Setting a Trap for Radioactive Iodine

August 26, 2010

With a half-life of nearly 16 million years, the radioisotope Iodine-129 produced by nuclear power plants will be sticking around for a long time. Because iodine plays a role in human metabolism, radioactive ¹²⁹I is especially dangerous if it escapes into the environment. Researchers utilizing the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory have uncovered new information that might lead to improved long-term storage of Iodine-I29.

Making Silicon Melt in Reverse

August 26, 2010

Most materials melt as they get warmer, but some melt as they cool. Researchers utilizing two U.S. Department of Energy x-ray light sources, including the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, have found that silicon (the most widely used material for computer chips and solar cells) can exhibit “retrograde melting” when it contains high concentrations of certain metals. Their findings could be useful in lowering the manufacturing cost of some silicon-based devices.

Probing Spin Liquids with a New Pulsed-Magnet System

August 26, 2010

Entirely new experimental vistas could be opened by a device called a precursor pulsed-magnet system developed by an international team of scientists. The researchers recently completed the first practical work using the system at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, where they studied magnetoelastic effects in the rare-earth pyrochlore terbium titanate.

Making a Magnetic Moment in a Split Picosecond

July 1, 2010

Understanding the changes in materials as they transition from one state to another (for instance, from unstable to stable) is of great interest to both basic and applied science. The Theory and Software Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne and the Department of Physics at Northern Illinois University have developed a theoretical model describing ultrafast transitions between two states of a particular iron-molecular compound. Their work could lead to a greater theoretical understanding of transitions in a broad range of materials.

Butterfly Wing Yields Clues to Light-Altering Structures

June 30, 2010

At the very heart of some of the most brilliant colors on the wings of butterflies lie bizarre and intriguing structures, according to studies carried out by researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. These structures could possibly be a design source for biomimetic photonic devices.