Feature Stories

Advances in automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) are transforming how research is done at NSLS-II, streamlining workflows, enhancing productivity, and alleviating workloads for both users and staff.

After five years of trying to find the right ingredients, scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) believe they have created the perfect recipe to fuel the world’s first critical fast-spectrum molten salt reactor.

QSA scientists have advanced major quantum computing technologies based on superconducting qubits, trapped ions, and neutral atoms.  These different technologies can be applied in quantum science to study fundamental phenomena and advance new materials. The scientific and technological progress in materials physics led by QSA facilitates the understanding and design of novel properties in superconductors, quantum spin liquids, magnetism, and topological materials.

A technique called resonant inelastic X-ray scattering, or RIXS, is particularly suited for probing samples as thin as one atomic layer and material states that change very rapidly. With recent technological developments, researchers expect this technique to enable studies that were unthinkable only five years ago. This progress gave Mark Dean and three colleagues — Matteo Mitrano, Steven Johnston, and Young-June Kim — the impetus to chart where the field is going as a whole. So, they summarized the technique’s state of the art and how they expect the field to progress in a Perspective paper, recently published in Physical Review X.

Argonne National Laboratory announced Xander Newlun from the University of Texas at San Antonio won the 2025 Conquer the Hill® Command competition.

A workshop led by scientists at ORNL sketched a road map toward a longtime goal: development of autonomous, or self-driving, next-generation research laboratories. 

Jefferson Lab’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning professionals ensure optimal operation of operational and scientific facilities through their technical expertise.

Relying on leading-edge germanium detectors developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the scientific community pursues elusive nuclear processes to unlock persistent mysteries. Answers to questions they hope to resolve hold the potential to redefine the universe itself.