Iron Availability in the Southern Ocean A study by scientists from South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, Princeton University, and the ALS looks at the reduced abundance of sea life and phytoplankton in the photic zone of the Southern Ocean, suggesting that a lack of iron in an easy-to-use form is affecting the ecosystems. Read more… Contact:Read More Read more »

New Staff Photo On May 14, ALS staff gathered in front of the iconic dome to take a new group photo. The new picture is featured in a photo exhibit showcasing ALS people and events over the last 20 years. See the full-sized version and download a copy here. One Vaccine Leads to Another DiphtheriaRead More Read more »

Space-Age Ceramics Get Their Toughest Test Advanced ceramic composites can withstand the ultrahigh operating temperatures of jet and gas-turbine engines, but analysis of these materials at such temperatures has been a challenge. Now, a testing facility at Beamline 8.3.2 enables microtomography of ceramic composites under controlled loads at temperatures above 1600°C. Read more and watch aRead More Read more »

Studying the Solar System’s Chemical Recipe To study the origins of different isotope ratios among the elements that make up today’s smorgasbord of planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and interplanetary ice and dust, a team of scientists from the University of California, San Diego is using ALS Chemical Dynamics Beamline 9.0.2 to mimic radiation from theRead More Read more »

Two Studies Reveal Details of Lithium-Battery Function Our way of life is deeply intertwined with battery technologies that have enabled a mobile revolution. In two studies at the ALS, researchers studied lithium batteries, obtaining detailed information about the evolution of electronic and chemical states that will be indispensable for building better batteries. Read more…  Read More Read more »

Director’s New Year Address: Looking Forward and Celebrating 20 Years We recently sat down with ALS Director Roger Falcone to talk about what 2013 has in store for the ALS. An immediate answer is – a celebration – as the ALS marks its 20th year of operation. We’ll spend some time this year looking backRead More Read more »

Guided Self-Assembly of Gold Thin Films A team of UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab researchers have developed a relatively easy, inexpensive, and scalable technique to direct the self­-assembly of gold nanoparticles into device-ready thin films, which have potential applications in fields ranging from energy harvesting to plasmonics. Read more… Contact: TIng Xu Studies Bolster PromiseRead More Read more »

Molecular Alignment in Printed Electronics A new scattering method uses polarized x-rays to reveal the orientations of polymer chains in organic films. The orientations are relevant to a better understanding of charge-carrier mobility in organic transistors and charge separation in organic photovoltaics, leading to improved performance in “printable electronics.” Read more… Contact: Brian Collins Central ActivatorRead More Read more »

A Spectacular Sight Over the ALS The space shuttle Endeavor flew past Berkeley Lab and the ALS on Friday, September 21, as it was moved from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert  to the Los Angeles International Airport. Hundreds gathered outside the ALS to watch as a NASA 747 carried the space shuttleRead More Read more »

Not All Nanodisk Magnetic Vortices Are Created Equally Magnetic vortices – hurricanes of magnetism only a few atoms across – have been found to form asymmetrically in ferromagnetic nanodisks. This finding contradicts previous beliefs and poses challenges to using magnetic vortices in random access memory (RAM) data storage systems. Read more…Contact: Mi-Young Im A NewRead More Read more »