News – Page 18

Real-time imaging for use in medicine

A new paper in Nature Photonics from researchers at CU Boulder details impressive improvements in the ability to control the propagation and interaction of light in complex media such as tissue—an area with many potential applications in the medical field. Published Monday, the paper is titled “Wavefront shaping in complex media with a 350 kHz modulator via a 1D-to-2-D transform.” The work was carried out in Professor Rafael Piestun’s lab in the Electrical, Energy and Computing Engineering Department. The team included CU Boulder post-doctoral researchers Omer Tzang and Simon Labouesse, researcher Eyal Niv and CU Boulder graduate student Sakshi Singh. Greg Myatt from Silicon Light Machines, a collaborating company in this project, also worked with the group.

Congrats to Jessie Woodcock for Receiving an Outstanding 2018 STEM Partner Award in recognition of partnership and support of Workforce Development & Education programs

On Thursday, September 26, Workforce Development & Education hosted our annual Mentor Appreciation event where we recognized our outstanding mentors and STEM partners. This event highlighted accomplishments for FY2018. Outstanding 2018 STEM Partner is hereby awarded on this 26th day of September 2019, to Jessie Woodcock, in recognition of partnership and support of Workforce Development & Education programs.

Congratulations to Josh Knobloch for receiving a 2019 TECHCON Student Presentation Award

Thank you to the SRC students, industry, and faculty that attended TECHCON and made it a great success. The final event for TECHCON 2019 was presenting Top 10 Student Presentation Awards and the URI Best Poster Awards at Tuesday’s Dinner.

2019 TECHCON Student Presentation Award Winner:

Joshua Knobloch
Nanoscale Metrology and Imaging of Layered and Nano-enhanced Materials using Coherent Extreme Ultraviolet Beams

Watching crystal nucleation happen at atomic scale

Crystals form in storm clouds, metals, drug molecules, and even in diseased tissues. Despite their ubiquity, scientists still don’t fully understand what happens when a liquid solution first starts to form a solid crystal, a step called nucleation. Now researchers have gotten their first glimpse of the details of the process, imaging individual atoms during nucleation in metal nanoparticles (Nature 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1317-x).

First 4D look at crystallising atoms contradicts textbook nucleation theory

For the first time scientists have watched iron and platinum atoms crystallise in 4D – not only observing their arrangement in space but tracking them over time. Their observations clash with classical nucleation theory, which describes the early stages of a phase transition, adding to growing evidence that the textbook theory is outdated and imprecise.

Atomic motion is captured in 4D for the first time

Results of UCLA-led study contradict a long-held classical theory.

Everyday transitions from one state of matter to another — such as freezing, melting or evaporation — start with a process called “nucleation,” in which tiny clusters of atoms or molecules (called “nuclei”) begin to coalesce. Nucleation plays a critical role in circumstances as diverse as the formation of clouds and the onset of neurodegenerative disease.

A UCLA-led team has gained a never-before-seen view of nucleation — capturing how the atoms rearrange at 4D atomic resolution (that is, in three dimensions of space and across time). The findings, published in the journal Nature, differ from predictions based on the classical theory of nucleation that has long appeared in textbooks.

APS TV 2018 | JILA: An Amazing Place to Work Features STROBE Science & Technology Center

JILA is a unique research and training partnership between the University of Colorado and the National Institute of Standards & Technology. At JILA, scientists develop new research and measurement technologies that broadly advance science and the NIST measurement mission. To date, JILA scientists have been awarded three Physics Nobel Prizes. JILA is headquarters for two National Science Foundation Centers – the STROBE Science & Technology Center and the Physics Frontier Center. JILA also trains young innovators who become leaders in industry, academia, and government labs. And after traveling to the many laboratories housed at JILA, APS TV discovers that collaboration amongst its researchers is one of its greatest strengths.

YouTube: Materials Science and Engineering Program – University of Colorado Boulder Features STROBE

A New MSE Program Built on Unequaled Expertise. The Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Program is an interdisciplinary Ph.D. and M.S.

YouTube: 2018 CO-LABS Governor Awards for High Impact Research Event

Brilliant discoveries from the realms of clean energy chemistry, profound advances in disease diagnosis, astounding fundamental atomic physics shaping global nanotechnology and surprising results of “everyday” consumer activities affecting atmospheric pollution the CO-LABS 10th Anniversary Awards event was another fantastic celebration of scientific discovery! This premier scientific research recognition event in Colorado included 200 researchers, entrepreneurs, business leaders and government officials as we celebrated the exceptional and groundbreaking work of scientists and engineers from Colorado’s federally-funded research labs and institutes.

YouTube: 2018 Governor Awards for High Impact Research Winner

Friday, October 5, 2018 – Last night CO-LABS presented JILA’s ultrafast imaging team, led by Fellows Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, the 2018 Governor’s Award for High-Impact Research.

Murnane and Kapteyn were honored for their work in revolutionizing ultrafast and nanoscale imaging through the research and development of tabletop x-ray sources. These advancements enable real-time imaging of the structure, chemistry, and dynamics of materials at the level of small collections of atoms. The applications range from improving semiconductor devices and magnetic storage to understanding the fundamental physics and chemistry of complex materials. By designing, developing, and eventually enabling the availability of this technology through KM-Labs, Murnane and Kapteyn have enabled many curious researchers to further their discoveries.