(AGENPARL) – ven 18 ottobre 2024 A weekly compendium of media reports on science and technology achievements
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Though the Laboratory reviews
items for overall accuracy, the reporting organizations are responsible for
the content in the links below.
….. LLNL Report, Oct. 18, 2024
The target chamber of LLNL’s National Ignition Facility, where 192 laser
beams delivered more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy to a tiny
fuel pellet to create fusion ignition on Dec. 5, 2022. (Image: LLNL)
… Pushing forward
https://www.independentnews.com/news/livermore_news/lab-makes-progress-on-fusion/article_91d92eb4-8667-11ef-b1ed-97309f17c01b.html
The scientists at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory recently undertook another test of its fusion ignition
technology. The lab’s most recent ignition experiment in September didn’t
yield the energy output of previous tests, but it still represents a
development that continues to push forward a cutting-edge field.
Fusion is often talked about as an energy source of the future that could
provide nearly limitless energy without any emissions of carbon dioxide.
It’s the process that takes place inside stars to produce sunlight and
heat, but recreating those conditions in the lab has been an elusive goal.
Major hurdles still remain, but the scientists at Lawrence Livermore have in
just the past two years made major strides toward achieving the elusive goal
of “ignition.”
Like the name suggests, the idea of fusion ignition is like starting a fire.
Rather than trying to light a full log on fire, it’s easier to build up
small bits of tinder and wood into a blaze that produces more energy than the
initial sparks. Only instead of logs and kindling, the NIF deals with lasers
and atomic nuclei, trying to make a tiny spark trigger a larger fire.
Read More
https://www.independentnews.com/news/livermore_news/lab-makes-progress-on-fusion/article_91d92eb4-8667-11ef-b1ed-97309f17c01b.html
Researchers introduced a novel wet chemical etching process that modifies the
surface of conventional metal powders used in 3D printing. (Image: Brendan
Thompson/LLNL)
… Power of powders
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-etching-technique-absorptivity-powders-metal.html
In a significant advancement for metal additive manufacturing, researchers at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and their academic partners
have developed a technique that enhances the optical absorptivity of metal
powders used in 3D printing.
The approach, which involves creating nanoscale surface features on metal
powders https://phys.org/tags/metal+powders/, promises to improve the
efficiency and quality of printed metal parts, particularly for challenging
materials like copper and tungsten, according to researchers.
Additive manufacturing (AM)—more commonly known as 3D printing—has
transformed the way products are designed and produced, allowing for the
creation of complex geometries and customized components that traditional
manufacturing methods struggle to achieve.
Read More
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-etching-technique-absorptivity-powders-metal.html
Jillian McCool, Caspar Donnison, Nicholas Cross and Pat Falcone celebrate
LLNL’s team win at the fourth annual Bay Area Research SLAM. (Photo: Blaise
Douros/LLNL)
… Grand SLAM!
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) 2024 postdoctoral team of
Nicholas Cross, Caspar Donnison and Jillian McCool competed against their Bay
Area colleagues at the fourth annual Bay Area Research SLAM (BARS) on Oct. 3.
LLNL was the biggest winner of the evening: Donnison’s third-place finish
for “Agriculture and Solar Power: An Unlikely Alliance” and Cross’s
first-place win for “Looking Inside Batteries to Predict Failure”
contributed to the team trophy’s triumphant return to LLNL’s Academic
Engagement Office. Sandia’s Michael Leveille took home the People’s
Choice Award for his “Repurposing Natural Gas Infrastructure for Green
Hydrogen Transport” talk, and LBNL’s Yumary Vasquez was awarded second
place for her “Going Viral… Literally: The Giant Virus Edition”
presentation.
Individual awards and a trophy for the highest-scoring team among the four
national labs were granted by a panel of esteemed judges. LLNL Deputy
Director for  Science
and Technology Pat Falcone, SLAC Director John Sarrao, LBNL Director Michael
Witherell, and Sandia/California Associate Labs Director Andrew McIlroy
evaluated the 12 participants on their comprehension, content, engagement and
communication. “BARS is a wonderful, high-energy event that shows the
enthusiasm DOE laboratory staff have for their research. The competition
among the Bay Area laboratories is always friendly, and illustrates the fact
that our labs collaborate, cooperate and compete,” said Falcone.
Read More
Chester Gordon Bell is the namesake of the prestigious award that honors
outstanding achievements in HPC each year. (Image: HPC Wire)
… Eye on the prize

Presenting the Finalists for the 2024 Gordon Bell Prize

The 2024 Gordon Bell Prize (GBP) attracted a number of outstanding
submissions, representing the accomplishments of teams from around the world,
from which the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) GBP Award Committee
selected six finalists.
The Gordon Bell Prize emphasizes innovation in applying HPC to applications
in science, engineering, and large-scale data analytics, typically
demonstrated using state-of-the-art technologies and the leading
supercomputing platforms.
The award may take into account the importance of the problem tackled, and
the likely impact of the methods and optimizations introduced. It may make an
award based on peak performance, or special achievements in scalability and
time-to-solution on important science and engineering problems.
“With its focus on the innovative use of HPC to achieve important
scientific results, the Gordon Bell Prize rewards outstanding accomplishments
in computational science,” Barbara Chapman, Chair of the ACM Gordon Bell
Prize committee, said. “By disseminating new algorithms, computational
techniques, and programming methodologies, it also helps shape this field. It
is an enormous privilege to participate in the selection of the winner, and
indeed of all the finalists, since each of them has made an extraordinary
contribution to science.”
Read More

Presenting the Finalists for the 2024 Gordon Bell Prize

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Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory https://www.llnl.gov
provides solutions to our nation’s most important national security
challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National
Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration.
Read previous Lab Report articles online https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-report
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