Expertise & Facilities
Our full spectrum of end-to-end integrated capabilities in explosives make Los Alamos the ideal place to develop, characterize, and test all types of explosives and explosives threat scenarios.
Award-winning scientists, state-of-the-art facilities
LACED is built upon Los Alamos’ unparalleled explosives detection capabilities derived from the expertise of award-winning scientists and state-of-the-art facilities. LACED is made up of 57 scientific experts across 18 divisions at Los Alamos. Spanning 11 unique fields of expertise, these scientists have published over 100 explosives detection-related publications.
Expertise
The following are just some of Los Alamos’ areas of expertise related to explosives:
- open-air and confined firing sites (with many types of diagnostic capabilities)
- gas and powder guns in research related to the study of material behavior
- diagnostic tools that include flash x-ray, high-speed cameras, interferometric techniques, and pyrometry
- research- and pilot-plant scale formulation, powder production, pressing, crystallization, and detonator R&D
- synthetic and analytical chemistry
- testing of mechanical properties
- thermal response, microstructural characterization, and shock and nonshock initiation
- proton radiography
Facilities
Los Alamos has a number of facilities that support work related to explosives:
- Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
- Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility
- The Explosives Center
- Lujan Neutron Scattering Center
- Materials Science Technology
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
- War Reserve Detonator Production Facility