DOE/LANL Jurisdiction Fire Danger Rating:
  1. LANL Home
  2. Media
  3. Newsletters
  4. STE Highlights
July 31, 2025

Revealing the hidden world of nuclear materials

Scientists spotlight cutting-edge tools, capabilities at LANSCE

8 Copy
When researchers need very high neutron count rates, they can turn to this neutron powder diffractometer at Los Alamos. The High-Pressure-Preferred Orientation instrument (HIPPO) was created in a joint effort between the Lab’s accelerator and the University of California. Pictured is a multinational team that got six papers out of their work, highlighting the versatility of neutron-based event-mode imaging techniques for advanced materials studies. Credit to: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Advanced neutron imaging work underway at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) was featured in Nuclear News, an American Nuclear Society publication. In the article, Los Alamos staff scientists Alexander Long and Sven Vogel summarize years of progress in neutron imaging at the Lab and invite researchers to engage with the latest capabilities through the LANSCE user program.

Read the article

Why this matters: Neutron imaging is a powerful tool for nondestructively examining the internal structure of materials, enabling advances in nuclear material applications relevant to Los Alamos missions. 

  • “We wanted the article to serve as both a general primer on the field and a resource for potential collaborators,” said Long, an instrument scientist for several neutron imaging beamlines at LANSCE.

What to know: Specialized techniques at LANSCE are being used to study the internal structure and isotopic composition of nuclear materials under extreme conditions. 

  • Key LANSCE flight paths — ASTERIX, ERNI, HIPPO and 60-R — support critical materials studies across both nuclear energy applications and stockpile stewardship missions. 
  • The LANSCE user program offers opportunities for external researchers to propose experiments and collaborate on nuclear materials science. 

Funding: LANSCE is a National Nuclear Security Administration user facility operated for the U.S. Department of Energy.

LA-UR-25-27361

Share

Stay up to date
Subscribe to Stay Informed of Recent Science, Technology and Engineering Highlights from LANL
Subscribe Now

More STE Highlights Stories

STE Highlights Home
Pellet Fuel Card

Can AI help fast track advanced fuels for nuclear reactors?

Novel technique cuts testing time, boosts confidence in predictions

Materials Model Stock Card

How to train a materials model to enforce the laws of physics

Machine learning approach makes predictions more reliable

Nuclear Theory Card

Surprising patterns challenge long-held nuclear theory

Unexpected oscillations in neutron reactions hint at missing physics

Scheinker Card

Scheinker joins editorial board of accelerator science journal

Brings expertise in generative AI and adaptive control for dynamic systems

Pfas Card

Mitigating ‘forever chemicals’ faster with AI and novel modeling techniques

Breakthrough framework, risk prediction map work in tandem

Gary Grider Best Card

Grider named a 2025 HPCwire Legend

‘Godfather of parallel file systems’ holds numerous patents