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July 31, 2025

Revealing the hidden world of nuclear materials

Scientists spotlight cutting-edge tools, capabilities at LANSCE

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

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