Physics & Astronomy

BYU physics researchers use some of the world's brightest x-ray and neutron sources to study a variety of useful materials, such as superconductors, piezoelectrics and solid electrolytes. At the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, 7 GeV electrons travel around a one-kilometer synchrotron ring at nearly the speed of light, emitting tangential Bremsstrahlung x-rays (much like the tangential spray from a leaky pail of water swung in a wide circle with a rope). At the newly-constructed Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, accelerator-driven proton pulses bombard a liquid-mercury target, knocking (i.e. spalling) neutrons from the target nuclei, which are then cooled in a moderator and collimated into beams. [Read More]