Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory January/February 2014 Also in this issue: Tabletop High-Energy X Rays Superstrong Nanotwinned Metals About the Cover As described in the article beginning on p. 4, Lawrence Livermore and European scientists are constructing the High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System (HAPLS), a laser designed to generate a peak power greater than 1 petawatt. Each pulse will generate 30 joules of energy in less than 30 femtoseconds. The laser system will deliver these light pulses 10 times per second, making possible new scientific discoveries in the areas of physics, medicine, biology, and materials science. HAPLS will be built at Livermore for the Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility, currently under construction near Prague in the Czech Republic (shown in the cover rendering). Cover design: George A. Kitrinos A. George design: Cover About S&TR At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we focus on science and technology research to ensure our nation’s security. We also apply that expertise to solve other important national problems in energy, bioscience, and the environment. Science & Technology Review is published eight times a year to communicate, to a broad audience, the Laboratory’s scientific and technological accomplishments in fulfilling its primary missions. The publication’s goal is to help readers understand these accomplishments and appreciate their value to the individual citizen, the nation, and the world. The Laboratory is operated by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. LLNS is a partnership involving Bechtel National, University of California, Babcock & Wilcox, Washington Division of URS Corporation, and Battelle in affiliation with Texas A&M University. 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January/February 2014 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Contents S&TR Staff Feature SCIENTIFIC EDITOR 3 Making Possible the Century A. J. Simon of Photonics MANAGING EDITOR Commentary by Jeff Wisoff Ray Marazzi 4 Lighting a New Era of PUBLICATION EDITOR Pamela MacGregor Scientific Discovery Lawrence Livermore WRITERS and European scientists Rose Hansen, Arnie Heller, and and engineers are Ann Parker collaborating on an extraordinarily ART DIRECTOR Amy E. Henke powerful laser that will pulse 10 times DESIGNERS faster than present George A. Kitrinos and Tom Reason advanced lasers. ARTIST Kwei-Yu Chu Research Highlights PROOFREADER 12 Carolin Middleton In Metals, Not All Twins Are Identical Unexpected experimental results open a door PRINT COORDINATOR to understanding and even customizing high- Charlie M. Arteago, Jr. strength, high-conductivity metals. S&TR, a Director’s Office publication, is 16 Betatron X Rays Bring Focus to produced by the Technical Information a Very Small, Very Fast World Department under the direction of the A compact system eases use of x rays Office of Planning and Special Studies. for radiography, materials research, nondestructive characterization, S&TR is available on the Web and more. at str.llnl.gov Printed in the United States of America Departments Available from National Technical Information Service 2 The Laboratory in the News U.S. Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, Virginia 22161 19 Patents and Awards UCRL-TR-52000-14-1/2 21 Abstract Distribution Category UC-99 January/February 2014 The Laboratory in the News S&TR January/February 2014 Artificial Retina: Invention of the Year In an effort to examine Goldman’s A Department of Energy–funded predictions, collaborators from project resulted in the first-ever retinal Imperial College in London and the prosthesis—or bionic eye—approved in the University of Kent designed a series U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration of experiments that mimicked the for blind individuals with end-stage retinitis simulations. Using a light-gas gun, pigmentosa, a group of degenerative diseases they fired a projectile into an icy mixture that affects two million people worldwide. The similar to the molecules found in comets. artificial retina has enough resolution for people The shock compression of this mixture to see the lines of a crosswalk, find objects, and created several types of amino acids, confirming read letters a couple of centimeters tall. The invention, that the impact itself can yield life-building in which Lawrence Livermore played a prominent role, earned a compounds. As a result, says Goldman, “This phenomena place in the top 25 best inventions of 2013 from Time Magazine. increases the probability of life originating and being widespread The artificial retina also garnered a 2013 best innovation throughout our solar system.” The research was published in the designation from Popular Science. September 2013 online edition of Nature Geoscience. The invention was commercialized by Second Sight Medical Contact: Nir Goldman (925) 422-3994 ([email protected]). Products, Inc., and is now called the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, which gives sight to the blind. The device consists of a Human Activity Affects Atmospheric Vertical Temperature miniature video camera that is mounted on a pair of glasses and Scientists from Lawrence Livermore and six other scientific sends footage to a microprocessor worn on a person’s belt. The institutions reported that human influences have directly affected processor converts the visual data to electronic signals, which are the latitude and altitude pattern of atmospheric temperature. transmitted wirelessly to a 60-pixel electrode array implanted in Their research compares multiple satellite records of atmospheric the back of the eye. The optic nerve picks up these signals and temperature change with results from a large, multimodel archive sends them to the brain, where they are interpreted as rudimentary of simulations. “Human activity has very different effects on the gray-scale images. temperature of the upper and lower atmosphere, and a very different The Livermore team contributed three major components to fingerprint from purely natural influences,” says Benjamin Santer, the artificial retina project: the thin-film electrode array that the lead researcher in a paper appearing in the Proceedings of the contains the neural electrodes, the biocompatible electronics U.S. National Academy of Sciences online edition September 16, package that stimulates the retina and powers the wireless 2013. Observational satellite data and the computer-model-predicted communication, and an ocular surgical tool that enables the response to human influence have a common latitude–altitude replacement of the thin-film electrode array. In addition, Livermore pattern of atmospheric temperature change. The key features of was responsible for the system integration and assembly of the this pattern are global-scale tropospheric warming and stratospheric next-generation artificial retina system with 240 stimulating cooling over the 34-year satellite temperature record. electrodes. Future trials are planned to test for the treatment of Natural internal fluctuations in climate are generated by complex macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in interactions of the coupled atmosphere–ocean system, such as the Americans over the age of 60. well-known El Niño Southern Oscillation. External influences Contact: Satinderpall Pannu (925) 422-5095 ([email protected]). include human-caused changes in well-mixed greenhouse gases, stratospheric ozone, and other radiative forcing agents, as well as Examining the Origins of Life on Earth purely natural fluctuations in solar irradiance and volcanic aerosols. Shock-compression