Innovative Science, Technology & Engineering Supporting Mission

Los Alamos maintains broad science, technology, and engineering capabilities across multiple disciplines, leveraged to meet the Lab’s diverse national security missions. These videos showcase the innovative science supporting our mission.

  • 3:49
    ASSESS: Acoustic Steady-State Excitation Spatial Spectroscopy
    ASSESS is a full-structure, 3D nondestructive evaluation tool that quickly detects defects in metals (corrosion, cracking), composites (delaminations), and plastics (cracking, delaminations). It leverages continuous ultrasonic excitation and laser Doppler vibrometry to make fast, high-quality inspections at stand-off distances.
  • 3:29
    BioManIAC: Bioplastics Manufacturing with Intelligent Adaptive Control
    BioManIAC uses machine-learning models and polymer informatics to identify and optimize new biopolymer chemistries and physical properties. The technology screens millions of possible polymer combinations to save significant time and resources compared to trial-and-error of traditional R&D. BioManIAC revolutionizes the process of polymer design and optimization.
  • 3:12
    EpiGrid
    EpiGrid is a nimble and user-friendly software package that provides tools for analytical epidemiological decision support. It fully accounts for geographical factors and human interventions that influence epidemic outcomes. EpiGrid is fully documented and includes worked examples that span the relevant epidemiology, biology, geography, and mitigation scenarios.
  • 4:25
    K Modules
    K-Modules are units that power energetic X-ray and electron beam generating devices (Febetrons); they address a 40+ year design stagnation. These newly designed units generate higher energy photons and produce a ~30% higher X-ray dose than existing units, resulting in clearer radiographs. They are also serviceable and more economical to operate. K-Modules are adaptable and allow for potential uses beyond Febetrons such as powering X-ray devices in the medical industry, and fracture detection devices in the petrochemical and gas industry, and for sterilizing food and pharmaceuticals.
  • 3:28
    LAROMance
    LAROMance is a suite of microstructure-informed, data-driven models predicting the mechanical response of several structural engineering metals subjected to extreme environments. These models are integrated into finite element solvers and allow quantifying the effects of the microstructure of the metal on the mechanical performance of engineering structures.
  • 3:57
    ALArM: Acoustic Large Area Monitoring
    ALArM is a highly scalable safety system for quickly detecting damage and defects in large structures, such as in the oil and gas industries and civil infrastructure. ALArM’s distributed acoustic sensors and integrated software allow damage monitoring across entire structures, making it a cost-effective solution for a critical need.
  • 1:52
    Additively Manufactured Tamper Evident Container
    Additively Manufactured Tamper Evident Container is an electro/optical-mechanical system that secures items from disclosure and espionage. The technology uses additive-manufacturing techniques for concurrent creation of a container and arbitrarily complex-shaped 3-D tamper-sensitive features within its walls. Encrypted boards stored inside permanently record the complete security history of the protected items.
  • 4:15
    LightSlingers
    LightSlingers are a novel type of directional broadband antenna capable of “slinging” tightly focused wave packets with precision toward a target location. Unlike conventional antennas, they use polarization currents, animated to faster-than-light speeds, as their emission mechanism. Sturdy, small, and versatile, they have the potential to disrupt the telecommunications market.
  • 2:26
    On-Chip Neuromorphic Backpropagation Algorithm
    Using massively parallel, low-power neuromorphic hardware, LANL researchers have developed the first implementation of a neuromorphic back-propagation algorithm, the workhorse of modern ML and artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks. The utility of standard ML infrastructure is limited by its power requirements, but the On-Chip Neuromorphic Backpropagation Algorithm (ONBA) enables a wide variety of possible energy efficient neuromorphic ML architectures. This on-chip low-power learning algorithm brings power usage closer to that of the human brain, about 20 W of power.
  • 4:05
    SOFIA
    SOFIA (Spectrometer Optimized for Facility Integrated Applications) is the first ultra-high resolution gamma spectrometer based on low-temperature microcalorimeter technology designed for and demonstrated in nuclear facilities. The instrument provides rapid, high-precision, passive nondestructive analysis to improve nuclear safeguards and security by reducing reliance on costly sampling and time-consuming destructive analysis.