SLAC to Join New Energy Frontier Research Efforts

(Image - artist's rendition of a nanotube)

by Michael Wall

The Department of Energy has funded 46 new projects that will investigate ways to make the U.S. energy economy greener and more secure. SLAC will contribute substantially to at least three of these Energy Frontier Research Centers.

Each of the 46 EFRCs, which the White House announced April 27, will receive between two and five million dollars per year for five years—a total DOE commitment of $777 million. One project, run out of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, will use the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC to help identify more efficient materials for solar energy conversion. Another, based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will try to find new ways to develop super-strong, radiation-tolerant materials, with possible applications in energy infrastructure. The Oak Ridge center will employ SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source in this effort.

Stanford will host a third EFRC. The Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion will research and characterize materials at the nanoscale—anything smaller than about 100 nanometers, or one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair—with the aim of advancing basic design principles for next-generation batteries, capacitors, fuel cells and solar cells. SLAC physicist David Goldhaber-Gordon, also an associate professor of physics at Stanford, is involved in this project.

"My role is to bring a physicist's perspective, to complement the engineers' perspective," Goldhaber-Gordon said. "I can give a sense of what new things can happen when you design things on the nanoscale." Read more...

Reminder: Financial Overview Class Tomorrow

Any staff member with budgetary responsibilities is invited to attend this one-hour session. Charlotte Chang of Strategic Financial Planning will present the class on May 19, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Yellow Room, Building 41. Please register on the Training Web site. Enter key search: FINOVR. Please contact Charlotte Chang (x2717) or Sylvia Rupilius (x4345) with questions.

Colloquium Today:
Glimpse of the Neutrino in Graphene

Today at 4:15 p.m. in Panofsky Auditorium, Stanford Assistant Professor of Physics Hari Manoharan will present "Glimpse of the Neutrino in Graphene."

Quantum electrodynamics and condensed-matter physics are experiencing a tantalizing convergence under the rubric of "Dirac materials"—crystals hosting charge carriers more aptly described by the Dirac equation than the Schrödinger equation. Graphene is emerging as a prototype two-dimensional Dirac material and has been proposed as a condensed-matter nanolaboratory for relativistic particle experiments, but with exceptional accessibility since the effective speed of light is scaled down by a factor of about 300. This talk will survey the Manoharan lab's low-temperature experiments in which the unique symmetries of Dirac electrons are graphically revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy applied as a coherent nanoscale probe. These ideas and measurements are now being extended to nanostructures and to three-dimensional topological materials.

The talk is free and open to all.

Special Stanford-SLAC Colloquium Tomorrow

In a special event at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow in Panofsky Auditorium, Leonardo Senatore from the Institute for Advanced Study will present "Non-Gaussianities: Probing High Energy Physics with Cosmological Observations."

(Photo - cyclists and volunteers at SLAC Bike to Work Day 2009)

Cyclists and volunteers gather across the road from SLAC's main gate Thursday morning. (Photo by Mike Woods.)

(Photo - volunteers at SLAC Bike to Work Day 2009)

SLAC Bike to Work Day 2009 volunteers (from left): Dwight Harbaugh, Judy Fulton, Mike Woods and Kirk Stoddard. (Photo by Ken Moffeit.)

Around SLAC: Bike to Work Day 2009

by Mike Woods

Last Thursday, 72 cyclists signed in with SLAC volunteers manning tables for Bike to Work Day 2009. Another 28 bike commuters and many recreational cyclists rode by. Volunteers handed out bike bags containing an energy bar, coupons and bicycling literature, supplied by commute.org and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and their sponsors. Cyclists also enjoyed bagels, orange juice and bottled water courtesy of Bike to Work Day sponsors Safeway and Eric's Gourmet.

Thanks to all for a safe and successful day.

Events

Today (1:30 p.m.) Theory Seminar: The Effective Field Theory of Inflation and Its Observational Consequences
Today (4:15 p.m.) SLAC Colloquium: Glimpse of the Neutrino in Graphene

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Bright White Light from Organic LEDs Physicsworld
Astronauts Complete Tricky Hubble Repairs Reuters
QUIET Team to Deploy New Gravity Probe in June U. of Chicago news release on Interactions
Dark Matter or Pulsars? Fermi is on the Case Sky & Telescope
Antimatter Stars at CERN's Globe Geneva Lunch

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View online at http://today.slac.stanford.edu/.

SLAC to Join New Energy Frontier Research Efforts by Michael Wall The Department of Energy has funded 46 new projects that will investigate ways to make the U.S. energy economy greener and more secure. SLAC will contribute substantially to at least three of these Energy Frontier Research Centers. Each of the 46 EFRCs, which the White House announced April 27, will receive between two and five million dollars per year for five years—a total DOE commitment of $777 million. One project, run out of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, will use the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource at SLAC to help identify more efficient materials for solar energy conversion. Another, based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will try to find new ways to develop super-strong, radiation-tolerant materials, with possible applications in energy infrastructure. The Oak Ridge center will employ SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source in this effort. Stanford will host a third EFRC. The Center on Nanostructuring for Efficient Energy Conversion will research and characterize materials at the nanoscale—anything smaller than about 100 nanometers, or one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair—with the aim of advancing basic design principles for next-generation batteries, capacitors, fuel cells and solar cells. SLAC physicist David Goldhaber-Gordon, also an associate professor of physics at Stanford, is involved in this project. "My role is to bring a physicist's perspective, to complement the engineers' perspective," Goldhaber-Gordon said. "I can give a sense of what new things can happen when you design things on the nanoscale." Read more... Reminder: Financial Overview Class Tomorrow Any staff member with budgetary responsibilities is invited to attend this one-hour session. Charlotte Chang of Strategic Financial Planning will present the class on May 19, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Yellow Room, Building 41. Please register on the Training Web site. Enter key search: FINOVR. Please contact Charlotte Chang (x2717) or Sylvia Rupilius (x4345) with questions. Colloquium Today: Glimpse of the Neutrino in Graphene Today at 4:15 p.m. in Panofsky Auditorium, Stanford Assistant Professor of Physics Hari Manoharan will present "Glimpse of the Neutrino in Graphene." Quantum electrodynamics and condensed-matter physics are experiencing a tantalizing convergence under the rubric of "Dirac materials"—crystals hosting charge carriers more aptly described by the Dirac equation than the Schrödinger equation. Graphene is emerging as a prototype two-dimensional Dirac material and has been proposed as a condensed-matter nanolaboratory for relativistic particle experiments, but with exceptional accessibility since the effective speed of light is scaled down by a factor of about 300. This talk will survey the Manoharan lab's low-temperature experiments in which the unique symmetries of Dirac electrons are graphically revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy applied as a coherent nanoscale probe. These ideas and measurements are now being extended to nanostructures and to three-dimensional topological materials. The talk is free and open to all. Special Stanford-SLAC Colloquium Tomorrow In a special event at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow in Panofsky Auditorium, Leonardo Senatore from the Institute for Advanced Study will present "Non-Gaussianities: Probing High Energy Physics with Cosmological Observations." Cyclists and volunteers gather across the road from SLAC's main gate Thursday morning. (Photo by Mike Woods.) SLAC Bike to Work Day 2009 volunteers (from left): Dwight Harbaugh, Judy Fulton, Mike Woods and Kirk Stoddard. (Photo by Ken Moffeit.) Around SLAC: Bike to Work Day 2009 by Mike Woods Last Thursday, 72 cyclists signed in with SLAC volunteers manning tables for Bike to Work Day 2009. Another 28 bike commuters and many recreational cyclists rode by. Volunteers handed out bike bags containing an energy bar, coupons and bicycling literature, supplied by commute.org and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and their sponsors. Cyclists also enjoyed bagels, orange juice and bottled water courtesy of Bike to Work Day sponsors Safeway and Eric's Gourmet. Thanks to all for a safe and successful day.	Events Today (1:30 p.m.) Theory Seminar: The Effective Field Theory of Inflation and Its Observational Consequences Today (4:15 p.m.) SLAC Colloquium: Glimpse of the Neutrino in Graphene Access (see all) No Access Notices Today Announcements (see all \| submit) Lab Announcements Employee Records Update Staff Name Updates Performance Evaluations: Required Training for Supervisors Community Bulletin Board Energy Summer School Accepting Applications to June 1 SuperB Workshop Registration Open Training Lab Training (calendar \| register) Today (8:00 a.m.) Fall Protection Upcoming Workshops & Classes MS Office 2007 Classes News (submit) Bright White Light from Organic LEDs Physicsworld Astronauts Complete Tricky Hubble Repairs Reuters QUIET Team to Deploy New Gravity Probe in June U. of Chicago news release on Interactions Dark Matter or Pulsars? Fermi is on the Case Sky & Telescope Antimatter Stars at CERN's Globe Geneva Lunch
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	Monday - May 18, 2009