As an important step toward overcoming the technical and environmental limitations of current REE processing methods, the LLNL team has patented and demonstrated a biobased, all-aqueous REE extraction and separation scheme using the REE-selective lanmodulin protein. Lanmodulin can be fixed onto porous support materials using thiol-maleimide chemistry, which can enable tandem REE purification…
Image
Image
Powder atomic layer deposition process is used to coat nanopowders of host materials (e.g. yttrium aluminum garnet) with optically active neodymium organometal precursor followed by O2/O3 RF plasma to convert to a single layer of Nd2O3. The process can be repeated to build arbitrarily thick layers with custom doping profiles and followed by post-…
Image
This invention proposes using a pulse laser configured to generate laser pulses and a controller for controlling operation of the pulse laser. The controller is further configured to control the pulse laser to cause the pulse laser to generate at least one of the laser pulses with a spatiotemporally varying laser fluence over a duration of at least one of the laser pulses. The spatiotemporally…
Image
The approach is to leverage the fact that a momentary “load” equal to the power transmission line impedance, (Z0), during the transient can suppress its propagation. Z(0) is typically a fixed impedance of several hundred ohms based on the geometry of most single wire transmission lines.
So, an isolated self-powered opticondistor (OTV) system may provide an ultrafast method of…
Image
LLNL’s novel approach is to use diamond substrates with the desired donor (nitrogen) and acceptor (boron) impurities. In order to optically activate these deep impurities, the invention requires at least one externally or internally integrated light source. The initial exposure to light can set up the desired conduction current, after which the light source could be turned…
Image
Instead of producing individual DSRDs and bonding them, Tunnel DSRD's entire stack structure is grown epitaxially on a n- or p-type silicon wafer, resulting in a novel, “monolithic” stacked DSRD. A tunnel diode is essentially a diode with very highly doped p and n regions such that the reverse breakdown voltage is 200 meV or lower.
Image
LLNL researchers have discovered that some inexpensive and commercially available molecules used for other applications, could render certain lanthanide and actinide elements highly fluorescent. These molecules are not sold for applications involving the detection of REEs and actinides via fluorescence. They are instead used as additives in cosmetic products and/or in the pharmaceutical…
Image
Livermore Lab researchers have developed two new methods for improving the efficiency of laser drilling. The first method is based on multi-pulse laser technology. Two synchronized free-running laser pulses from a tandem-head Nd:YAG laser and a gated CW laser are capable of drilling through 1/8-in-thick stainless-steel targets at a standoff distance of 1 m without gas-assist. The combination of a…
Image
The new LLNL technique works by transiently removing and trapping concrete or rock surface material, so that contaminants are confined in a manner that is easy to isolate and remove. Our studies suggest that 10 m2 of surface could be processed per hour. The technique easily scales to more surface/hr.