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A new optical device at Sandia National Laboratories that helps researchers image pollutants in combusting fuel sprays might lead to clearer skies in the future.An optical setup developed by researchers at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility and the Technical University of Denmark can now quantify the formation of soot — particulate matter consisting primarily of carbon — as a function of time and space for a variety of combustion processes.

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Compared to wind and solar energy, wave energy has remained relatively expensive and hard to capture, but engineers from Sandia National Laboratories are working to change that by drawing inspiration from other industries. Sandia’s engineering team has designed, modeled and tested a control system that doubles the amount of power a wave energy converter can absorb from ocean waves, making electricity produced from wave energy less expensive.

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Sandia National Laboratories engineers have developed new fractal-like, concentrating solar power receivers for small- to medium-scale use that are up to 20 percent more effective at absorbing sunlight than current technology. The receivers were designed and studied as part of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project and are also being applied to Sandia’s work for the Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the United States, or SERIIUS.

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Sandia National Laboratories' international peer mentoring program pairs experienced biosafety professionals from developed countries with their counterparts in the developing world.

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A new book by Sandia National Laboratories researchers describes shock physics research at the labs from its early history to today. Speeding bullets practically stand still compared to impact velocities achieved in shock physics studies.

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Sandia Labs team continues to quantify fatigue using wearablesLIVERMORE, Calif. – Can fatigue be predicted? Can life-threatening fatigue be differentiated from recoverable fatigue?A team of researchers led by Sandia National Laboratories is seeking answers to these questions through the Rim-to-Rim Wearables at the Canyon for Health, or R2R WATCH, study, a collaboration with the University of New Mexico and the National Park Service and funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

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Power plants draw more freshwater than any other consumer in the United States, accounting for more than 50 percent of the nation’s freshwater use at about 500 billion gallons daily. To help save this water, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a new silica filter for power plant cooling waters that decreases the amount of freshwater power plants consume by increasing the number of times cooling tower water can be reused and recycled.

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A “cool flame” may sound contradictory, but it’s an important element of diesel combustion — one that, once properly understood, could enable better engine designs with higher efficiency and fewer emissions.

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Microneedles are the first way to extract large volumes of pure interstitial fluid. This fluid can be used to track the physical conditions of athletes, soldiers, even diabetics but could also aid in diagnosing other diseases, including cancer.

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Sandia National Laboratories won five awards from the 2017 Federal Laboratory Consortium for its work to develop and commercialize innovative technologies.

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Sandia National Laboratories engineer Mark Tucker has spent much of the past 20 years thinking about incidents involving chemical or biological warfare agents, and the best ways to clean them up. Tucker’s current project focuses on cleaning up a subway system after the release of a biological warfare agent such as anthrax.

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A Sandia National Laboratories-led team has for the first time used optics rather than electronics to switch a nanometer-thick thin film device from completely dark to completely transparent, or light, at a speed of trillionths of a second.

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LIVERMORE, Calif. — When law enforcement officers and first responders arrive at an emergency involving radiation, they need a way to swiftly assess the situation to keep the public and environment safe. Having analysis tools that can quickly and reliably make sense of radiation data is of the essence.

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A partnership between Sandia National Laboratories and Santa Fe, New Mexico-based IR Dynamics is turning nano-size particles that reflect heat, or infrared radiation, into window films to keep offices, houses and cars cool.

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Sandia National Laboratories has successfully demonstrated a new, more environmentally friendly method to test a rocket part to ensure its avionics can withstand the shock from stage separation during flight.

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Can a group of three single-celled, algae-like organisms produce high quantities of sugar just right for making biofuels? Laboratory results indicate that they can. Sandia National Laboratories is helping Bay Area-based HelioBioSys understand whether these cyanobacteria can be grown large scale.

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Last week, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories flew a tethered balloon and an unmanned aerial system, colloquially known as a drone, together for the first time to get Arctic atmospheric temperatures with better location control than ever before.

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Sandia National Laboratories is testing whether one of California’s largest and most polluted lakes can transform into one of its most productive and profitable. Southern California’s 350-square-mile Salton Sea has well-documented problems related to elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural runoff. Sandia intends to harness algae’s penchant for prolific growth to clean up these pollutants and stop harmful algae blooms while creating a renewable, domestic source of fuel.

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Sandia National Laboratories has established a new fellowship program, named after its immediate past director, Jill Hruby, in hopes of attracting and recruiting talented women in engineering and science fields who are interested in becoming technical leaders in national security.

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Sandia National Laboratories studies myriads of low-density materials, from laminate layers in airplane wings to foams and epoxies that cushion parts. So Sandia borrowed and refined a technique being studied by the medical field, X-ray phase contrast imaging, to look inside the softer side of things without taking them apart.