Chemical Science
National security depends on science and technology. The United States relies on Los Alamos National Laboratory for the best of both. No place on Earth pursues a broader array of world-class scientific endeavors.
Researcher Jeff Pietryga shows two vials of different-size nanocrystals, each emitting light of a different color (energy) that corresponds to the nanocrystal’s size (and energy gap).
Director McMillan on energy security
Overview
Chemical science at Los Alamos started with the production and subsequent chemical separation of plutonium during the Manhattan Project.
Additional mission-related chemistry was required in the disciplines of high explosives synthesis and characterization, nuclear materials process chemistry, and chemical characterization, among others.
Over the years these core capabilities have grown, and today a strong core of chemistry capability at the Laboratory is essential to nearly every aspect of the Laboratory’s national security science mission.
Capabilities
- Actinide chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Chemical processing and engineering
- Chemical theory and modeling
- Chemistry at extreme conditions
- Chemistry of materials
- Data analysis and modeling for chemistry
- Isotope science
- Measurement and detection science
- Nano-chemistry
- Plutonium process chemistry
- Polymer chemistry
- Radiochemistry and nuclear science
- Synthetic and mechanistic chemistry
Research directions
- Weapons chemistry and nuclear performance
- Signatures: Radiological, nuclear, chemical
- Energy production, storage, and utilization
- Biomedical tecnologies
- Emerging threats
Video
Tree Death Study's Climate Change Connections
What are the exact physiological mechanisms that lead to tree death during prolonged drought and rising temperatures? These are the question...
