It was wonderful to learn that Alan Poon is among five Berkeley Lab researchers elected into the 2023 class of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Heartfelt congratulations to Alan and all 2023 AAAS fellows.
It has been a busy spring with many exciting activities at the Lab and beyond involving NSD team members. The first of several runs to demonstrate the production of element 116 with a 50Ti beam was completed with stable high-intensity beam delivery from the VENUS ion source and the 88-Inch Cyclotron and smooth operation of all experimental systems. Further runs are scheduled through June and the results will tell us if superheavy element production with Ti beam is feasible. The Eos neutrino detector, an innovative prototype for non-proliferation as well as fundamental physics research constructed on UC Berkeley campus and featured in this newsletter, saw first light. Also, the GRETA team has further advanced the project assembly and integration and successfully completed a Director’s review as well as the annual DOE/OPA Status Review of the project in April. It is very exciting to see the project visibly come together (see Fig.).
In this issue of the NSD Newsletter we also learn about how one can learn more about important properties of the neutron, such as its magnetic form factor, by studying light mirror nuclei 3He and 3H. The Newsletter also features exciting advances in radiation mapping by applying a novel Bayesian algorithm to data from a single, free-moving detector to enable reliable image reconstruction, significantly enhancing the efficient radiation imaging of large areas with important applications in nuclear safety and security.
It is inspiring to see the many facets of the research carried out and enabled by the NSD team. At the same time it is important to ensure that we foster a safe work environment, not only physically safe but also providing the psychological safety that allows for being vulnerable and for interpersonal risk taking, overall leading to a more collaborative, inclusive, and productive workplace. NSD efforts to raise awareness around this topic with support from the Lab’s IDEA office are also featured in this issue.
Overall, I am thrilled to see these science and technology developments as well as the advancement of our workplace culture.
Sincerely,
