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Glenn Fox
Principal Associate Director of Livermore’s Physical and Life Sciences Principal Directorate
Meeting Lawrence Livermore’s national security mission requires not only conducting and applying the most advanced scientific research for today’s programmatic needs, but also continuously investing in cutting-edge science, to anticipate future challenges and deliver the solutions to address them. Livermore, as a big ideas laboratory, has been at the forefront of leading-edge thinking and research into computing hardware and software since its inception. Even now, as we prepare to launch El Capitan, the Laboratory’s first exascale computer, in 2024, researchers are looking to the future at how quantum science can support and advance our national security mission.
The feature article in this issue of Science Technology Review (S&TR), “Revolutionizing Quantum Science,” highlights Livermore’s cross-cutting approach to quantum science research. Livermore is leveraging expertise in hardware, software, algorithm development, materials science, photon science, computer science, and quantum physics to develop critical capabilities in mission-relevant areas, including quantum computing, quantum sensing, innovative quantum algorithms, and reducing defects and impurities in the quantum devices.
By investing in fundamental quantum science, Livermore hopes to advance a wide range of disciplines and solve complex challenges, such as developing highly accurate models and simulations of nuclear fission, fusion, and decay to better manage and certify the nation’s nuclear deterrent or establishing new nuclear forensic methods and safeguards and strengthen global material security efforts. The feature article also highlights the newly opened Livermore Center for Quantum Science, which will help connect researchers, capabilities, and R&D across a spectrum of quantum science and technologies, both within Livermore and among external partners.
This issue of S&TR includes three highlights that introduce ways Lawrence Livermore is solving future needs today. The first highlight, "Targeting Lasers as Sources," explores the Laboratory’s research in producing laser-driven particle sources to support national security efforts. Livermore engages the world’s top experts in building high-intensity, high-energy lasers, as well as expertise in its researchers, target fabrication, diagnostics, and high-performance computing simulations to push the boundaries of the field of laser research. The efforts featured in this issue’s highlight are only the beginning of many exciting future advances in radiography, global material security, and other areas of Livermore’s mission.
The second highlight, "Clay for the Cure," focuses on research Livermore is performing to address the growing issue of antibiotic-resistant infections. Researchers at Livermore have identified a promising solution in the development of synthetic clays. By creating and synthesizing smectite and pyrite clays in the laboratory, researchers reproduced antibacterial activity observed in natural antibacterial minerals and eliminated unwanted impurities. Tests of the synthetic clays indicate that they are capable of killing commonly acquired antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals and offer the potential to address antibacterial resistance in agriculture and livestock. Though the research is still in early stages, Livermore’s advances to date offer significant promise.
The final highlight, "A Cut Above," introduces the Laboratory’s manufacturing complex and the machinists, engineers, and researchers who provide critical support to teams across Livermore. Not only do the parts and tooling the machine shop experts produce enable unique experiments that provide important data for Livermore and other sponsors in the national security enterprise, but the teams also play a vital role in selecting, fielding, and qualifying new equipment and processes that will support the enterprise for decades to come. In particular, the manufacturing complex plays a pivotal role in preparing the national security enterprise to be agile and responsive to manufacturing needs of the future.
The research described in this issue of S&TR highlights two features that make Lawrence Livermore an extraordinary place to work: the focus on deploying multidisciplinary teams to solve problems of national importance and the commitment to invest in leading-edge fundamental science research that underpins our mission work and helps prepare us for future national needs.
