Grid-enhancing technologies: Progress, challenges, and future research directions
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Mirzapour, Omid↗
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A New Paradigm: Next Generation Biological Detection Capabilities for Future Biological Threats: Technology-based Stakeholder Engagement Challenges, Successes, Lessons Learned, and Best Practices
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Joiner, Alexis Taryn↗
Science & Technology Review December 2025 - Optimizing Future Design
At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we focus on science and technology research to ensure our nation’s security. We also apply that expertise to solve other important national problems in energy, bioscience, and the environment. Science & Technology Review is published eight times a year to communicate, to a broad audience, the Laboratory’s scientific and technological accomplishments in fulfilling its primary missions. The publication’s goal is to help readers understand these accomplishments and appreciate their value to the individual citizen, the nation, and the world.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Science & Technology Review: March 2026 - The Future of Lasers
At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we focus on science and technology research to ensure our nation’s security. We also apply that expertise to solve other important national problems in energy, bioscience, and the environment. Science & Technology Review is published eight times a year to communicate, to a broad audience, the Laboratory’s scientific and technological accomplishments in fulfilling its primary missions. The publication’s goal is to help readers understand these accomplishments and appreciate their value to the individual citizen, the nation, and the world.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Crystal structure and magnetism of actinide oxides: a review
In actinide systems, the 5f electrons experience a uniquely delicate balance of effects and interactions having similar energy scales, which are often difficult to properly disentangle. This interplay of factors such as the dual nature of 5f-states, strong electronic correlations, and strong spin–orbit coupling results in electronically unusual and intriguing behavior such as multi-k antiferromagnetic ordering, multipolar ordering, Mott-physics, mixed valence configurations, and more. Despite the inherent allure of their exotic properties, the exploratory science of even the more basic, binary systems like the actinide oxides has been limited due to their toxicity, radioactivity, and reactivity. In this article, we provide an overview of the available synthesis techniques for selected binary actinide oxides, including the actinide dioxides, sesquioxides, and a selection of higher oxides. For these oxides, here we also review and evaluate the current state of knowledge of their crystal structures and magnetic properties. In many aspects, substantial knowledge gaps exist in the current body of research on actinide oxides related to understanding their electronic ground states. Bridging these gaps is vital for improving not only a fundamental understanding of these systems but also of future nuclear technologies. To this end, we note the experimental techniques and necessary future investigations which may aid in better elucidating the nature of these fascinating systems.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Catalyst Development to Overcome Barriers for Commercialization of Synthetic High-Octane Hydrocarbons: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report)
In recent years, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) have independently developed catalysts that convert methanol and dimethyl ether into alkylate-like hydrocarbons with a high-octane value, and both have developed intellectual property around these chemical transformations. Both UC Berkeley and NREL wish to see their technologies commercialized to address a number of domestic and international energy challenges. The technologies developed by NREL and UC Berkeley are complimentary but neither have moved beyond the laboratory scale due to remaining challenges with the catalyst activity and selectivity, and/or with the reaction engineering associated with maximizing the yield of the high-value product. NREL and UC Berkeley wish to collaboratively through a shared resources CRADA to solve issues related to the scale-up and process integration of their high-octane hydrocarbon technologies, thus enabling future licensing of the technology to an industry partner.
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
The evolution of analytical techniques for multiplex analysis of protein biomarkers
Introduction: The landscape of biomarker development has evolved with advanced analytical technologies, particularly affinity- and mass spectrometry-based techniques. These advancements have deepened our understanding of disease mechanisms, enabling the development of precise diagnostic tools and personalized medicine. Protein biomarkers, which play pivotal roles in biological processes, have become invaluable in diagnosing and monitoring diseases, aided by their presence in various biological samples and the availability of established detection methods. Areas covered: This review covers the role of protein biomarkers in clinical practice, the development and dimensionality of protein biomarkers, advancements in detection technologies, a comparison of these technologies, and future directions in biomarker discovery and disease mechanism elucidation. Expert opinion: Advances in biomarker technologies have the potential to transform diagnostics and personalized treatment but face challenges such as high costs and technical complexity. Enhancing reproducibility and integrating multi-omics approaches may offer better insights. In conclusion, the field should evolve toward high-throughput, automated methods, continuously adapting research, and clinical practices.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
Distributed fiber-optic sensing in a subscale high-temperature superconducting dipole magnet
High-temperature superconductors, such as REBa2Cu3O7−x (REBCO, RE = rare earth), are becoming pivotal for high-field magnet technology for future circular colliders and compact fusion reactors. The U.S. Magnet Development Program, in collaboration with industry, is developing REBCO magnet technology using round conductors consisting of multiple REBCO tapes. For these multi-tape cables, traditional instrumentation, such as voltage taps and resistive strain gauges, become insufficient to help measure and understand the performance-limiting factors in these model magnets. Distributed fiber-optic sensing (DFOS) is a potential solution to address this challenge. Although DFOS is well established for various applications, measuring temperature and strain in high-temperature superconducting magnets is in its infancy. Here we report the detailed implementation and test results of DFOS based on Rayleigh scattering in a subscale canted cosθ (CCT) dipole magnet using high-temperature superconducting CORC® wires. We co-wound optical fibers in each layer of the CCT magnet and compared different types of commercial fibers and mold-release agents to reduce the power attenuation in the fibers. The DFOS allowed us to measure mechanical deformation and temperature along the conductor during tests at 77 and 4.2 K. The measured strain agreed quantitively with a finite-element mechanical model of the subscale magnet. Our results indicate that DFOS can effectively identify locations of strain and temperature changes, offering unique insight into magnet performance that can advance our understanding and development of the REBCO magnet technology for high-energy physics and fusion applications.
Luo, Linqing↗
Engineered Microorganisms for Enhanced Rare Earth Element Bio-mining and Separations (Final Technical Report)
Rare earth elements (REE) are critical ingredients of sustainable energy technologies, but their extraction from ore and separation from one another pose formidable challenges. To solve the challenge of REE supply, we used advanced genomics, high-throughput screening with synthetic REE minerals, and synthetic biology to engineer two sets of exotic microbes to (1) extract REE from ores, spent cracking catalysts, coal ash and electronic waste with high efficiency and selectivity, and (2) to purify REE into single element batches, all under benign conditions without the need of harsh solvents and high temperatures. This work integrated our expertise in systems and synthetic biology (Buz Barstow); rare-earth geochemistry (Esteban Gazel) and mineral synthesis (Megan Holycross); and microsystems engineering (Mingming Wu) by first elucidating the set of rules that predict an organism’s phenotype and then applying them to solve this critical problem in sustainable energy. These new technologies could help to revitalize the US rare earth industry and provide a new source of these critical elements for future energy technologies. We have already had some big success in tech transfer. Two of our team members (postdoctoral fellow Alexa Schmitz and graduate student Sean Medin) were able to study the supply chain for REE in the United States, and identify an opportunity to commercialize our REE mineral-dissolution technology. Alexa and Sean recently founded REEgen, Inc., an REE biomining company. Dr. Schmitz was recently awarded a fellowship from the Activate Foundation to support the first two years of REEgen. Cornell showed its support for this technology and company, and Dr. Schmitz was awarded the Rising Women Innovator’s award. These two awards unlocked support from Cornell’s Praxis Incubator.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
STREAM: A technology planning and capacity expansion model for the industrial sector
The Strategic Technology Roadmapping and Energy, Environmental, and Economic Analysis Model—STREAM—is an optimization-based modeling tool and analysis framework to assist with strategic planning and technology investments of the industrial sector. This open-source framework is written in Julia using the JuMP package, which enables users to model future “pathways” for incumbent and future production technologies, costs, fuels and energy carriers, and energy and non-energy environmental impacts from industries as they transform in pursuit of a robust and competitive manufacturing sector. The model starts with an initial stock of industrial production technologies and assets at a facility level and then determines pathways that minimize cost, subject to an array of possible constraints on demand, market shares, environmental flows, and other exogenously specified operational considerations such as capacity utilization rates or regional energy costs. Key features of the framework include flexibility to model a wide range of industries and industrial technologies/processes at varying levels of granularity, ability to perform parametric sensitivity analyses, and ability to visualize model results using visualization objects.
capacity expansion↗
High–Performance NiCo 2 O 4 /Graphene Quantum Dots for Asymmetric and Symmetric Supercapacitors with Enhanced Energy Efficiency
For the sustainable growth of future generations, energy storage technologies like supercapacitors and batteries are becoming more and more common. However, reliable and high-performance materials’ design and development is the key for the widespread adoption of batteries and supercapacitors. Quantum dots with fascinating and unusual properties are expected to revolutionize future technologies. However, while the recent discovery of quantum dots honored with a Nobel prize in Chemistry, their benefits for the tenacious problem of energy are not realized yet. In this context, herein, chemical-composition tuning enabled exceptional performance of NiCo 2 O 4 (NCO)/graphene quantum dots (GQDs) is reported, which outperform the existing similar materials, in supercapacitors. A comprehensive study is performed on the synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical performance evaluation of highly functional NCO/GQDs in supercapacitors delivering enhanced energy efficiency. The high-performance, functional NCO/GQDs electrode materials are synthesized by the incorporation of GQDs into NCO. The effect of variable amount of GQDs on the energy performance characteristics of NCO/GQDs in supercapacitors is studied systematically. In-depth structural and chemical bonding analyses using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopic studies indicate that all the NCO/GQDs composites crystallize in the spinel cubic phase of NiCo 2 O 4 while graphene integration evident in all the NCO/GQDs. The scanning electron microscopy imaging analysis reveals homogeneously distributed spherical particles with a size distribution of 5–9 nm validating the formation of QDs. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses reveal that the NCOQDs are anchored on graphene sheets, which provide a high surface area of 42.27 m 2 g –1 and high mesoporosity for the composition of NCO/GQDs-10%. In addition to establishing reliable electrical connection to graphene sheets, the NCOQDs provide reliable 3D-conductive channels for rapid transport throughout the electrode as well as synergistic effects. Chemical-composition tuning, and optimization yields NCO/GQDs-10% to deliver the best specific capacitance of 3940 Fg –1 at 0.5 Ag –1 , where the electrodes retain ≈98% capacitance after 5000 cycles. The NCO/GQD-10%//AC asymmetric supercapacitor device demonstrates outstanding energy density and power density values of 118.04 Wh kg –1 and 798.76 W kg –1 , respectively. The NCO/GQDs-10%//NCO/GQDs-10% symmetric supercapacitor device delivers excellent energy and power density of 24.30 Wh kg –1 and 500 W kg –1 , respectively. These results demonstrate and conclude that NCO/GQDs are exceptional and prospective candidates for developing next-generation high-performance and sustainable energy storage devices.
25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
Standard Library Plant Controller Model Specification for a Grid-Forming Hybrid Control Inverter-Based Resource (REPCGFM_C1)
This document describes a standard library plant controller model to interface with the grid-forming hybrid control inverter-based resource (IBR) model. The initial version of model specification was jointly developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Tesla Energy, and EPRI, and it was revised multiple times later to incorporate suggestions from WECC MVS members. Tesla Energy provided main control algorithms to support the development of this model specification. This standard library model is developed to help the utility industry better understand the GFM technology. The model could be used to represent equipment for long-term planning studies where vendor-specific models are not available. As equipment matures and improves, standard library models will be updated to capture the new functionalities of GFMs. It is not intended that these models will always remain representative of all future GFM technologies.
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
Standard Library Grid-Forming Hybrid Control Inverter-Based Resource Model Specification (REGFM_C1)
This document describes a standard library grid-forming (GFM) hybrid control inverter-based resource (IBR) model. The GFM hybrid control approach implements both a typical GFM control and a typical grid-following (GFL) control inside one single inverter simultaneously, so that it can take advantage of both methods without comprising the benefits of a typical GFM. The initial version of model specification was jointly developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Tesla Energy, and EPRI, and it was revised multiple times later to incorporate suggestions from WECC MVS members. Tesla Energy provided main control blocks to support the development of this model specification. This standard library model is developed to help the utility industry better understand the GFM technology. The model could be used to represent equipment for long-term planning studies where vendor-specific models are not available. As equipment matures and improves, standard library models will be updated to capture the new functionalities of GFMs. It is not intended that these models will always remain representative of all future GFM technologies.
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
Entropy of the Quantum–Classical Interface: A Potential Metric for Security
Hybrid quantum–classical systems are emerging as key platforms in quantum computing, sensing, and communication technologies, but the quantum–classical interface (QCI)—the boundary enabling these systems—introduces unique and largely unexplored security vulnerabilities. This position paper proposes using entropy-based metrics to monitor and enhance security, specifically at the QCI. We present a theoretical security outline that leverages well-established information-theoretic entropy measures, such as Shannon entropy, von Neumann entropy, and quantum relative entropy, to detect anomalous behaviors and potential breaches at the QCI. By linking entropy fluctuations to scenarios of practical relevance—including quantum key distribution, quantum sensing, and hybrid control systems—we promote the potential value and applicability of entropy-based security monitoring. While explicitly acknowledging practical limitations and theoretical assumptions, we argue that entropy-based metrics provide a complementary approach to existing security methods, inviting further empirical studies and theoretical refinements that can strengthen future quantum technologies.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Hyperspectral x-ray imaging mapping capabilities for nuclear forensics
Nuclear forensics relies on the integration of complementary signatures to constrain the origins and history of materials. Outcomes benefit from the timeliness and precision of the disparate methods that form typical analysis chains. Sample forms are often either minute in quantity or contain signatures like morphology or composition heterogeneity encoded on a microscale, so many analysis techniques focus on resolving signatures on ever-smaller length scales. The new hyperspectral x-ray imaging (HXI) instrument developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory seeks to improve the information available from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) x-ray spectrum analysis through superior spectral energy resolution vs. typical energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) systems in common use in nuclear forensics and other microanalysis fields. Based on arrays of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter detectors, this instrument achieves a typical energy resolution of 7 eV full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) at 2 keV, opening new possibilities in trace element detection/analysis and chemical state determination through spectral shape shifts. We present here some of the first applications of the HXI instrument to actinide samples and discuss potential maturation of this nascent technology for future analysis pipelines.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
Measurement of energy resolution with the NEXT-White silicon photomultipliers
The NEXT-White detector, a high-pressure gaseous xenon time projection chamber, demonstrated the excellence of this technology for future neutrinoless double beta decay searches using photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to measure energy and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) to extract topology information. This analysis uses $^{83m}$Kr data from the NEXT-White detector to measure and understand the energy resolution that can be obtained with the SiPMs, rather than with PMTs. The energy resolution obtained of (10.9 ± 0.6)%, full-width half-maximum, is slightly larger than predicted based on the photon statistics resulting from very low light detection coverage of the SiPM plane in the NEXT-White detector. The difference in the predicted and measured resolution is attributed to poor corrections, which are expected to be improved with larger statistics. Furthermore, the noise of the SiPMs is shown to not be a dominant factor in the energy resolution and may be negligible when noise subtraction is applied appropriately, for high-energy events or larger SiPM coverage detectors. These results, which are extrapolated to estimate the response of large coverage SiPM planes, are promising for the development of future, SiPM-only, readout planes that can offer imaging and achieve similar energy resolution to that previously demonstrated with PMTs.[graphic not available: see fulltext]
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
Designed Spin‐Texture‐Lattice to Control Anisotropic Magnon Transport in Antiferromagnets
Abstract Spin waves in magnetic materials are promising information carriers for future computing technologies due to their ultra‐low energy dissipation and long coherence length. Antiferromagnets are strong candidate materials due, in part, to their stability to external fields and larger group velocities. Multiferroic antiferromagnets, such as BiFeO 3 (BFO), have an additional degree of freedom stemming from magnetoelectric coupling, allowing for control of the magnetic structure, and thus spin waves, with the electric field. Unfortunately, spin‐wave propagation in BFO is not well understood due to the complexity of the magnetic structure. In this work, long‐range spin transport is explored within an epitaxially engineered, electrically tunable, 1D magnonic crystal. A striking anisotropy is discovered in the spin transport parallel and perpendicular to the 1D crystal axis. Multiscale theory and simulation suggest that this preferential magnon conduction emerges from a combination of a population imbalance in its dispersion, as well as anisotropic structural scattering. This work provides a pathway to electrically reconfigurable magnonic crystals in antiferromagnets.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
Electrically Reconfigurable Liquid Metal Nanophotonic Platform for Color Display and Imaging
Dynamically tunable optical materials and device architectures are essential for future photonic technologies, yet conventional solid metals lack the intrinsic tunability required for advanced functionalities. Gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) present an appealing alternative thanks to their distinctive mechanical and optical properties; however, their practical integration in tunable photonic elements remains largely unexplored. Here, in this study, an electrochemically controlled nanophotonic platform is demonstrated that integrates a dynamically reconfigurable LM ground plane with gold nanoantenna arrays within a microfluidic system, enabling precise and reversible modulation of optical resonances across the visible to mid-infrared spectral ranges. By employing moderate operational voltages (1.5–3.0 V), real-time tuning of high-resolution structural color patterns is achieved through nanoscale control of the interfacial gap between the LM and Au nanoantennas. This innovative platform facilitates electrically programmable, high-contrast color patterns suitable for dynamic optical displays, secure anti-counterfeiting labels, and imaging applications. Additionally, this platform enables tunable mid-infrared spectral responses, which may be utilized for chemical and biological sensing applications. This versatile integrated LM-based nanophotonic platform opens new paths toward multifunctional, actively tunable/reconfigurable photonic device and system technologies.
Imaging↗