Two recent publications involving neutron scattering experiments performed at the NIST Center for Neutron Research have been highlighted in the 2015 NCNR Annual Report. The studies, involving a multi-disciplinary collaboration between CNAM members J. Paglione (physics), E.E. Rodriguez (chemistry) and NIST Fellow J.W. Lynn, are focused on superconductivity and magnetism in iron-based materials and the half-Heusler ternary system.

S. James Gates Jr. speaks during a panel at the U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference.

The idea of a pump is at least as old as the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Archimedes. More than 2000 years ago, Archimedes allegedly invented a corkscrew pump (link is external) that could lift water up an incline with the turn of a handle. Versions of the ancient invention still bear his name and are used today in agriculture and industry.

Modern pumps have achieved loftier feats. For instance, in the late 1990s, NIST developed a device that could pump individual electrons, part of a potential new standard for measuring capacitance (link is external).

While pumps can be operated mechanically, electrically or via any other source of energy, they all share the common feature of being driven by a periodic action. In the Archimedean pump, that action is a full rotation of the handle, which draws up a certain volume of water. For the NIST electron pump, it is a repeating pattern of voltage signals, which causes electrons to hop one at a time between metallic islands.

But physicists have sought for decades to build a different kind of pump—one driven by the same kind of periodic action but made possible only by the bizarre rules of quantum mechanics. Owing to their physics, these pumps would be immune to certain imperfections in their fabrication.

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Sydney Robinson, a rising junior double majoring in physics and French, was awarded the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study abroad. The competitive program provides fully funded, group-based intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences over a period of seven to 10 weeks.

Robinson will travel to Lucknow, India, to study Urdu, a language spoken in northern India and Pakistan. Robinson hopes to build new relationships, experience a new culture and connect with family members.

“I think the most important part of adapting to new cultures and situations is to ask questions and be open to whatever answers you may receive, even if they are not what you expected,” says Robinson.

With language skills in English, French and Urdu, Robinson hopes to facilitate a research and training exchange between students at the National Centre for Physics in Pakistan and students at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, headquartered in Switzerland.

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