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Physics & Astronomy

Department Features

Department Features

Current research and activities in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Advanced Scattering Probes of Material Structure
BYU physics researchers use some of the world's brightest x-ray and neutron sources to study a variety of useful materials, such as superconductors, piezoelectrics and solid electrolytes. At the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, 7 GeV electrons travel around a one-kilometer synchrotron ring at nearly the speed of light, emitting tangential Bremsstrahlung x-rays (much like the tangential spray from a leaky pail of water swung in a wide circle with a rope). At the newly-constructed Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, accelerator-driven proton pulses bombard a liquid-mercury target, knocking (i.e. spalling) neutrons from the target nuclei, which are then cooled in a moderator and collimated into beams.

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