1.2: Nanoscale Science
Lead the nanoscale science revolution, delivering the foundations and discoveries for a future built around controlled chemical
processes and materials designed one atom at a time or through self-assembly.
Other Information:
The main elements of the Office of Science nanoscale research program are the establishment of five Nanoscale Science Research
Centers (NSRCs) and the support for nanoscale research in targeted areas addressing forefront science and DOE mission needs.
The NSRCs are a new way of doing business for the dispersed cottage industry of researchers currently working on the ORNL
Spallation Neutron Source (SNS): This accelerator-based neutron source facility will provide the most intense pulsed neutron
beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. Neutron research helps scientists and engineers improve
materials used in high-temperature superconductors; powerful lightweight magnets; aluminum bridge decks; and stronger, lighter
plastic products. The SNS is currently being built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in collaboration with Argonne National
Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Thomas
Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and will be completed in 2006. enormous set of problems that together define “nanoscale
science.” The ability to fabricate complex structures using chemical, biological, and other synthesis techniques; characterize
them; assemble them; integrate them into devices; and do all this in one place will change the way materials research is done.
Our strategy includes the following emphases: • Attain a fundamental understanding of phenomena unique to the nanoscale. •
Achieve the ability to design and synthesize materials at the nanoscale to produce materials with desired properties and functions,
using as necessary the tricks and tools of Nature’s assemblies, both living and nonliving. • Integrate nanoscale objects into
microscale assemblies and macroscale devices. • Develop experimental characterization tools and theory/modeling/ simulation
tools to advance nanoscale science.
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