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Offline Reinforcement Learning for VENUS Control

Episode 1: The Quest for Element 120 and the Elusive Island of Stability

Leading the Field in Magnets

Two researchers in protective glasses look into a superconducting magnet experimental setup.

Appointment of 88-Inch Cyclotron Deputy Director

Made in Berkeley Lab: the plasma chamber at the heart of heavy ion accelerators

An up close view of the flange for the fourth-generation VENUS plasma chamber. The device was made in-house by the Engineering Division’s highly skilled technicians.

Micro Journeys Podcast: Inside Berkeley Lab's 88-Inch Cyclotron

3 people stand in front of a scientific poster

Ion Recycling to Illuminate the Heaviest Elements

Illustration of the ion trap used by the ISOLDE team to measure the electron affinity of chlorine. In the trap, chlorine anions are reflected back and forth between two electrostatic ion mirrors, allowing the laser beam (pink) to probe the anions for much longer than in conventional measurements. The laser frequency is tuned to find the exact photon energy above which the extra electron (small white circle) is removed from the anion.

Machine Learning Methods Used to Control and Optimize the VENUS Ion Source

The superconducting ECR ion source VENUS is pictured with an AI-generated, cartoon, eight-armed computer that appears to be making adjustments to the source. Arms missing hands and the fact that the existing hands are all doing things not useful to source operation inspire questions of AI/ML’s readiness for either quality image generation or ion source operation.

BBC Podcast: New Elements

Image depicting elements on playing cards overlayed over a representation of the periodic table.

New Technique Sheds Light on Chemistry at the Bottom of the Periodic Table

Two people in safety glasses hold glass beakers containing ball-and-stick models of nobelium molecules. They are surrounded by lab equipment that includes wires, foil-wrapped cables, metal apparatuses, and a computer screen showing data. Images of molecules are projected on the ceiling panels.

The Accelerator Behind the Scenes of Essential Tech

A person adjusts a setting at a console with multiple panels of knobs, switches, and screens.

A New Way to Make Element 116 Opens the Door to Heavier Atoms

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