US scientists use ‘light with a twist’ to detect hidden nuclear threats

A team of researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is designing a probe to detect special nuclear material remotely.

RPI physicist Moussa N’Gom is leading the research which is aimed at developing a quantum sensing probe which can also characterize the special nuclear materials without contact.

The research is being conducted as part of RPI’s participation in the Consortium for Enabling Technologies and Innovation, a consortia announced recently by the United States’ Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

The US DOE/NNSA Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation had announced a grant of $50 million for two consortiums to link basic university research with applied laboratory research to advance technical capabilities in support of nuclear security and nonproliferation missions.

It is aimed at enabling an effective pipeline of talented next-generation experts to establish careers at DOE national laboratories.

Consortiums for supporting nuclear security and nonproliferation

The NNSA has awarded $50 million in cooperative agreements to two university consortia to support the basic science that underlies its nuclear security and nonproliferation missions, according to a press release.

The two consortia are led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, respectively.

Both consortiums will receive up to $5 million per year for the next five years to continue their research projects under the program.

The Consortium for Enabling Technologies and Innovation is led by Georgia Tech and includes Abilene Christian University; Colorado School of Mines; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Ohio State University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Stony Brook University; Texas A&M University; University of Alaska Fairbanks; the University of Texas at Austin; University of Wisconsin–Madison; and Virginia Commonwealth University.

According to the press release, these 12 universities will partner with 12 national laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory; Brookhaven National Laboratory; Idaho National Laboratory; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Nevada National Security Site; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Sandia National Laboratories; and Savannah River National Laboratory.

“These consortia are critical to the future of NNSA’s nuclear security and nonproliferation research and development work,” said Jeff Chamberlin, head of NNSA’s nonproliferation efforts.

“Once they develop a concept, the national laboratories can iterate and test its capabilities until it’s ready for the private sector to adopt. I am confident these teams led by the University of Tennessee and Georgia Tech are up to the challenge and will make outstanding contributions to our field.”

RPI’s remote nuclear material detection tech

N’Gom is associate professor of physics and applied physics at RPI. His team is using light to develop an advanced quantum sensing probe to serve as a novel spectroscopy- and optics-based method for nuclear trial verification.

The work, as per N’Gom, is called “Light with a Twist: An Adaptive Quantum Sensing Probe in Which a Bright Single Photon Source is Guided in Free Space To Remotely Interact, Detect, and Characterize Special Nuclear Materials.”

The probe is expected to enable more precise control, measurement, detection, and characterization of special nuclear materials , according to a release by the university.

Once the concept is developed, national laboratories will conduct tests to ensure the technology is ready for use in the private sector.

Explaining the mechanism behind the probe under construction, N’Gom said , “In a single photon source, whenever a first photon has shown up, the exact same photon is guaranteed to follow, allowing for precise timing and control.”

He added, “Any signal detected other than the source signal is a precise response or measurement from special nuclear materials with which the single photon interacts.”

Curt Breneman, Ph.D., Dean of Rensselaer’s School of Science further said, “Dr. N’Gom’s project is leveraging quantum sensing techniques, which allow for detection of the change in environment due to the presence of special nuclear materials and other phenomena in a very precise way.”