Physical Sciences Area at Berkeley Lab

Berkeley Lab’s cyclotron changed more than physics, it helped invent team science. Ernest O. Lawrence’s collaborative model became a blueprint for @ENERGY’s national laboratories. #Freedom250 #DOE

World’s most advanced gamma-ray detector is ready for science! Researchers will use the newly commissioned Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array, GRETA, to explore how stars form heavy elements and test the limits of the nucleus. @LBNLnuclearsci @michiganstateu newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/07/28/gre…

“Someday future progress might enable more compact and efficient neutron generators, which have all kinds of applications, like cargo screening, planetary science, and medical therapy and imaging," says @BerkeleyLab's Arun Persaud. #fusion interestingengineering.com/energy/us-nucl…

At low energies, material around a fusion reaction isn’t just a container—it can change how often fusion occurs. @LBNLatap and @ucdavis researchers say the finding could guide neutron-source materials. #fusion newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/07/23/whe…

Made in Berkeley Lab: Revealing the Secret Miniature World of Wire Bonding, the specialized process of connecting a microchip to the outside world, and the ultra-delicate, hands-on work @lbnlengineering @BerkeleyLab that makes it possible. engineering.lbl.gov/2026/07/23/mad…

Berkeley Lab will lead 13 new #GenesisMission projects and partner on 30+ more, using #AI, supercomputing and advanced instruments to speed discovery in energy, materials, water, fusion, and national security. @ENERGY newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/07/22/ber…

In a milestone achievement, the CODEX-b collaboration has recorded its first data with a prototype detector @CERN, a critical step in the search for hidden particles. @LBNLphysics @BerkeleyLab physicalsciences.lbl.gov/2026/07/08/cod…

The Berkeley Lab-led Multi-Office Particle Accelerator Team, an @ENERGY AI Genesis project, aims to “maximize the impact of #ArtificialIntelligence on current and future DOE #ParticleAccelerator facilities,” says @LBNLatap Senior Scientist Jean-Luc Vay, the project’s head.

A team @BerkeleyLab and the Univ of Vienna has developed a novel ML framework trained on over a million simulated sky maps – Machine Learning Reopens the Case for Dark Matter at the Galactic Center physicalsciences.lbl.gov/2026/06/17/mac…

#Quantum noise sets the ultimate limit on what we can measure and control at the smallest scales. We're breaking down what it is, why it matters, and how researchers are working to overcome it. Watch to learn more. newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/05/28/wha…

Engineers @lbnlengineering @BerkeleyLab are creating Iris, a prototype fiber-positioning robot for the DESI upgrade to Spec-S5 @LBNLphysics: youtu.be/V4Lne4wiHvk #Engineering #DESI #Spec-S5 #Robots #TeamScience #BerkeleyLab

QubiC, an open-source superconducting qubit control system developed by researchers @LBNLatap, is featured in this Q&A with Chris Spitzer @BerkeleyLab @LBNLcs: How Researchers Are Building Next-Gen Quantum Computers newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/05/27/sta…

Winding of the MARS-D magnet's closed-loop coil was completed by @lbnlengineering @BerkeleyLab after nearly two years of intense technical work. Made in Berkeley Lab: Winding a Novel Closed-Loop Coil Magnet Structure engineering.lbl.gov/2026/05/14/mad…

Congratulations to Kam-Biu Luk @LBNLphysics, one of two @BerkeleyLab researchers elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year: newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/05/07/the…

Scientists use cutting-edge quantum tech to push the boundaries of what instruments can detect. But what if dark matter had quantum mechanical properties? Dark Matter's Quantum Nature Leaves No Trace in Detectors – @LBNLphysics @BerkeleyLab @PhysRevLett physicalsciences.lbl.gov/2026/04/29/dar…

Congratulations to Benjamin R. Safdi @ucberkeley on winning the 2026 New Horizons in Physics Prize for proposing new ways to seek axion-like particles with laboratory experiments and astronomical observations. breakthroughprize.org/News/98

"We’re going to celebrate completion of the 3D map of the #universe and then churn through the data, because we’re all curious about what new surprises are waiting for us," says @BerkeleyLab's Michael Levi discovermagazine.com/desi-exceeds-e…

Does the periodic table break down? To find out, researchers @BerkeleyLab are using FIONA – a state-of-the-art spectrometer at the Lab's 88-Inch Cyclotron – to study the chemistry of the heaviest elements. Behind the Science: FIONA youtu.be/1EUShbj1l3U?si… via @YouTube

“DESI’s 5-year survey has been spectacularly successful,” says @berkeleylab's Michael Levi. “We’re going to celebrate completion of the original survey & get started on the work of churning through the data, because we’re all curious about what new surprises are waiting for us.”

“This could be the most interesting discovery in cosmology since that of dark energy itself," says @berkeleylab's Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille @desisurvey arstechnica.com/science/2026/0…