2008

FALL

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AT THE AMES LABORATORY

Low-friction nanocoatings
Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department 

of Energy laboratory seeking solutions 

to energy-related problems through the 

exploration of chemical, engineering, 

materials and mathematical sciences, and 

physics. Established in the 1940s with 

the successful development of the most 

efficient process to produce high-purity 

uranium metal for atomic energy, Ames 

Lab now pursues much broader priorities 

than the materials research that has given 

the Lab international credibility. Responding to issues of national concern, Ames 

Laboratory scientists are actively involved 

in innovative research, science education 

programs, the development of applied 

technologies and the quick transfer of 

such technologies to industry. Uniquely 

integrated within a university environment, 

the Lab stimulates creative thought and 

encourages scientific discovery, providing 

solutions to complex problems and educating tomorrow’s scientific talent.

Steve Karsjen, Public Affairs Director

Kerry Gibson, Editor

Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi and 

Saren Johnston, Contributing Editors

Grant Luhmann, Art Director

Mariam Melkumyan, Graphic Design 

Intern

Copyright 2008 by Ames Laboratory. All 

rights reserved. For additional information 

about Ames Laboratory or topics covered 

in this publication, please contact: 

Editor, Inquiry

Ames Laboratory

111 TASF

Ames, Iowa 50011-3020

515-294-9557

www.ameslab.gov

Inquiry is published biannually by the Ames 

Laboratory Office of Public Affairs. Iowa 

State University operates the Laboratory 

for the U.S. Department of Energy under 

contract DE AC02 07CH11358. Ames 

Laboratory shares a close working relationship with Iowa State University’s Institute 

for Physical Research and Technology, a 

network of scientific research centers.

Contents

FEATURES

8 Nano, Tough and Super Slick Low-friction nanocoating improves industrial energy efficiency.

10 Filtering out the Noise Photonic crystals filter out fiber optic interference.

11 Spinning toward Reality Quantum computing one step closer.

12 Garbage In, Ethanol Out Nanoscale catalysts turn syngas into ethanol.

14 A New Spin on Superconductivity New equipment sheds light on iron-arsenide superconductors.

 

16 Ames Laboratory’s New Brand Redefining who we are.

DEPARTMENTS

3 Director’s Letter

4 Awards

6 Education

Cover: A wafer of aluminum-magnesium-boride is used as machine tooling to make 

a heavy lathe cut in hardened stainless steel. Ames Laboratory researchers are studying use of the alloy, nicknamed BAM, as a coating for industrial applications with the 

goal of boosting energy efficiency of industrial equipment. 

16

14

12

11

8

ENERGY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF Office of

Science
Welcome to the Fall 2008 

issue of Inquiry magazine

INQUIRY FALL 2008 3

he Ames Laboratory has had a busy past few months. In the 

spring of this year, Chinese researchers announced the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in a new pnictide 

compound based on iron and arsenic, and the scientific world 

was once again engaged in a race to replicate, extend and understand the results. Ames 

Lab researchers, led by Paul Canfield and working closely with our environmental safety and health 

professionals to ensure safe handling of these poisonous materials, were able to reproduce the 

results within days. A number of significant “firsts” ensued: we created new compounds that 

also demonstrated elevated-temperature superconductivity, building on the availability of rare 

earth elements from our Materials Preparation Center; among these was the first non-oxide, allmetallic superconducting FeAs compound; we created the first single crystal specimens suitable 

for making critical measurements, such as the phonon dispersion curves; and direct comparisons 

have been made between advanced theoretical and experimental work. Along the way, Rob 

McQueeney and his collaborators collected the first research results from the Wide Angular Range 

Chopper Spectrometer (ARCS) at Oak Ridge National Lab’s new Spallation Neutron Source. The 

science is still emerging at a fast pace, and as I write 22 papers have been submitted to the physics archive server and submitted to archival journals, and 7 of 

them are already accepted for publication or in print. You will 

be able to read more about this in a future issue of Inquiry, 

after the dust settles a little.

This summer’s pnictide activity provides some striking examples of the capabilities, values and working methods that make the Ames Laboratory a unique 

national resource. In the spring, I commissioned a committee to look at our “brand” and they 

came up with seven “core values” that describe the ways that we do our work. These are listed 

on page 16, but it is worth noting how several of them contributed to our efforts this summer. 

Safety is one of our core values and distinguishing features; without our established safety 

culture it would have been impossible to undertake work focusing on arsenic. Agility allowed 

the Ames Lab to move quickly and responsively to address the emerging scientific opportunities. 

Our People contributed individual skills, time and effort, which produced greater results through 

extensive Collaboration that extended across different sectors of the Ames Laboratory to our 

partner national labs and far beyond. More than 20 people have been involved in this work, 

at Ames and around the world, in a team that could only be created by a national laboratory. 

Throughout the effort, Excellence has been the hallmark, as reflected in the quality and prestige 

of the journals that are publishing this work. 

Our values are not something that we decide to use or not use, and neither are they a directive 

from the executive office: they are part of the instinct and intuition that characterizes the Lab at 

every level, and they emerge naturally as it does its work. The pnictide efforts illustrate how well 

the branding committee described the Ames Lab and what it does: Creating Materials and 

Energy Solutions.

T

From the Director

Alex King, Director
 a 2008 AWARDS

4 INQUIRY FALL 2008

Shechtman Receives E-MRS Award

Ames Laboratory research scientist Dan Shechtman received the European Materials Research Society 25th Anniversary award.

The E-MRS award is the highest recognition conferred 

upon a materials scientist by the society, which is Europe’s 

leading organization for the support and advancement of 

research in materials. The award consisted of a plaque, 

a medal and a cash grant of 5000 euro (about $7,800) 

sponsored by both E-MRS and Elsevier. Shechtman was 

formally recognized with the award at a ceremony and banquet held in Strasbourg, France on May 28.

Shechtman, who is also a faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa 

State University, was selected by the award committee in 

recognition of his essential contribution to the discovery of 

quasi-periodic crystals, also known as quasicrystals, in metallic alloys. In 1982, he discovered the icosahedral phase 

in a rapidly solidified aluminum transition metal alloy, which 

opened up the field of quasicrystals as an area of study in 

materials science.

Shechtman was recruited to the Ames Laboratory and 

Iowa State through a joint effort between Pat Thiel, Ames 

Laboratory division director for Science and Technology and 

quasicrystal expert, and Mufit Akinc, who was then chair 

of ISU’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. 

Shechtman joined the staff at Ames Laboratory in 2004.

Hong Receives “Young Chemist” Award

Ames Laboratory chemist Mei Hong was honored as 

a recipient of the Agnes Fay Morgan Award by the Iota 

Sigma Pi Honor Society for Women in Chemistry during 

the organization’s 29th Triennial Convention June 26-29 in 

Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Morgan Award is presented annually to a woman 

age 40 or under in the field of chemistry or biochemisty 

and consists of $500, a 

certificate and membership in Iota Sigma Pi with 

a waiver of dues for one 

year. Hong was chosen 

for the award in 2006, 

but because the society 

formally meets only every third year, she was 

among the three award 

recipients recognized at 

this year’s convention.

Harmon, Finnemore Outstanding Referees

Three Ames Laboratory scientists were recognized 

for their exceptional efforts in assessing manuscripts for 

American Physical Society journals. Doug Finnemore, senior physicist; Bruce Harmon, deputy Lab director and 

senior physicist; and a third physicist who requested to 

remain anonymous are in the inaugural group of Outstanding Referee award winners.

APS initiated the Outstanding Referee award this year 

to express appreciation to all referees whose efforts in 

peer review both maintain the high standards of APS 

journals and help authors improve the quality and readability of their articles.

“Manuscript reviewers often operate in the background 

without much recognition, but their contributions to their 

fields of research are enormously important,” says Alex 

King, Ames Laboratory director. “We are pleased that 

three Ames Lab scientists have been recognized for their 

service.”

Dan Shechtman

Mei Hong
INQUIRY FALL 2008 5

Thiel Named Iota Sigma Pi Honorary Member

Pat Thiel, Ames Laboratory division director for Science and Technology, received the 2008 Iota 

Sigma Pi Honorary Member award 

from the National Honor Society for 

Women in Chemistry on June 27 

at the organization’s 29th Triennial 

Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thiel 

is the 33rd recipient of the award, 

which was established in 1921 and 

has gone to three Nobel Laureates, 

including Marie Curie.

“This is a very distinguished recognition,” says Ames 

Laboratory Director Alex King. “Iota Sigma Pi bestows only 

one honorary membership every three years, so it is very 

selective indeed. Pat has been a consistent pioneer in the 

field of chemistry and certainly deserves the honor. Ames 

Lab is proud to have her among its leaders.”

MFRC Receives Tech Transfer Award 

Ames Laboratory’s Midwest Forensics Resource Center received the Outstanding Partnership award from the 

Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer 

Mid-Continent Region. The FLC Outstanding Partnership 

award recognizes the MFRC’s efforts to promote technology transfer between federal government facilities and the 

private or public sectors.

The MFRC develops new techniques in forensic science and transfers those techniques to crime laboratories 

throughout the Midwest. One method of technology transfer is collaborative crime lab-centered forensic research 

projects that partner crime laboratories with scientists at 

the MFRC or Midwestern universities.

“All of the MFRC’s efforts are designed to develop, test 

and evaluate more efficient and reliable methods of analyzing evidence and to get information about those methods out into crime laboratories where we hope the new 

techniques will help busy forensic scientists,” says David 

Baldwin, director of the MFRC. “We are pleased that the 

Federal Laboratory Consortium recognized our efforts and 

the efforts of our partner crime laboratories.”

Akinc Named ASM Fellow

Mufit Akinc, an associate scientist at Ames Laboratory, 

was elected a Fellow of ASM International, a society for 

materials scientists and engineers. Akinc was one of 19 

ASM Fellows elected in 2008.

Akinc, who is also an Iowa State University professor 

of materials science and engineering, was honored for his 

“contributions to the science and technology of ceramics 

and alloy powders and for leadership in materials education.” 

The Fellow designation 

was established by ASM 

International to provide 

recognition to members 

for their distinguished 

contributions to the materials science and engineering field. Fellows 

are considered technical 

and professional leaders 

who serve as advisors to 

the society, and they are 

selected by their peers in 

the organization.

NSF Early Career Award to Travesset

Alex Travesset, an associate scientist at Ames Laboratory, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER 

award, the organization’s most prestigious award for junior researchers. 

The NSF CAREER award recognizes researchers who 

exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of 

education and research. The five-year, $410,000 award 

will support Travesset’s theoretical study of the interaction of phospholipids, the molecules that form cell membranes, with GTPases, certain proteins that regulate signaling in cells.

Pat Thiel

Mufit Akinc

Alex Travesset
6 INQUIRY FALL 2008

UPERCONDUCTIVITY. EXPERIMENTATION.

Analysis. Andrew Fidler learned a lot about all of 

these during his internship at Ames Laboratory. 

But he also learned that sometimes it takes some 

old-fashioned materials and techniques to make 

some brand new discoveries. Fidler, a 2007 participant 

in the Department of Energy’s Science Undergraduate 

Laboratory Internship, or SULI, program, contributed to the 

groundbreaking discovery that the bubble-like arrangement 

of magnetic domains in superconducting lead exhibits patterns very similar to conventional froths. And Fidler’s work 

was done with an office supply of the past: carbon paper.

Fidler used the carbon paper to gather the data Ames 

Lab physicist Ruslan Prozorov needed to analyze the polygon cells that make up the superconducting froths, called 

suprafroths. The process started with images of suprafroths taken with a magneto-optic microscope in Prozorov’s lab that showed rough outlines of the froth’s cells. 

Fidler’s task was to take a pen and a piece of carbon paper 

and trace the microscope image to produce a clear picture 

of the polygons.

“In order to compare the suprafroths with conventional 

froths, we needed to identify the types and the amount of 

the polygons in each microscope image of the froth,” says 

Prozorov. “We tried using computer programs to do it, but 

they failed. The images are very complex with gradients of 

intensity and some scratches and artifacts. There was no 

other way to do what Andrew did visually and manually, 

starting with the carbon paper.”

“I actually had a hard time finding carbon paper,” adds 

Prozorov. “I went to an office supply store, and they had to 

dig it out of the storage room somewhere.”

Fidler traced each image by hand — twice. 

“I traced once with carbon paper and once with black 

pen to make sure the lines would be read by the scanner, 

and then I scanned each tracing into the computer. I looked 

at the froth images on the computer screen and identified 

each type of polygon cell. Then I tabulated how many of 

each type of polygon was in each image,” says Fidler.

 Each image consisted of approximately 200-300 polygon cells, and Fidler repeated the process on 528 images, 

S with each image representing a different point of temperature and magnetic field.

“It was a tremendous amount of work,” says Prozorov.

Fidler and Prozorov’s efforts — combined with the contributions of Ames Lab physicist Paul Canfield and Iowa 

State University graduate student Jake Hoberg — paid off. 

The group published their findings in Nature Physics in 

April 2008. Their paper proposed suprafroths as a model 

system for all froths.

“There are certain statistical laws that govern the behavior of froths, and we found that suprafroths satisfy 

these laws,” says Prozorov. “We can now apply what we 

know of suprafroths to all other froths and complex frothlike systems.”

Suprafroths offer reversibility, a significant benefit over 

conventional froths.

“In everyday froths, like soap foam, the agent of change 

is time,” says Prozorov. “You have to wait for bubbles to 

simply dry out, and that takes days. And it’s not reversible. 

You cannot reverse time.”

But achieving an ideal froth experiment is possible with 

suprafroths because the agents that create the superconducting phase cells are magnetic field and temperature, 

both reversible parameters.

“Magnetic field and temperature can be tuned in the 

lab,” says Prozorov. “They can be increased or decreased, 

and therefore we are able to study the pure statistical properties of froth without problems associated with the irreversibility of time or with chemical property changes.”

Prozorov’s comparison of suprafroths is also an important contribution to the study of superconductors. 

“The statistical analysis shows suprafroths behave just 

like normal froth, which is also new for superconductivity,” 

says Prozorov. “Just last year we found this new pattern 

in superconductors, and now we’ve proven that the froth 

state is really an intrinsic property of superconducting lead. 

It’s a big deal for both the general physics of froth and the 

growing physics of superconductors.”

Fidler wasn’t expecting to be involved with such a “big 

deal” when he applied for the SULI program.

“I was never expecting to be able to get a journal article 

Superconductivity

Tracingthe Image of

BY BREEHAN GERLEMAN LUCCHESI
INQUIRY FALL 2008 7

Q

published, let alone in such a reputable journal as Nature 

Physics,” says Fidler. “I still don’t think I have fully realized 

how significant it is to be published in such a good journal 

as an undergraduate. I’m really thrilled to be a published 

author.

“I learned so much working with Dr. Prozorov and his 

graduate students,” adds Fidler. “Dr. Prozorov was always 

available to help, and the students in his lab explained everything I had questions about.”

Following his internship at Ames Lab, Fidler nominated 

Prozorov for a SULI Outstanding Mentor award.

Fidler’s nomination reads, in part, “Since my first day 

at Ames Laboratory, Dr. Prozorov has given me the opportunity to work on a challenging and interesting project, 

and he has provided insights and has been an effective 

instructional coach during my internship.”

The next stop for Fidler is graduate study in physics at 

the University of Chicago.

“SULI definitely helped me attain my goal of attending 

graduate school,” says Fidler, “and it validated my continued interest in the sciences, too.”

Why are Ruslan Prozorov’s superconducting froths 

called suprafroths? The term was born of necessity 

but is based on history.

“Originally we wanted to call the new froth ‘superfroth’ simply because of the term ‘superconductor,’” 

says Prozorov. “But if you do a Web search for superfroth, you see the term is already taken by some 

totally unrelated materials like plastics, milk for coffee 

drinks and even ice. And the term superfroth is even 

trademarked by one company.”

“So we invented the term ‘suprafroth’ to avoid any 

trademark troubles and because when superconductors were first invented they were called ‘supraconductors,’” Prozorov continues. “Well, the term was 

originally in German, but as the science of what is now 

called ‘superconductors’ spread across Europe, they 

were most often called supraconductors.”

“Many people like the term suprafroth now, and 

the term is clearly distinct,” he adds. “A Google search 

gives only results for what we have come up with. 

And while the term is already propagating through the 

scientific community, all references to the work will 

point back to our work. It’s not really often you can 

coin a term, but we managed to do just that.”

A 

Supra

New

Science Term

suprafroth \ `sü-prä `froth \ n

pl. suprafroths \ `sü-prä `froths, frothz

Andrew Fidler prepares a sample for study in the lowtemperature magnetism laboratory. 
RICTION IS THE BANE OF ANY MACHINE. 

When moving parts are subject to friction, it 

takes more energy to move them, the machine 

doesn’t operate as efficiently, and the parts have 

a tendency to wear out over time. 

But if you could manufacture parts that had tough, 

“slippery” surfaces, there’d be less friction, requiring less 

input energy and the parts would last longer. Researchers at the Ames Laboratory are collaborating with other 

research labs, universities and industrial partners to develop just such a coating.

“If you consider a pump, like a water pump or a hydraulic pump, it has a turbine that moves the fluid,” says 

Bruce Cook, an Ames Laboratory scientist and co-principal 

investigator on the four-year, $3 million project. “When 

the rotor spins, there’s friction generated at the contacting surface between the vanes and the housing, or stator. 

This friction translates into additional torque needed to 

operate the pump, particularly at start-up. In addition, 

the friction results in a degradation of the surfaces, which 

reduces efficiency and the life of the pump. In other 

words, it takes extra energy to get the pump started, and 

you can’t run it at its optimum (higher speed) efficiency 

because it would wear out more quickly.” 

Applying a coating to the blades that would reduce 

friction and increase wear resistance could have a significant effect in boosting the efficiency of pumps, which 

are used in all kinds of industrial and commercial applications. According to Cook, government calculations show 

that a modest increase in pump efficiency resulting from 

use of these nanocoatings could reduce U.S. industrial 

energy usage by 31 trillion BTUs annually by 2030, or a 

savings of $179 million a year. 

F The coating Cook is investigating is a boron-aluminum-magnesium ceramic alloy he discovered with fellow 

Ames Laboratory researcher and Iowa State University 

professor of materials science and engineering Alan Russell about eight years ago. Nicknamed BAM, the material 

exhibited exceptional hardness and an even lower coefficient of friction than Teflon®. The research has expanded 

to include titanium-diboride alloys as well.

In many applications it is far more cost effective to apply the wear-resistant materials as a coating than to manufacture an entire part out of the ceramic. Fortunately, 

the BAM material is amenable to application as a hard, 

wear-resistant coating. Working with ISU materials scientist Alan Constant, the team is using a technique called 

pulsed laser deposition to deposit a thin layer of the alloy 

on hydraulic pump vanes and tungsten carbide cutting 

tools. Cook is working with Eaton Corporation, a leading 

manufacturer of fluid power equipment, using another, 

more commercial-scale technique known as magnetron 

sputtering to lay down a wear-resistant coating. 

A nanoscale coating of an aluminummagnesium-boride helps reduce friction and 

boosts industrial energy efficiency

BY KERRY GIBSON

Nano, Tough

4

8 INQUIRY FALL 2008

and Super Slick

A photograph of an 

AlMgB14 coating on 

a steel substrate. 

The coating is the 

thin, darker strip running along the edge 

of the steel. (The 

blemishes on the 

steel are carbide inclusions) The coating has a thickness 

of approximately 2 

to 3 microns.
INQUIRY FALL 2008 9

Pumps aren’t the only applications for the boride 

nanocoatings. The group is also working with Greenleaf 

Corporation, a leading industrial cutting tool maker, to 

put a longer lasting coating on cutting tools. If a tool cuts 

with reduced friction, less applied force is needed, which 

directly translates to a reduction in the energy required 

for the machining operation.

To test the coatings, the project team includes Peter 

J. Blau and Jun Qu at one of the nation’s leading friction 

and wear research facilities at the U.S. Department of 

Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, or ORNL, in Tennessee. Initial tests show a decrease in friction relative 

to an uncoated surface of at least an order of magnitude 

with the AlMgB14-based coating. In preliminary tests, the 

coating also appears to outperform other coatings, such 

as diamond-like carbon and TiB2.

In a separate, but somewhat related project, Cook is 

working with researchers from ORNL, Missouri University 

of Science and Technology, the University of Alberta, and 

private companies to develop coatings in high-pressure 

water jet cutting tools and severe service valves where 

parts are subject to abrasives and other extreme conditions. The water jets use a slurry containing abrasive 

grit that’s forced through nozzles at 60,000 to 87,000 

pounds per square inch and can make intricate cuts in 

almost any material without the risk of heat warpage. Unfortunately the abrasive also wears out the nozzles and 

the hope is that a coating of BAM can extend nozzle life. 

“This is a great example of developing advanced materials with a direct correlation to saving energy,” Cook says. 

“Though the original discovery wasn’t by design, we’ve 

done a great deal of basic research in trying to figure out 

the molecular structure of these materials, what gives them 

Q

For more information:

Bruce Cook, (515) 294-9673 

cook@ameslab.gov

Research funded by:

DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy

these properties and how we can use this information to 

develop other, similar materials.”

According to Russell, BAM isn’t like most superhard 

materials, such as diamond, that have a simple, regular and 

symmetrical crystalline structure. Instead, BAM’s structure 

is complex, unsymmetrical, and its lattice contains gaps. As 

for its slipperiness, Russell speculates that boron oxidation 

takes place on the surface and these tiny amounts of 

boron oxide attract water molecules from the air, to make 

the coating slippery.

“It’s almost as if it’s a self-lubricating surface,” he says. 

“It’s inherently slippery so you don’t need to add oil or 

other lubricants.” 

While Cook and Russell continue their research, efforts 

are also underway to bring the material to the market commercially. BAM is licensed to Newtech Ceramics, an Iowa 

based startup company located in Des Moines. The ISU 

Research Foundation provided nearly $60,000 in funding 

for development of material samples for marketing as part 

of the startup effort.

(Opposite) This image shows coating of 

a substrate (left) with AlMgB14 by pulsed 

laser deposition. The bright plume in the 

center of the photograph is an AlMgB14

plasma. The solid target is just to the 

right of the plume.

(Right) In an early test of BAM’s 

capabilities, a sharpened wafer of the 

material is used as machine tooling to 

make an heavy lathe cut in hardened 

stainless steel. 
10 INQUIRY FALL 2008

you want to be able to pick off just one of those frequencies and send it to an individual end user,” says Biswas. 

“That’s where these 3-D photonic crystals come into play.” 

Biswas and his colleagues, Kai-Ming Ho, senior physicist and an ISU Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and 

Sciences; Gary Tuttle, an ISU associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at the 

university’s Microelectronics Research Center; and Preeti 

Kohli, a former Iowa State Ph.D. student now at Micron in 

Manassas, Va. successfully demonstrated that 3-D photonic 

crystals could serve as add-drop filters, providing greatly 

enhanced data transmission. 

To prove their concept, the researchers used a threedimensional, microwave-scale photonic crystal constructed 

from layered alumina rods and containing a full bandgap – 

a wavelength range in which electromagnetic waves cannot 

transmit. Just as electronic bandgaps prevent electrons 

within a certain energy range from passing through a semiconductor, photonic crystals create photonic bandgaps that 

confine light of certain wavelengths. 

Although the team has shown that 3-D photonic crystals 

would make highly efficient add-drop filters, there are 

still problems to address. Getting the size of the photonic 

crystals down to work at the wavelengths used for Internet 

communications – 1.5 microns – is the big challenge. The 

group now has some of these photonic crystals working in 

that range, but to make these controlled structures with one 

input, another output and a defect ... that definitely takes 

some work. A future direction is to simplify the design of 

the add-drop filter by reducing the layers in the photonic 

crystal – perhaps having all the action happen in one layer. 

MES LABORATORY RESEARCHERS HAVE 

come up with a potentially perfect way to sort 

and distribute the massive amounts of data 

that travel daily over optical fibers to people 

throughout the world. The new technology, a 

three-dimensional photonic crystal add-drop filter, promises greatly enhanced transmission of multiple wavelength channels (wavelengths of light) traveling along the 

same optical fiber. 

The innovative filter is a significant achievement in the 

effort to develop all-optical transport networks that would 

eliminate electrical components from optical transmission 

links and guarantee virtually flawless data reception to end 

users of the Internet and other fiber-based telecommunications systems. 

“There are up to 160 wavelength channels traveling 

through an optical fiber at the same time,” says Rana 

Biswas, physicist and one of the developers of the new 

add-drop filter. “That means a lot of dialogue is going on 

simultaneously.” 

Biswas, who is also an Iowa State University adjunct 

associate professor of physics and astronomy and electrical 

and computer engineering, explains that as information is 

transported over multiple channels, it’s necessary to drop 

off individual wavelength channels at different points on the 

fiber. At the same time, it’s essential to be able to add data 

streams into unfilled wavelength channels. 

“When the data being transported in multiple frequency 

channels over an optical fiber comes to a receiving station, 

A

3-D photonic crystals help 

clear up fiber optic data transmission

BY SAREN JOHNSTON

Filtering out the Noise

Q

For more information:

Rana Biswas, (515) 294-6987

biswasr@ameslab.gov

Research funded by:

DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Researchers (from left) Gary Tuttle, Rana Biswas and graduate student Dan Stieler examine defects in a photonic crystal. 
INQUIRY FALL 2008 11

R

ESEARCHERS AT AMES LABORATORY; 

The University of California, Santa Barbara; and 

Microsoft Station Q have teamed up to learn 

how quantum-mechanical states break down. 

The scientists made significant advancements in 

understanding one of the fundamental problems of quantum mechanics, which is also blocking efforts to develop 

practical quantum computers: the problem of decoherence. Their respective theoretical and experimental studies investigate how a single microscopic object loses its 

quantum-mechanical properties through interactions with 

the environment.

“Quantum-mechanical particles can interact with their 

environments: visible light, or photons; molecules of the 

air; crystal vibrations; and many other things,” says Viatcheslav Dobrovitski, an Ames Laboratory theoretical physicist. “All these 

uncontrollable interactions randomly 

‘kick’ the system, destroying quantum phases, or the ability of particles 

to preserve coherence between different quantum states.”

Quantum coherence is essential 

to developing quantum computers in which information would be 

stored and processed on quantum 

mechanical states of quantum bits, 

called qubits. So the self-destructive 

nature of quantum-mechanical states 

interacting with the environment is a 

huge problem.

To find out more about how 

quantum coherence breaks down 

and to study the dynamics of this 

decoherence process, the Ames Lab, 

UCSB and Microsoft Station Q team 

studied certain spin systems called 

nitrogen-vacancy, N-V, impurity centers in diamond. The researchers 

were able to manipulate a single 

N-V center interacting with an environment of nitrogen spins in a piece of diamond. Amazingly, they were able to tune and adjust the environmental 

interference extremely well, accessing surprisingly different 

regimes of decoherence in a single system. They showed 

that the degree of interaction between the qubit and the 

interfering environment could be regulated by applying a 

moderate magnetic field. By using analytical theory and advanced computer simulations, the scientists gained a clear 

qualitative picture of the decoherence process in different 

regimes, and also provided an excellent quantitative description of the quantum spin dynamics. The experiments 

were performed at room temperature rather than at the extremely low temperatures often required for most atomicscale investigations.

Dobrovitski notes that quantum coherence of N-V centers in diamond is being studied by leading scientific groups 

worldwide. “The combined efforts of these groups could 

help in opening the way to developing a series of interacting qubits – steps to a quantum computer – where each 

N-V center would act as a qubit,” he says.

“In addition to quantum computers, quantum coherence 

plays an important role for future less exotic, but not less 

spectacular, applications,” says Dobrovitski. For instance, 

quantum spins can be employed to develop coherent 

spintronic devices, which would work much faster than traditional microelectronic elements and dissipate much less 

energy. Quantum coherence between many spins can be 

employed to drastically increase the sensitivity of modern 

nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR, or electron spin resonance, ESR, experiments,” he adds. “From the application 

point of view, it is important to understand the loss of coherence of quantum systems in solid-state environments, 

which form the basis of modern technology.”

Note: This research was selected as the basis for the cover 

of the April 18, 2008 issue of Science magazine -- http://www.

sciencemag.org/content/vol320/issue5874/cover.dtl A professional article about the research appears on pages 352-355.

Toward Reality

Quantum computing takes a step forward

Spinning

For more information:

Viatcheslav Dobrovitski, (515) 294-8666

slava@axel.ameslab.gov

Research funded by:

DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences and 

the Air Force Office of Scientific Research 

Machines Program

These images depicting coherently driven 

spin oscillations of a 

nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) 

center show the excellent level of agreement 

achieved between 

experiment, analytical 

theory and computer 

simulation.

BY SAREN JOHNSTON

Q
12 INQUIRY FALL 2008

AY THE WORD “BIOFUELS” AND MOST 

people think of grain ethanol and biodiesel. But 

there’s another, older technology called gasification 

that’s getting a new look from researchers at Ames 

Laboratory and Iowa State University. By combining gasification with high-tech nanoscale porous catalysts, 

they hope to create ethanol from a wide range of biomass, 

including distiller’s grain left over from ethanol production, 

corn stover from the field, grass, wood pulp, animal waste 

and garbage.

Gasification is a process that turns carbon-based feedstocks under high temperature and pressure in an oxygencontrolled atmosphere into synthesis gas, or syngas. Syngas 

is made up primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen 

(more than 85 percent by volume) and smaller quantities 

of carbon dioxide and methane. 

It’s basically the same technique that was used to extract the gas from coal that fueled gas light fixtures prior 

to the advent of the electric light bulb. The advantage of 

gasification compared to fermentation technologies is that 

it can be used in a variety of applications, including process 

heat, electric power generation and synthesis of commodity 

chemicals and fuels.

“There was some interest in converting syngas into ethanol during the first oil crisis back in the 70s,” says Ames 

Lab chemist and Chemical and Biological Science Program 

Director Victor Lin. “The problem was that catalysis technology at that time didn’t allow selectivity in the byproducts. 

They could produce ethanol, but you’d also get methane, 

aldehydes and a number of other undesirable products.”

A catalyst is a material that facilitates and speeds up a 

chemical reaction without chemically changing the catalyst 

itself. In studying the chemical reactions in syngas conversion, Lin found that the carbon monoxide molecules that 

yielded ethanol could be “activated” in the presence of a 

catalyst with a unique structural feature.

“If we can increase this ‘activated’ CO adsorption on the 

surface of the catalyst, it improves the opportunity for the 

formation of ethanol molecules,” Lin says. “And if we can 

increase the amount of surface area for the catalyst, we can 

increase the amount of ethanol produced.”

Lin’s group looked at using a metal alloy as the catalyst. 

To increase the surface area, they used nanoscale catalyst 

particles dispersed widely within the structure of mesoporous nanospheres, tiny sponge-like balls with thousands of 

channels running through them. The total surface area of 

these dispersed catalyst nanoparticles is roughly 100 times 

greater than the surface area you’d get with the same 

New catalyst and old technology combine 

to turn waste material into biofuel

S

“Garbage In,

Ethanol Out”

1.

BY KERRY GIBSON
INQUIRY FALL 2008 13

quantity of catalyst material in larger, macro-scale particles.

It is also important to control the chemical makeup of 

the syngas. Researchers at ISU’s Center for Sustainable 

Environmental Technologies, or CSET, have spent several 

years developing fluidized bed gasifiers to provide reliable 

operation and high-quality syngas for applications ranging 

from replacing natural gas in grain ethanol plants to providing hydrogen for fuel cells. 

In this process, a bed of sand is heated until it behaves 

like a fluid at about 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit. Feedstocks, 

such as switchgrass or corn stover, are pushed into the gasifier and when the material hits the bed of sand, it goes 

quickly from solid to gas, leaving only ash behind. The ash 

is separated from the gas stream and both the ash and 

syngas are collected. The ash, which contains nearly all of 

the nitrogen and phosphorous of the original crop residue, 

can be returned to the field so the soil is not depleted of 

those elements.

“Gasification to ethanol has received increasing attention 

as an attractive approach to reaching the national Renewable Fuel Standard of 36 billion gallons of biofuel,” says 

Robert Brown, CSET director.

“The great thing about using syngas to produce ethanol 

is that it expands the kinds of materials that can be converted into fuels,” Lin says. “You can use the waste product 

from the distilling process or any number of other sources 

of biomass, such as switchgrass or wood pulp. Basically any 

carbon-based material can be converted into syngas. And 

once we have syngas, we can turn that into ethanol.”

Q

For more information:

Victor Lin, (515) 294-3135

vsylin@iastate.edu

Research funded by:

DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences 

and Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy

1. This micrograph shows mesoporous silica nanoparticles containing the catalyst particles (dark spots); 2. Shredded corn stover 

is one of the test feedstocks; 3. and 4. The fluidized bed gasifier; 5. Feedstocks are fed into the gasifiers by an auger.

2. 3. 5.

4.
14 INQUIRY FALL 2008

Using a new tool at the Spallation Neutron Source, 

researchers probe iron-arsenide materials

ESEARCHERS AT AMES LABORATORY ARE 

part of a collaborative team that’s used a brand 

new instrument at the DOE’s Spallation Neutron 

Source to probe iron-arsenic compounds, the “hottest” new find in the race to explain and develop 

superconducting materials. Rob McQueeney, an Ames Lab 

physicist, was part of that team whose findings, published 

R

BY KERRY GIBSON

in the Oct. 8 issue of Physical Review Letters, mark the first 

research produced with the aid of the new tool. 

The Spallation Neutron Source – SNS for short – is the 

DOE’s sprawling new $1.4 billion complex operated by Oak 

Ridge National Laboratory in the rolling green hills of eastern Tennessee. The SNS uses a pulsed neutron beam to 

provide information about the structure and dynamics of 

materials that cannot be obtained from X-rays or electron 

microscopes. Although neutral in electrical charge, neutrons 

interact with the nucleus. The neutron’s magnetic moment can also interact with magnetic spins in a material. 

As neutrons from the beam pass through a material, they 

scatter off the nuclei and spins. By measuring the speed 

and angle of the scattered neutrons, scientists are able to 

develop detailed information about the positions and the 

motion of the nuclei and spins within the material.

McQueeney serves on the Executive Committee of 

the Instrumentation Development Team for ARCS, a wide 

angular-range chopper spectrometer designed to measure 

the vibrations of atomic nuclei. The sixth of the proposed 

24 instruments to be built at the SNS, ARCS is undergoing 

final testing and is available for general use this fall, but 

McQueeney is already impressed with the results.

“The preliminary results are amazing,” McQueeney says. 

“I have experience with a similar instrument and ARCS blew 

it away,” adding that it produces better results from smaller 

samples in a much shorter time frame.

The timing of the testing phase for ARCS was ideal because in the preceding months, a new class of superconducting materials – pnictide compounds based on iron and 

arsenic – was discovered. This allowed McQueeney and 

collaborators at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Cali-

 Inelastic neutron scattering intensity (color scale) of 

LaFeAsO0.89F0.11 (S2) at 10 Kelvin as a function of Q and E. The 

scattering due to the empty sample holder has been removed.

 

A New Spin

onSuperconductivity
INQUIRY FALL 2008 15

fornia Institute of Technology to look specifically at lanthanum-iron-arsenide (LaFeAsO0.89F0.11). One of the samples 

studied was produced by McQueeney’s Ames Laboratory 

colleague, physicist and crystal-growth expert Paul Canfield. When this new class of superconductors was first announced, Canfield was able to quickly replicate the results 

and develop additional compounds.

The phenomenon of superconductivity is caused by 

the pairing of conduction electrons due to forces within 

the crystal. The origin of this pairing is one of the great 

unsolved mysteries in the field of high-temperature superconductivity. 

“There are two prevailing ideas behind superconductivity,” McQueeney says. “One is that pairing is mediated by 

lattice vibrations. The other is that it’s mediated by magnetic or spin fluctuations.” 

Since neutrons are capable of measuring both the lattice vibrations and spin fluctuations, they are an ideal probe 

to gain an understanding of superconductivity.

The experiments focused on understanding the role of 

lattice vibrations in the new superconductors. The vibration 

of atoms within the crystal lattice creates a pattern of waves 

called phonons. When a neutron collides with this lattice, 

it can give up some of its energy to create a phonon. The 

difference in the neutron’s energy before and after the collision is equal to the phonon energy. 

“Our measurements did not support the conventional 

electron-phonon mediated superconductivity,” McQueeney 

says, adding that theoretical calculations matched up fairly 

well with measurements obtained with ARCS. While the results are an important first step, there is still much work to be 

done to determine the origin of superconductivity in the ironarsenides. McQueeney and his collaborators are continuing 

studies of phonons and spin excitations in these compounds.

The quest to understand and develop superconductor 

technology has important energy implications. By their nature, and as the name implies, superconductors can conduct electrical current with virtually no power loss, unlike 

conventional electric transmission lines that lose up to 30 

percent due to resistance in the system. Basic research to 

understand the atomic interactions that make superconductors work, and to potentially control those properties, is one 

way that Ames Laboratory strives to address the scientific 

challenges facing our country.

For more information:

Robert McQueeney, (515) 294-3545

mcqueeney@ameslab.gov

Research funded by:

DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences

Q

The DOE’s Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where McQueeney’s neutron scattering research was conducted.
Ames Laboratory

111 Technical and Administrative Services Facility

Ames, Iowa 50011-3020

515-294-9557

www.ameslab.gov

A U.S. Department of Energy laboratory operated by Iowa State University

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2008