2019 Physics/Theoretical Colloquium
 
Thursday, February 14th , 2019
3:45 – 4:45 p.m.
Rosen Auditorium (TA-53, Bldg. 1)
Refreshments at 3:15pm
 
Speaker:   Dr. Cris W. Barnes
 
DMMSC/MaRIE Project Director,
Los Alamos National Laboratory 
“Future Plans for Extreme Matter Research at Los Alamos: the Dynamic Mesoscale Materials Science Capability (DMMSC, formerly known as MaRIE)”
 
Abstract: 
 
The U.S. Department of Energy has determined there is a mission need for a Dynamic Mesoscale Materials Science Capability (DMMSC).  The Matter-Radiation Interactions in Extremes (MaRIE) concept is a specific proposal for a future Los Alamos signature facility for materials science in extreme environments that would meet this capability gap.  The facility would be an evolution of the present Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) by adding a coherent, brilliant and high repetition rate, high-energy x-ray source. DMMSC/MaRIE will build on the accelerator infrastructure currently at Los Alamos to control the production and performance of materials at the mesoscale and realize transformational advances in materials behavior, response, and fabrication.  There is currently a capability gap and emergent scientific frontier between the atomic and continuum scales where defects and interfaces and microstructure can dominate properties of materials. The DMMSC project will address that mesoscale frontier by providing unique capabilities in matter-radiation interactions and extreme environments to enable future materials-centric science and discovery. Unique characteristics required include dynamic probing on the full range of time scales of material mechanisms at the mesoscale, with the world’s highest-energy x-ray laser would allow multiple measurements on the same sample during its dynamic evolution.  Such a facility can also provide outstanding capability to make and study high-energy-density materials. DMMSC is planned to include a comprehensive set of co-located tools; the MaRIE proposal includes a 42-keV XFEL, possibly both 12-GeV electron radiography and 800-MeV proton radiography, and a variety of environmental drivers including optical lasers as well as classic shock physics techniques.  DMMSC was approved for a Critical Decision Zero (mission need) in March 2016, and it formally had its requirements validated in 2018 and has started its analysis of alternatives this fiscal year. Planning by the United States National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would provide budget for a line-item project start in 2022. An overview of DMMSC/MaRIE, with an emphasis on dynamic mesoscale materials science concepts and planning, will be presented.