Showing 23 results for Researcher: Douglas L. Abernathy
March 5, 2026
4 MIN READ
New research from ORNL, in collaboration with The Ohio State University and Amphenol Corporation, challenges conventional understanding about controlling heat flow in solid materials.
January 8, 2026
1 MIN READ
Scientific Achievement: Inelastic neutron scattering reveals a large electric-field-driven increase in thermal conductivity controlled by increased phonon lifetimes in a relaxor-based ferroelectric.Significance and Impact: This research paves the way for developing solid-state thermal switching devices that enhance energy efficiency over a broad range of temperatures.DOI: 10.1103/5d1z-wg4p
September 16, 2025
1 MIN READ
Scientific Achievement: Neutron and X-ray scattering show that bulk RuO₂ exhibits a highly correlated ground state without magnetic moments, despite prior claims of altermagnetism.Significance and Impact: Experimentally-constrained models that decouple electronic correlations from spins emerge that will guide the understanding of correlations in spintronics materials.DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2025.102852
January 28, 2025
4 MIN READ
A team of scientists led by a professor from Duke University discovered a way to help make batteries safer, charge faster and last longer. They relied on neutrons at ORNL to understand at the atomic scale how lithium moves in lithium phosphorus sulfur chloride, a promising new type of solid-state battery material known as a superionic compound.
July 1, 2024
5 MIN READ
A research team led by ORNL has bridged a knowledge gap in atomic-scale heat motion. This new understanding holds promise for enhancing materials to advance an emerging technology called solid-state cooling.
June 25, 2024
1 MIN READ
Scientific Achievement: Neutron scattering uncovered local magnon-phonon hybrid modes that triple cooling capacity of a magnetic shape memory alloy. Significance and Impact: This research reveals a path to develop better materials for solid-state cooling applications, which supports the societal need for cleaner, more efficient technologies.DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn2840
December 27, 2023
7 MIN READ
The 2023 top science achievements from HFIR and SNS feature a broad range of materials research published in high impact journals such as Nature and Advanced Materials.
November 16, 2023
6 MIN READ
A team of researchers associated with the Quantum Science Center headquartered at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has confirmed the presence of quantum spin liquid behavior in a new material with a triangular lattice, KYbSe2.
March 21, 2023
5 MIN READ
Scientists have long sought to better understand the “local structure” of materials, meaning the arrangement and activities of the neighboring particles around each atom. In crystals, which are used in electronics and many other applications, most of the atoms form highly ordered lattice patterns that repeat. But not all atoms conform to the pattern.
February 23, 2023
1 MIN READ
Warming a crystal of the mineral fresnoite, ORNL scientists discovered that excitations called phasons carried heat three times farther and faster than phonons, the excitations that usually carry heat through a material.
December 14, 2022
1 MIN READ
Scientific Achievement: Neutron scattering and thermal transport measurements reveal that phasons in piezoelectric fresnoite carry more heat than phonons by propagating farther and faster.Significance and Impact: Understanding thermal conductivity in incommensurate crystals is important for many energy materials, so finding that phasons – which are often ignored – can dominate thermal conductivity in such systems is an important development.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.255901
August 26, 2022
1 MIN READ
Scientific Achievement: The atomic-level motion of inorganic molten salts at high temperatures was revealed for the first time using a novel experimental approach to study the real-space dynamic nature of highly disordered liquids.Significance and Impact: This research could revolutionize our fundamental understanding of condensed matter in extreme environments and generate new ways to control their physical properties relevant to emerging carbon-free solar energy storage and nuclear reactor technologies.DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01230