Brianna Barbu Archives

DUNE prototype detector ArgonCube crosses the globe

A large box-like structure sits on a round platform. Behind it, a banner that says "DUNE." To the right, a man with short hair wears glasses, a face mask, blue surgical gloves, a blue shirt and brown pants.

The first module of the prototype pixel-based neutrino catcher developed for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is on its way to Fermilab from the University of Bern.

A strong force for inclusion

A woman opens a window from the outside and faces in. She has a brown bob and is wearing dark rectangualr glasses and light-colored earrings. In the background behind her, a starry sky. Waves come out from behind her and enter into the room. On the left, a purple, space-like wave. On the right a rainbow wave and a wave that has stripes the colors of the trans flag, blue, pink and white.

Elena Long’s search for community as a trans scientist put her at the forefront of LGBT+ advocacy in physics.

Construction crews start lowering equipment a mile underground for excavation for DUNE

An orange and silver drill rig (a tractor-like apparatus with two parallel arms that reach above the cab and then make a steep diagonal to the ground) and several red and silver drill rigs sit in the foreground of a silty construction site. Other equipment is in the midground and hills filled with evergreens and blue sky above in the background.

How do you build a ship in a bottle? Everything necessary to construct the enormous Fermilab-hosted international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment must fit down a narrow, mile-deep shaft cut through solid rock. Contractors have started the months-long process of disassembling excavation equipment and lowering it underground.

ICARUS gets ready to fly

At an angle from the second floor looking down into a rectangle of multi-colored, interconnected pipes.

The ICARUS detector, part of Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program, will officially start its hunt for elusive sterile neutrinos this fall. The international collaboration led by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia successfully brought the detector online and is now collecting test data and making final improvements.

Argonaut project launches design effort for super-cold robotics

A person wearing a hardhat stands inside a bright yellow honeycomb-like box that appears to be two or three times their height.

Fermilab scientists are developing one of the most cold-tolerant robots ever made so they can monitor the interiors of particle detectors. The project has already garnered some interest from engineers at other research institutions, including NASA.

Rock transportation system is ready for excavation of DUNE caverns

The conveyor belt taking the rocks from the crusher to the Open Cut passes close to the town of Lead, South Dakota. Image: Fermilab

Fermilab contractors have successfully commissioned a system that will move 800,000 tons of rock to create space for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment’s detectors in South Dakota. Excavation crews will transport the rock from a mile underground to the surface using refurbished mining infrastructure and the newly constructed conveyor system.