Fermilab open house reaches science fans around the world

Physics research is a global endeavor — and this year, so was the Fermilab virtual open house. More than 12,000 science fans from 35 countries tuned in as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory hosted its 18^th Family Open House from Feb. 9-13, featuring a combination of live and on-demand content.

“This was our second year of hosting the open house virtually, and we were able to take what people were most interested in last year and translate that to this year’s program,” said Amanda Early, Fermilab senior education program leader. “We’ve built this community of people from around the world who want to hear from us, and we’re already talking about ways to incorporate some of the best virtual elements into future events.”

The program aimed to bring physics from the lab to the living room and included a variety of events and activities. There were tours of the Fermilab site and of the Muon g-2 experiment, which made international headlines in 2021 when muons were found behaving in ways scientists hadn’t predicted.

“We were able to see parts of the magnet you couldn’t see even in an in-person tour,” Early said. “It gives people a different view of how complex these experiments are, and how many people have to work together to make this science happen.”

Presenters gave talks on how to build big science experiments, what the world would be like without an atmosphere, and on the intersection of art and science at the lab. For the youngest scientists, Fermilab staff read children’s books during the popular STEM story time.

Classroom presentations explored machines, energy, cosmic rays, the night sky and STEM careers. Demos were also popular: Mr. Freeze showed the coolest aspects of cryogenics; two demo makers tackled a box of mystery ingredients during the Iron Scientist competition; and high school students contributed their own demo videos as part of a virtual physics carnival.

On-demand content included a virtual tour of the quantum lab, interviews with Fermilab employees about their work, short talks in the Pecha Kucha style, and the launch of Fermilab’s bison cam.

An array of virtual events brought Fermilab physics to more than 12,000 participants in 35 countries. The 2022 Fermilab Family Open House included tours, talks, demos, classroom visits and more.

The virtual art gallery, “Be a part of pARTicles 2.0,” returned for its second year at the open house. Artists in 17 different countries took inspiration from science and created paintings, photographs, digital images, shock fossils, woodcuts, LEDs and other works. New this year was a Youth Gallery, featuring works by young artists — including an entire classroom of students in Turkey.

Many of the events and activities are still available to watch and can be accessed from the Fermilab Family Open House website or on the lab’s Office of Education and Public Engagement’s YouTube channel.

The annual open house is one of many ways that Fermilab strives to get people excited about physics. Other efforts include the Arts and Lecture Series, teacher workshops, classroom visits and educational series, such as Ask-A-Scientist and the Saturday Morning Physics — both of which have seen increased participation while virtual. The combined programs reach more than 100,000 people every year.

“Making these connections is pretty awesome, especially because you have a chance to show people there’s a place in STEM for them,” Early said, reflecting on a how a fourth-grade girl beamed when a female engineer answered her question in the Ask-An-Engineer session. “Maybe she grows up to be an engineer at the lab. You never know what kind of spark you’re going to have with somebody.”

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

 

In ninth grade, Patty McBride wrote a homework assignment about what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“I wanted to be a musician, set designer or nuclear physicist,” she said. “I wrote a little homework assignment about what it would be like to be a physicist.”

McBride grew up in a small town where “nuclear physicist” was an atypical career choice. She remembers the teacher commenting on her essay and saying that — while it was very well written — she was skeptical about McBride’s scientific aspirations.

McBride not only became a physicist, but she will now lead one of the largest scientific collaborations in history: the CMS experiment, which collects and studies particle collision data from the Large Hadron Collider at the international laboratory CERN.

CMS is a five-story-tall particle detector at the LHC, located just outside Geneva, Switzerland, and 300 feet underground. The international CMS collaboration comprises 3,000 scientists from more than 40 countries across the world. About a third of the scientists come from institutions in the United States. Every other year, the CMS collaboration elects a new spokesperson for a two-year term. The spokesperson is responsible for guiding CMS’s technical and scientific endeavors, as well as representing the experiment on an international stage.

McBride was elected the next CMS spokesperson on Feb. 11, 2022, and will start her term Sept. 1. Her tenure coincides with a pivotal moment for the LHC, which will start its third run of operations this summer. Run III will boost the LHC’s collision rate, but CMS is also currently preparing for the High Luminosity LHC, which will make its debut in 2029 and increase the collision rate by a factor of 5 beyond the LHC’s design luminosity.

“We expect to double our data set during LHC Run III, which will take some time to process and analyze,” McBride said. “At the same time, we have to balance physics and operations with an ambitious upgrade program as we move toward the High Luminosity LHC.”

This recent appointment builds on a distinguished career in physics and a skillset that makes McBride a dependable and equitable leader.

“She has really good technical and scientific judgment,” said Joel Butler, a distinguished scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the CMS spokesperson between 2016 and 2018. “She knows the terrain and knows what’s important.”

McBride’s interest in particle physics started when her mom, who was a librarian, brought home a library book about cyclotrons. Inspired, McBride built an accelerator facsimile for the eighth-grade science fair. She describes her project as looking like a pinball machine.

“It was terrible,” McBride laughed. “I had no clue.”

McBride received her doctorate at Yale and joined Fermilab as a staff scientist in 1994. One of the most memorable moments from her physics career thus far was the co-discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 by the CMS and ATLAS experiments.

“I was the head of the Fermilab CMS group at the time,” McBride said. “The announcement happened at around 2 a.m. local time, which was 9 a.m. at CERN. The One West conference room at Fermilab was packed, and then we had an afterparty with alcohol-free champagne and cake.”

For McBride, this was also one of her proudest moments.

“I like to see the collective succeed, rather than the personal,” she said. “I like being part of CMS’s success.”

McBride not only became a physicist, but she will now lead one of the largest scientific collaborations in history: the CMS experiment, which collects and studies collision data from the Large Hadron Collider at the international laboratory CERN.

CMS was designed in the 1990s with the primary goal of searching for the Higgs boson. During her more than 15 years working on CMS, McBride has seen the experiment evolve far beyond its original scope.

“We’re in this period of innovation as we go into the next decade,” McBride said. “There’s going to be a lot of data coming from Run III and we need to be creative.”

An emerging goal of CMS is to precisely measure the properties of fundamental particles, such as the Higgs boson, to probe new theoretical ideas and test the Standard Model, which describes how all the fundamental particles fit together. The collaboration also will sift through the collisions to look for new particles, especially particles that could explain the nature of dark matter, which accounts for the vast majority of matter in the universe. CMS’s precision measurements combined with creative searches for new physics will enable experimental and theoretical physicists to hone their models and search for links to cosmological phenomena.

Beyond the science, McBride also recognizes that the heart of CMS is its people. With the pandemic taking its toll on individual and interpersonal wellbeing, McBride wants to encourage her collaborators to find new ways to foster relationships.

“One thing that got me through the pandemic has been mentoring postdocs over Zoom,” McBride said. “For me, it’s been a lifesaver and gives me a lot of energy. Even small things can foster people’s mental health, careers and personal growth.”

Over the next 6 months, McBride will work closely with current CMS spokesperson Luca Malgeri as she prepares for her new role.

“This is an exciting and challenging phase for CMS,” Malgeri said. “Patty is an extremely competent and capable leader. I am very happy to leave CMS’s helm in her hands.”

As McBride embarks on this next stage of her career, she feels an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

“A working particle accelerator is a gift,” she said. “We need to remember to celebrate our successes, both little and big.”

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has elected Fermilab scientists Robert Bernstein and Chandrashekhara Bhat as 2021 AAAS fellows. A lifetime distinction, an election as an AAAS fellow honors members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications in service to society have distinguished them among their peers and colleagues.

Bernstein was honored “for distinguished contributions to experimental particle physics, particularly to the study of neutrinos and muons, and to the design and construction of experiments to investigate charged lepton flavor violation.”

Bernstein came to Fermilab in 1987 as a Wilson Fellow. A former co-spokesperson of the NuTeV experiment, for which he designed the beam and was subsequently made an American Physical Society fellow, he is now a co-spokesperson of the Mu2e experiment, as well as a co-convener of the Snowmass particle physics community planning exercise. Bernstein was also recently elected as councilor of the APS’ Division of Particles and Fields, a position he holds through 2025.

Two Fermilab scientists were recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of physics: experimental particle physics and accelerator physics, respectively.

Bhat was recognized “for distinguished contributions to the field of accelerator physics, particularly for new methods for manipulating the phase space of particle beams and increasing their intensities at high-energy accelerators.”

Bhat received his doctorate in nuclear physics from Bangalore University, India. Prior to coming to Fermilab, he worked as a scientific officer at the Cyclotron Lab at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. He then was an assistant research professor in nuclear physics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bhat joined Fermilab in 1988 as a research associate in the lab’s Accelerator Division. He has since conducted research on the Antiproton Source, Main Ring, Main Injector, Recycler Ring and Booster. From June 2010 to January 2013, he was a visiting scientist at CERN under the US-CERN LHC Accelerator Research Program. His research in recent years has focused on increasing beam intensity in the Booster toward producing megawatt beam power on neutrino targets.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

How long have you been at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and how did you end up here?

I’ve been here for about four and a half years. I was actually referred here by one of my professors in college. He noticed the work that I was doing, as well as my attention to detail, and suggested that I’d be a good fit at Fermilab. I received a letter of recommendation from him, applied for the open position and was hired in October 2017 as a Tech II. I am a very fast learner and have an almost photographic memory, so I picked up the process quickly. After two years in this role, I was promoted to lead of the group.

What do you do for the lab?

I work in the APS-TD, and I’m currently working on US-HL-LHC-AUP. My group is responsible for fabricating the coils that are going into the magnets for the accelerator upgrade at CERN.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy the fact that we are working on something that is an interesting topic of discussion within the science/physics industry. I also enjoy that we have an important role in something that is talked about all over the world.

What do you consider one of your strengths?

The way that I learn things. If I’m able to watch someone do a task, I can very easily mimic it or carry out the steps that I’ve seen. When I first started working here, I was trained by some of the most skillful techs that I have ever had the opportunity to work with. I learned so much just by watching them perform some of the delicate tasks that we do during coil fabrication. It usually takes about one to two years to fully understand and learn our process   but the way my mind works, I was able to pick it up in a little less than a year.

Do you like having a job that requires you to physically do things?

Yes, I have always had physically demanding jobs, so I am no stranger to getting my hands dirty. I like the fact that the work that I do for Fermilab has both mental and physical aspects and challenges.

What’s it like leading a team?

It is an honour to be able to lead a team. I have had the opportunity to work very closely with each one of the technicians in my group. It is a great feeling to be able to watch them accomplish their goals and strengthen their technical abilities.

What do you look forward to most in your job?

I will say that this is one of the best jobs that I’ve ever had in my life. I actually drive almost an hour to get here every day. I used to work five minutes from my house; I would take this over that any day just because it’s so engaging and there’s always something new to learn here. I feel like I’m coming here to learn, instead of just [doing] the day to day of going to work.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

My wife and kids are my world. Most of my spare time is spent with them. I have a 16-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter who keep us very busy. I like that the work-life balance here allows me to be a lot more involved in my kids’ extracurricular activities.

What do you usually do with your kids?

My kids are very active in sports. My son plays soccer, and my daughter is playing basketball and doing gymnastics. A lot of our free time is just running them around to their activities. My son has been playing in a competitive travel soccer league for over 10 years, so he’s doing very well for himself there.  We travel everywhere for games. I’m actually getting a little bummed out because my son gets his driver’s licence this month, and a lot of that travel time was our father-and-son time.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

When it comes to developing quantum computers and harnessing quantum information, scientists require a complete understanding of the materials that make up superconducting qubits, or quantum bits, the core component of a quantum computer that holds information. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, along with collaborators such as Rigetti Computing and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, have used a new technique to identify impurities within physical qubits that can limit the lifespan of quantum information.

Quantum decoherence is the phenomenon where noise originating from various factors can limit the lifespan over which quantum information can be stored. This phenomenon adversely affects the performance of quantum computers, which rely on quantum information to perform calculations. When scientists successfully build qubits less impacted by sources of quantum decoherence, the power of quantum computers will be unlocked, and scientists will have a new tool to perform calculations difficult or impossible for classical computers to solve.

Quantum computers are designed to solve problems that require large amounts of memory, and through the use of a quantum mechanical property called superposition, these computers will be able to analyze systems that contain large amounts of data, such as traffic patterns, weather predictions, financial modeling and much more.

“In superconducting qubits, we’ve long wondered what underlying materials properties affect the performance of quantum computers,” said Josh Mutus, director of quantum materials at Rigetti Computing. “Now SQMS researchers have been able to examine Rigetti devices with high-precision analytical equipment in order to uncover potential defect systems that we were never able to explore before.”

Impurities found within materials that comprise superconducting qubits can be attributed to causing quantum decoherence, which scientists at the Fermilab-led Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center have highlighted in a paper published in the Applied Physics Letters journal.

Through a three-dimensional analysis of the qubit at the atomic level, scientists revealed impurities that include elements such as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, chlorine, fluorine, sodium, magnesium and calcium.

To uncover these impurities, scientists use a device called the TOF-SIMS, or time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometer, to rapidly fire ions at a qubit and chip away at it. The ions chipped from the qubit’s surface are analyzed in a sensor in the instrument where the constituent elements can be identified with part per million accuracies.

“Our initial goal, as part of the center, was to identify precisely what is within a qubit sample in terms of impurities and defects. Once we have access to that information, we are then in a solid position to build strategies to remove these impurities and boost performance,” said Akshay Murthy, the primary author of this publication and research associate at the SQMS Center. “This is the sort of information that we need to move to the next step.”

The TOF-SIMS instrument was originally purchased for the superconducting radio frequency research program at Fermilab to identify impurities in accelerator cavities used to push particles in a particle accelerator. Now, for the very first time, the TOF-SIMS device has been used to analyze qubits. Impurities in the materials that make up accelerator cavities also impact performance, which makes this instrument applicable for SQMS scientists who are also identifying impurities in materials that compromise or help other superconducting technologies.

“Our initial goal as part of the center was to identify precisely what it is within the sample in terms of impurities and defects. Once we have access to that information, we are then in a solid position to build strategies to remove these impurities and boost performance,” said Akshay Murthy

“The tools needed to perform this characterization are not only specialized and expensive, but also require experienced scientists to acquire and analyze the data,” said Anthony McFadden, a qubit fabrication expert at NIST. “The collaborations formed within SQMS take advantage of specialized equipment and expertise in place at Fermilab and institutions around the country.”

The TOF-SIMS identifies atoms from the top level and etches away downward through the qubit, generating a three-dimensional profile of the elements and compounds that comprise the qubit and identifying where and what type of impurities are present.

“This work has illuminated some often-overlooked sources of decoherence commonly formed during device-processing,” said McFadden.

Qubits can be made by depositing a layer of superconducting niobium on silicon. Scientists vaporize the niobium into a gas, and just as water vapor forms ice on cold metal during the winter, niobium solidifies and forms a film on top of the silicon.

Murthy said that the original chamber for integrating the niobium, or the configuration of the niobium atoms on the film, might contribute to impurities on the qubit. Analysis from the TOF-SIMS can be used to refine the process for creating qubits from a materials and method point of view.

The TOF-SIMS setup at Fermilab not only identifies impurities, but it also has a treatment chamber used to heat different materials and change parameters to help scientists study the qubit’s chemical composition and furthermore, mimic fabrication processes.

“By having access to this additional treatment chamber, we can now perform a treatment and then directly analyze and assess its impact on the structure and resultant properties of the sample,” said Murthy.

The next steps are to quantify the effects of sources of decoherence and to engineer processes that avoid these effects altogether.

“Through analyzing qubits with our TOF-SIMS setup, we are now able to examine each step in the fabrication process to identify when impurities become present,” said Alexander Romanenko, Fermilab’s chief technology officer and head of the Applied Physics and Superconducting Technology Division. “Fermilab is the world expert on superconducting technologies for particle accelerators, and through sharing facilities and expertise at the lab with our SQMS partners, we hope to play an integral role in providing the world with the next leap in computing. Our facilities allow us to conduct world-class research on the materials that further the field of quantum information sciences.”

The Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center is one of the five U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, SQMS is a collaboration of 21 partner institutions—national labs, academia and industry—working together to bring transformational advances in the field of quantum information science. The center leverages Fermilab’s expertise in building complex particle accelerators to engineer multiqubit quantum processor platforms based on state-of-the-art qubits and superconducting technologies. Working hand in hand with embedded industry partners, SQMS will build a quantum computer and new quantum sensors at Fermilab, which will open unprecedented computational opportunities. For more information, please visit https://sqms.fnal.gov.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.