Physics research at Brock University is getting a boost thanks to Government of Canada funding for a nearby national physics facility.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Neutron and Positron Beam Laboratory (CNBL) \u2014 housed at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor in Hamilton, Ont. \u2014 has received a $13.4 million Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant to expand its equipment.\u00a0The funding was announced Friday, March 13.<\/p>\n
Following the\u00a02018 closure of Canada\u2019s National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, Ont.,\u00a0Brock played a leadership role<\/a>\u00a0in establishing the CNBL along with 16 other universities from seven provinces. The CFI funding is spread out amongst those institutions to enable them to access the national facility.<\/p>\n Assistant Professor of Physics Gavin Hester says expanded infrastructure at CNBL will allow his students to\u00a0advance their research on quantum magnets.<\/p>\n Quantum magnetism, the study of magnetic materials shaped by the unusual rules of quantum mechanics, could play\u00a0an important role\u00a0in the development of next-generation quantum computers,\u00a0Hester says.<\/p>\n Quantum mechanics\u00a0involves how matter and light interact on the atomic and subatomic scale. It tries to describe, and account for, the properties of molecules and atoms and the components of atoms such as electrons,\u00a0protons\u00a0and neutrons.<\/p>\n CNBL offers Hester and his students access to Canada\u2019s only neutron beams, which are used to study materials at the nano level.\u00a0These beams penetrate materials \u2014 including\u00a0plastics, metals, steel, liquids, ceramics, cloth and\u00a0cells from\u00a0plants,\u00a0humans\u00a0and animals \u2014 to expose their internal structures in a way other scientific tools are unable to do.<\/p>\n Findings from this type of research\u00a0could be used to improve clean energy production, cancer treatments, food security and information technology devices.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents learning about neutron techniques\u00a0really have a whole wide world of jobs they can go into with that\u202fexpertise, such as developing\u00a0the next generation of computing materials\u00a0or semiconductors for solar panels,\u201d Hester says.<\/p>\n Professors of Physics\u00a0Fereidoon Razavi and Thad Harroun are also accessing the CNBL for their research. Using the CNBL neutron beams, Harroun was able\u00a0to examine the atomic structure of cell membranes and determine\u00a0how small molecules interact with the outer layer of human cells.\u00a0Razavi uses the facility for his research on superconductors.<\/p>\n The CFI grant also includes a program that will allow Canadian researchers and students, including those at Brock, access to\u00a0leading-edge international facilities such as\u00a0<\/u>the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the U.K. <\/a>Hester estimates the program will enable him to take\u00a0about a dozen students to the\u00a0U.K.\u00a0facility for\u00a0weeklong trips\u00a0over the course of the grant.<\/p>\n \u201cThis\u00a0opportunity\u00a0provides preferential access to neutron instrumentation and\u00a0will pay for\u00a0my\u00a0and my students\u2019 travel to the neutron lab in the U.K. to perform measurements of the structure and dynamics of new, quantum magnetic materials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The\u00a0CNBL grant was part of a larger announcement naming 92 research infrastructure projects receiving support from CFI\u2019s\u00a0$552-million\u00a0Innovation Fund<\/a>, which supports infrastructure to strengthen Canada\u2019s innovation capacity, deliver lasting benefits for Canadians and build economic resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cThis investment through the Canada Foundation for Innovation will equip researchers with cutting-edge, world class facilities that strengthen Canada\u2019s research infrastructure, accelerate discoveries, drive researchers to take their work to the next level and create new opportunities that will benefit Canadians across industries,\u201d said M\u00e9lanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions in an announcement about the funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Physics research at Brock University is getting a boost thanks to Government of Canada funding for a nearby national physics facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":108480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41,1,5],"tags":[5688,15070,15141,389,348,8156,12764,3325,3843],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108481,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108478\/revisions\/108481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}