Sandia Labs FY22 Laboratory Directed Research & Development Annual Report

FY22 ANNUAL REPORT

National/Federal Awards 2021 ERNEST ORLANDO LAWRENCE AWARD.

On June 21, 2022, U.S. Secretary Energy Jennifer Granholm announced the ten recipients of the 2021 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, which included two Sandians. Established in 1959, the Lawrence Award recognizes research contributions from mid-career scientists and engineers that have significantly advanced the state of the art in key missions of DOE and its programs. “I am thrilled to recognize these researchers and the significant advances they have contributed to society. Scientists like these individuals are the backbone of DOE, and we cannot achieve our mission without them. I’m excited to see what the future holds for them and where they may lead us,” said Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, Director of the DOE Office of Science.

DAN SINARS is recognized in the National Security and Nonproliferation Category for his “pioneering development of seminal X-ray diagnostics and their innovative application to z-pinch implosions that transformed the experimental capabilities on the Z Pulsed Power Facility and enabled novel, record-breaking platforms supporting our nation’s nuclear security.” A former LDRD PI, Sinars now oversees Sandia’s Pulsed Power Sciences Center, best known for the world’s most powerful pulsed-power machine, the

ANDREW LANDAHL is recognized in the Computer, Information, and Knowledge Sciences Category for his “groundbreaking contributions to quantum computing, including the invention of transformational quantum error correction protocols and decoding algorithms, for scientific leadership in the development of quantum computing technology and quantum programming languages, and for professional service to the quantum

Sandia physicist Daniel Sinars won an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award for helping transform the Z Pulsed Power Facility to record a variety of record-breaking outputs supporting U.S. nuclear security, nuclear fusion energy, and basic science. (Photo courtesy of Sandia)

Sandia physicist Andrew Landahl is the first person to receive an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award in the field of quantum information science. (Photo by Stephanie Blackwell)

information science community.” Landahl was the PI for the AQUARIUS (Adiabatic Quantum Architectures in Ultracold Systems) LDRD Grand Challenge (2011-2013), which played a key role in helping shape Sandia’s vibrant program in quantum information science. Also a research professor in the University of New Mexico’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, Landahl co-invented a decoding protocol for quantum error correcting codes that can overcome decoherence (the tendency for a quantum computer to revert to digital logic under certain circumstances). Landahl currently leads the software team for Sandia’s Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed (QSCOUT) project, which received a 2021 R&D 100 award, and is rooted in LDRD.

Z machine. Under Sinars’ tenure, experiments on Z

helped quantify stockpile aging effects, led to new insights in our understanding of the science of our universe, and moved us closer to the goal of reaching controlled high-yield fusion. Sinars is the Director Champion of the Assured Survivability and Agility with Pulsed Power LDRD Mission Campaign and the Radiation, Electrical, and High Energy Density Science LDRD Investment Area.

Read more about the awardees here.

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