Sandia National Laboratories researcher Patrick Feng, left, and Former Sandian Joey Carlson, right, hold Organic Glass Scintillators they helped create to detect radioactive materials.
(Photo by Randy Wong) Click on the thumbnail for high resolution image.
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Blueshift Optics, owned by former Sandia employee Joey Carlson, is working to shift the way radioactive materials are detected, using technology that he helped create at Sandia National Laboratories.
Radiation detection has long been a critical aspect of national security and efforts to make the world safer.
"Agencies are trying to cast this wide net to catch nuclear smuggling, and this is one aspect of that effort," said Sandia materials scientist Patrick Feng. "You could use this technology at a border crossing, in a handheld detector as someone enters a facility or fly it on a drone to map an area."
However, the uses of this technology extend far beyond border security.
"It has the potential to provide us with better data from nuclear physics experiments, enhance national security applications both at home and abroad and has applications in fusion energy," Carlson said.
Feng and Carlson collaborated to develop the state-of-the-art technology known as Organic Glass Scintillators for radiation detection. Sandia recently licensed the technology to Blueshift Optics, paving the way for potential commercial production.
