Berkeley Lab Engineering Division

Berkeley Lab Electronics Engineer Thorsten Stezelberger places an antenna in a hole in the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Spencer Klein (left) and Martha Story (right) dig antenna holes at their camp on the Ross Ice Shelf.

Testing equipment on the ice.

Engineering can take you to unexpected places. In 2009, Berkeley Lab Engineering Division Electronics Engineer Thorsten Stezelberger and Nuclear Science Division Senior Scientist Spencer Klein camped on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica while testing hardware in the field. Read more: bit.ly/3XNXj7U

In this image, Physics Division staff scientist Aritoki Suzuki (right) and postdoctoral researcher Kaja Rotermund install the central bearing assembly for the shaft that rotates LuSEE-Night’s carousel. This component was later replaced by a shaft made of a glass-reinforced PEI polymer to further reduce thermal conductivity between the exterior lunar environment and the instruments protected by the thermal casing.

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social
LuSEE-Night will test the effectiveness of radio antennas on the far side of the Moon and gather data about the Dark Ages of the Universe. A lot of engineering has gone into this instrument, which must operate in an intense lunar environment. More: bit.ly/46AWkNH

Former Berkeley Lab Scientist John Clarke Wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize committee honored former Berkeley Lab scientist John Clarke for research in quantum tunneling in electric circuits.

🏅 Former Berkeley Lab senior scientist John Clarke has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. His research on quantum tunneling in electric circuits paved the way for today’s quantum computers and sensors. 🧠 This brings LBNL’s Nobel count to 17!

@nobelprize.bsky.social
@uofcalifornia.bsky.social

CERN is the beating heart of particle physics. It is the center of the world for that,” remarks Berkeley Lab Mechanical Engineer Todd Claybaugh. Claybaugh has made several trips to CERN to support the upgrade of ATLAS’s Inner Tracker. He snapped this pic at CERN in Dec 2024.

This image shows a detailed view of the pin lock on the underside of the antenna assembly's carousel for LuSEE-Night. The carousel was designed by Berkeley Lab engineer Joe Silber. During launch and transit, the pin lock stabilizes the platter and prevents it from rotating. After landing, the pin is retracted, freeing the carousel to rotate.

Components engineered @berkeleylab.lbl.gov will support LuSEE-Night, which will test the effectiveness of radio antennas on the far side of the moon and gather data about the Dark Ages of the Universe. This image shows a detailed view of parts designed at the Lab. Read more: bit.ly/46AWkNH

Two men wearing hardhats stand on either end of large white plinth, which is supported by a crane. Photo: Rick Kraft, Berkeley Lab

A view from the Engineering Division's mechanical fabrication facilities. Machinists prepare to move a plinth for the Advanced Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) onto a large-format horizontal boring mill for additional machining. #Engineering
#LabLife #BoringMill #Machining

The final precision pin is inserted into the outer cylinder at CERN. Photo credit: Eric Anderssen, Berkeley Lab

At CERN, the final precision pin is inserted into the outer cylinder, which is part of the support structure for the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade. Berkeley Lab engineers built this carbon-fiber composite cylinder and are part of the team making this upgrade happen.

Learn more: bit.ly/3JmB1qd

A completed undulator for SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source high-energy upgrade.

The magnetic components that make up an undulator.

Meet the undulators that will revolutionize scientific research!
Berkeley Lab #engineers have created nine new #undulators and retrofitted 21 existing undulators for SLAC's LCLS-II-HE upgrade. The first photo shows a completed undulator; the second photo shows the magnetic undulator components.

The new outer cylinder of the ATLAS inner tracker under construction at Berkeley Lab in 2023. (Credit: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab)

CERN’s ATLAS detector, the largest detector ever constructed for a particle collider, has been undergoing a multi-year upgrade to overhaul its innermost tracking system. Learn about the role Berkeley Lab engineers are playing in this massive scientific undertaking: bit.ly/3JmB1qd

Our engineers are prototyping next-gen fiber-positioning robots for the planned @desisurvey.bsky.social upgrade. #Engineering #Robotics #DESIsurvey #EngineeringatWork

Happy birthday to Ernest O. Lawrence, founder of @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, born August 8, 1901. He received the Nobel Prize for inventing the cyclotron, an antecedent of the modern-day ALS. He also pioneered the concept of Big Science – an approach we still follow! Watch a short video: bit.ly/3HbKjUW

See our incredible rigging team in action at the @als.lbl.gov! More about roof blocks here: physicalsciences.lbl.gov/2025/07/28/a...

Video: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab

A roof block is moved by crane at the Advanced Light Source.

The rigging team prepares and moves Roof Blocks 74 and 76 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Sector 12 area, as part of the Summer 2025 shutdown work on the ALS Upgrade project, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

The rigging team prepares and moves Roof Blocks 74 and 76 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Sector 12 area, as part of the Summer 2025 shutdown work on the ALS Upgrade project, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

A delicate dance with 20-ton concrete blocks. Eighteen enormous concrete blocks will be moved at strategic locations around the historic Advanced Light Source building this summer in a carefully executed engineering operation. Find out more: bit.ly/4lKlL4y Photos: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab

The shell and yoke structure of one of the new superconducting magnets being assembled in Berkeley Lab Engineering Building 77 for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN.

The shell and yoke structure of one of the new superconducting magnets being assembled @berkeleylab.lbl.gov for the HL-LHC at CERN. Once installed, these will be the first niobium-tin-based magnets ever used in a particle accelerator and will increase the LHC’s luminosity by a factor of ten.

The evolution of purpose-built synchrotron magnet housings, as our engineers work to get the design just right.

The evolution of purpose-built #synchrotron #magnet housings, as our #engineers work to get the design just right. Magnets in a synchrotron act like a high-speed traffic system, steering electrons and keeping them in the right "lanes." Getting the magnets in the right orientation is essential.

An up-close look at several of GRETA’s germanium detectors, each made up of four position-sensitive quadrants, installed for testing at Berkeley Lab.

#GRETA will be the world’s most sensitive gamma-ray #spectrometer when it comes online later this year. Learn about the #engineering that went into this powerful instrument, which will soon be probing the fundamental building blocks of the universe.

Read about GRETA: bit.ly/46yCJhs

Go behind the scenes with our engineering team as they help build the next-generation ATLAS detector for @cern.bsky.social.

Berkeley Lab Engineering Mechanical Fabrication Shops in July 1973.

Berkeley Lab Engineering Mechanical Fabrication Shops top.

Then and now! Our Mechanical Fabrication Shops, shown in July 1973 and today. The shops are an incredible resource for the Lab, and they continue to evolve to meet the demands of cutting-edge engineering and science. Curious to know more? Read about the shops here: bit.ly/3GvktLg

Installation of one of the ABend power supply racks in the Advance Light Source.

One of ABend power supply racks for the @als.lbl.gov upgrade is hoisted into place by the ALS Mechanical Technology Group. Installing these racks in the tight confines of the accelerator pit presents a significant challenge! The team made multiple test runs to ensure successful installation.

(Left to Right) Anthony Gonsalves, Staff Scientist, Accelerator Technology and Applied Physics (ATAP), Alessio Amodio, Electronics Engineer, Engineering Division, and Dan Wang, Research Scientist, ATAP, discuss the set up of the PW Laser at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) center. Photo: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab.

AI Meets Laser Tech
Engineers and scientists have successfully used #machinelearning to stabilize a high-power laser, minimizing jitter and improving beam pointing accuracy. This advancement has applications in physics, medicine, and energy. Read more: bit.ly/45sbzIM

#LaserTech #Engineering

Discover how researchers at @BerkeleyLab are driving technological innovations and advancements in theory to help unlock the potential of #fusion which promises abundant, reliable energy.

@DOEScience @ENERGY @lbnlengineering @LBNLcs @LBNLnuclearsci

Read the article here

The turkeys, the jaw-dropping bay views, the collaborative culture – discover what makes Berkeley Lab such a unique place to work. #Engineering #TeamScience #EngineeringWithaView

Did you know that we’re helping to build the new #ATLAS detector for #CERN?

Making something that is one-of-a-kind or first of its kind? There is a place at Berkeley Lab that can make almost anything you can dream up. Explore our Mechanical Fabrication Shops:

physicalsciences.lbl.gov/2025/05/20/s...

#MechanicalEngineering Technician Nathan Seidman examines connections on the assembly for GRETA. “The assembly is quite beautiful in a scientific sort of way, so even when I am shoulder-deep and frustrated, trying to access a buried liquid nitrogen line, it's never too bad of a time,” Seidman says.

Making Science: Inside Lawrence Berkeley National Lab - Make: Inside the amazing, make-anything fabrication shops at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Step inside the cutting-edge world of our Mechanical Fabrication Shop — featured in this month’s Make: Magazine! Get a behind-the-scenes look at the shop and the talented team supporting the incredible science happening at Berkeley Lab. Engineering makes it happen!
makezine.com/article/work...

Tight squeeze? No problem! A custom-designed and built “bottom-up” lift tool is moving rafts—containing magnets, vacuum chambers, and more—through the narrow space of the #ALS accelerator tunnel. Our #engineers created the lift to install rafts without removing a roof block or using a crane.

The completed instrument, with all 30 segmented germanium detectors fully installed.

One of the aluminum spheres fabricated to hold GRETA's germanium crystal detectors

GRETA's conceptual design

Our engineers are busy bringing science to life. These images show the birth of GRETA, the world’s most sensitive gamma-ray spectrometer, from design and fabrication to the completed instrument. GRETA will help reveal the mysteries of atomic nuclei and the creation of elements in dying stars.