Center For Nanophase Materials Sciences - Science at The CNMS

Science At The CNMS

The Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S.Department of Energy / Office of Science Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) operating as a highly collaborative and multidisciplinary user research facility. The CNMS is one of five DOE NSRCs that form an integrated national user network. Each NSRC is associated with other major national research facilities at one of DOE’s National Laboratories, enabling their application to nanoscale science and technology. The central organizing concept of CNMS is to provide unique opportunities to understand nanoscale materials, assemblies, and phenomena, by creating a set of scientific synergies that will accelerate the process of discovery.

To accomplish this, the CNMS integrates nanoscale science with three highly synergistic national needs:

• Neutron Science, using the Spallation Neutron Source, SNS, and the recently upgraded High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR).
• Synthesis Science, also called “science-driven synthesis,” facilitated by extensive and novel synthesis capabilities in the CNMS' first five Scientific Themes (described below) and by a new Nanofabrication Research Laboratory.
• Theory, Modeling and Simulation, through establishing a new Nanomaterials Theory Institute, with close connections to the staff expertise and computational capabilities of ORNL's Center for Computational Sciences and the new national Leadership Scientific Computing Facility.

Within its research focus areas, the CNMS provides a broad community of scientists, engineers, and students from throughout the nation, but particularly the southeastern United States, with ready access to the full range of tools and collaborative capabilities needed for nanoscale research, in a single location.