Start Date
April 2026
Location
3rd floor - Library
Abstract
We report on work developing a novel method that allows for high spatial and temporal tracking of any hydrogen-rich organic chemical in sand and soil in situ in real time. This would be important as plants use chemicals to signal each other. We need to separate the chemical we are tracking from the aqueous solvent (D2O) and from the sand soil mix. Using neutron imaging we can accomplish this. This would be analogous to using visible light in a spectrophotometer. The old instrument (CG-1D at the high flux isotope reactor, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)) couldn’t handle background hydrogen, but the new instrument (VENUS, at the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL) can, but we do not know how much, as it was just commissioned in March 2026. Our preliminary test, phase A, is to test a gradient of sand and soil mixtures to determine what can be scanned. Once we have our sand soil mix, we will move on to phase B, where we will test a water mixture and two standard chemicals. The preliminary test is scheduled for March, where we will acquire more data.
Preliminary Real Time Imaging of Plant Signaling
3rd floor - Library
We report on work developing a novel method that allows for high spatial and temporal tracking of any hydrogen-rich organic chemical in sand and soil in situ in real time. This would be important as plants use chemicals to signal each other. We need to separate the chemical we are tracking from the aqueous solvent (D2O) and from the sand soil mix. Using neutron imaging we can accomplish this. This would be analogous to using visible light in a spectrophotometer. The old instrument (CG-1D at the high flux isotope reactor, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)) couldn’t handle background hydrogen, but the new instrument (VENUS, at the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL) can, but we do not know how much, as it was just commissioned in March 2026. Our preliminary test, phase A, is to test a gradient of sand and soil mixtures to determine what can be scanned. Once we have our sand soil mix, we will move on to phase B, where we will test a water mixture and two standard chemicals. The preliminary test is scheduled for March, where we will acquire more data.
