Lab Tour | Minasian Lab

Thorium and Uranium Chemistry Labs

We maintain multiple lab spaces where we do Th, U, and non-radioactive chemistry. Our chemistry is largely air-sensitive and made possible by a fleet of inert-atmosphere gloveboxes and Schlenk lines. In addition to our coordination chemistry equipment, we have equipment dedicated to the synthesis of actinide nanoparticles.

Thorium and Uranium Glovebox

Solvent Purification System

Lanthanide Glovebox

Fume Hoods with Schlenk Lines

Sample Preparation Glovebox

Nanoparticle Synthesis Area

Nanoparticle Glovebox

Sample Preparation Area

Transuranic Chemistry Labs

We do our transuranic chemistry in the Heavy Elements Research Laboratory (HERL) at LBNL. We do chemistry with a variety of low-activity isotopes in dedicated fume hoods and inert-atmosphere gloveboxes. We leverage access to a range of on-site facilities and transuranic instrumentation to perform advanced characterization.

Isotope Storage Gloveboxes

Transuranic Double Glovebox and Hoods

Sample Preparation Area

Neptunium and Plutonium Double Glovebox

Instrumentation

In addition to our dedicated instruments, we take advantage of on-site instruments including SC-XRD and TEM to characterize our compounds. Moreover, we utilize a range of soft and hard X-ray characterization techniques to probe the electronic structure of our samples. These studies are possible thanks to generous access to facilities including the ALS, CLS, and SSRL.

Bruker Elexsys 580 EPR Spectrometer

SQUID Magnetometer

Powder X-ray Diffractometer

Vertex IR Spectrometer

Bruker NMR

Cary UV-Vis-NIR Spectrometer

Berkeley Lab Site

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab sits on a 202-acre site overlooking the San Francisco Bay. We are a multidisciplinary organization with access to a wide variety of experimental and computational expertise. In addition to our on-site facilities, the lab maintains close relations with UC Berkeley and has routine access to campus facilities.