News & writing
Updates from our research, scientific meetings and the wider conversation about physics.
September 2026 · Optomechanical sensing in Kingston
Arthur McDonald and I welcomed colleagues to Kingston on 23–25 September to explore what mechanical sensors can reveal about nuclear, particle and astroparticle physics.
WRITING · 8 SEPTEMBER 2025
Envisioning a neutrino laser
Could radioactive atoms emit neutrinos together?
In this Physics Viewpoint, I explore a theoretical proposal for using a Bose–Einstein condensate to produce a coherent, directional neutrino beam.
News highlights & archive
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APS recognizes superconducting-sensor work in neutrino physics
February 2026 · APS Division of Nuclear Physics
Kyle Leach’s Fellowship citation recognizes pioneering work applying superconducting sensors to neutrino properties.
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Nuclear recoils and the quantum properties of neutrinos
2 June 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy
A highlight of BeEST’s electron-capture measurements and their published interpretation in terms of neutrino wavepackets.
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Mines Excellence in Research Award
2025 · Colorado School of Mines
Kyle Leach received the Junior Faculty Excellence in Research Award.
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Precision tabletop neutrino science starts with rare isotopes
May 2025 · Physics Today
How precise nuclear-decay measurements open a tabletop window onto neutrino properties.
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Francis M. Pipkin Award
2025 · American Physical Society
APS recognized Kyle Leach’s development of rare-isotope-doped superconducting sensors for precision tests of the weak interaction.
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How big is a neutrino?
2025 · New Scientist
Independent coverage of BeEST’s neutrino-wavepacket result.
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Exploring the quantum scale of neutrinos
2025 · IFLScience
A science-news perspective on the Nature wavepacket study.
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Tabletop experiment constrains neutrino size
2025 · CERN Courier
How BeEST uses superconducting sensors to investigate neutrino properties.
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The neutrino’s quantum fuzziness
2025 · Science News
Coverage of what nuclear-recoil measurements can reveal about neutrino wavepackets.
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A mechanical approach to searching for heavy neutrinos
8 February 2023 · Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
A proposal by Daniel Carney, Kyle Leach and David Moore explores nuclear-decay recoil measurements with levitated sensors.
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Searching for ghost particles with a mechanical sensor
2023 · Physics
A perspective on using mechanical sensors to search for massive neutrinos.
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Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators
2022 · Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Kyle Leach joined the first cohort of investigators developing ambitious experimental physics programmes.
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Moore Foundation support for rare-isotope quantum sensing
27 October 2022 · Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Support for developing superconducting-sensor experiments with rare isotopes.
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The first Experimental Physics Investigators cohort
2022 · Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The foundation introduces its first cohort of investigators and their research.
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BeEST’s first search for heavy-neutrino states
6 April 2021 · U.S. Department of Energy
How beryllium-7 decay measurements produced new laboratory limits on heavy-neutrino mixing.
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The first BeEST limits: read the paper
2021 · Physical Review Letters
Superconducting quantum sensors constrain heavy-neutrino mixing in the 100–850 keV mass range.
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Sterile neutrinos may be a portal to the dark side
2021 · Archived media coverage
Exploring the physics motivation behind searches for sterile-neutrino states.
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Searching for “ghost particles” with quantum sensors
2021 · Archived research news
An introduction to BeEST’s superconducting-sensor technique and first search results.
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To find sterile neutrinos, think small
2021 · Archived media coverage
How precision nuclear-decay measurements complement large neutrino experiments.
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DOE Early Career Research Award
2020 · TRIUMF
Recognition for a programme using superconducting quantum sensors to search for sterile-neutrino states.
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Mines announces DOE Early Career Award
2020 · Colorado School of Mines
Institutional coverage of Kyle Leach’s early-career award and research programme.
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DOE Early Career Research Program
2020 · U.S. Department of Energy
Programme information and award resources from the DOE Office of Science.
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FRIB Visiting Scholar Award
2019 · Facility for Rare Isotope Beams
Kyle Leach and Michelle Kuchera were selected for the Visiting Scholar Program for Experimental Science.
CONTACT
Philomena Abakah
Senior Program Officer – Research and Lab Operations
p.abakah@queensu.ca