News & writing
Updates from our research, scientific meetings and the wider conversation about physics.
October 2026 · BeEST collaboration meeting in Strasbourg
Our collaboration met at IPCMS in Strasbourg on 15–16 October to review Phase-III analyses, detector progress and spectral modelling, and to plan the next measurements. The programme also brought together work on isotope production and implantation and the SALER experiment.
Meeting details at IPCMS · View the programme
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. The McDonald Institute has published a story about the workshop.
Read the McDonald Institute story · View the workshop programme
FEATURED 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