Sam Crossley

Big congrats to NOM group member, Elana Alevy, whose first paper with has been published in Applied Optics as of today! Elana led this work demonstrating how our multiphoton microscope can provide unparalleled 3D fluorescence images and spectral analysis of gemstones. doi.org/10.1364/AO.585412

Had a blast presenting our latest multiphoton work at the inaugural MSA annual meeting in Tucson. What a fantastic conference and community - looking forward to doing it again next year! @mineralsocamerica.bsky.social

Galaxy Slam | Arizona vs BYU | Feb. 18 YouTube video by The University of Arizona

You HAVE to watch this 55 second video. When the muscle of University sports marketing meets the expertise of space science. Features LPL's Ty Robinson and Kris Klein.

youtu.be/fhxf4XpescY

pardon the blur - this is pre-polishing.

Mm, you can practically smell the sulfur.

Cooked up a fresh batch of Fe,Ni-sulfides today. Lil' cuties.

I keep my dad's old slide rule in my office. Pretty sure my students think we were still using them back in the aughts.

Meet your new cosmic neighbors ☄️

Introducing a swarm of over 2100 new asteroids discovered by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory!

Rubin discovered these asteroids in about 10.5 hours of observing across 7 nights.

They've never been seen by humanity before...until now.🔭🧪

youtu.be/DTuq-vBsDJE

Percolating Clues: NASA Models New Way to Build Planetary Cores - NASA Science A new NASA study reveals a surprising way planetary cores may have formed—one that could reshape how scientists understand the early evolution of rocky

science.nasa.gov/science-rese...

@kaylaiacovino.com

@banzures.bsky.social

We used melting experiments with meteorites and synthetics to show that parent bodies of O,S-rich meteorites formed sulfide cores through percolative melt migration. Evidence is preserved in diagnostic trace element signatures, and this process can also explain many aspects of the Martian interior.

Percolative sulfide core formation in oxidized planetary bodies - Nature Communications Melting experiments with planetary materials show that oxidized core formation occurred via percolation of molten sulfide at low igneous temperatures.

We are very happy to share that our paper on planetary sulfide core formation was published in Nature Communications today! @naturecomms.bsky.social Congratulations to all my co-authors who made this possible. #planetsci
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

At LPSC, NOM group member Elana Alevy presented our multiphoton microscopy work for rapidly and nondestructively detecting tiny presolar SiC grains in meteorites. This work will change the way researchers study these rare, ancient minerals, and we are very excited about it. Great job, Elana!

Advocacy Action Center The Planetary Society is organizing a new space constituency that is educated, empowered, and loud.

Reports are coming out that the administration is planning on cutting the NASA science budget by 50%. This would effectively end America’s space exploration program. Please consider filling out this form to send a message to the administration and your local representatives to protest these cuts.

mr. burns from the simpsons is sitting in front of a painting and says excellent ! ALT: mr. burns from the simpsons is sitting in front of a painting and says excellent !

As an igneous petrologist...

Advocacy Action Center The Planetary Society is organizing a new space constituency that is educated, empowered, and loud.

Please sign to oppose mass layoffs at NASA:
www.planetary.org/advocacy-act...

It's absolutely crazy... simultaneously sad, angry, and anxious about the future. Here for y'all, even if that just means feeling those things together for now.

Second harmonic generations (SHG) stimulated by synthetic SiC are approximately one million times stronger than signals from other meteoritic minerals. The large features are clusters of SiC nanoparticles, and blue/cyan dots are strongly fluorescent individual nanoparticles of SiC and Si3N4. From Alevy et al. (2025) (LPSC abstract 1218).

Excited for 2 LPSC abstracts submitted from our nonlinear optical mineralogy group! One is on applications for multiphoton microscopy in curation (#1235) and another for rapid, nondestructive ID of presolar SiC (#1218). This figure is from the latter, showing signals from synthetic aggregates.

Oh jeez! 2024 sneaking one more blow in before the bell... Hope Lee is feeling better now!

We collected individual images via third harmonic generationa, where the frequency of the laser is tripled through nonlinear interaction across changes in refractive index. This GIF shows a static video take through the middle, showing an air bubble interacting with the laser.

Here's a 3D rendering from our recent paper in Optics Express. Using our multiphoton microscope, we imaged a ~40 µm fluid inclusion about 70 µm below the sample surface. Currently working on applications to meteorites and returned samples! doi.org/10.1364/OE.539000

Photo credit: our fabulous undergraduate researcher, Colby Donner!

False-color multiphoton image of the mineral chlorapatite in a primitive meteorite. The field of view is about 0.6 mm. Check out the linked paper to learn more! It's open-access.

Planetary science research account! Follow for the freshest updates on my current research. I promise lots of cool science with pretty pictures. Here's a sample from our most recent paper reporting the first systematic use of multiphoton microscopy for astromaterials.(www.doi.org/10.1364/OE.539000)