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Lasers and Optical S&T
Two Lab physicists named SPIE senior members
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Wren Carr and Peter DeVore have been elected as senior members of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. SPIE bestows the senior member designation on individuals who have distinguished themselves through their professional experience and their active involvement within both the optics community and SPIE…
Understanding the plasticity of diamond for improved fusion ignition
Alex Li, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) summer student in the Computational Chemistry and Materials Science Summer Institute, recently led a study published in the journal Matter to investigate the evolution of plasticity in diamond along different loading orientations and the effects that voids (pores) within the material can have on stresses within the…
NIF&PS Summer Scholar Program celebrates a record year
The National Ignition Facility & Photon Science (NIF&PS) Summer Scholar Program had a record year in 2023 — and the program’s director says it’s directly related to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) fusion ignition milestone last Dec. 5. “A lot of students were excited about joining NIF because of ignition and said so on their application statements,”…
A passion for physics drives Danny Attiyah
This summer, Danny Attiyah, a third-year Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine, will develop theory, create simulations and put those simulations to the test in a long experimental run. “I’m excited to go from theory to experimental results during my internship,” he said. Attiyah, who grew up in Southern California, was drawn to math as a student. But when…
Two LLNL scientists named Optica Senior Members
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists David Gibson and Paul Pax have been named senior members of Optica (formerly OSA). Senior membership status recognizes members with more than 10 years of professional experience in optics or an optics-related field. The 2023 class joins a distinguished group of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators who…
Meet the people behind the scenes of LLNL’s historic ignition shot
Part 12 of a series of articles describing the elements of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s fusion breakthrough. When Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) blasted its way into history by reaching fusion ignition on Dec. 5, 2022, the milestone marked the culmination of more than 60 years of accomplishments since the advent of lasers. The achievement came…
Radiography innovation shows new promise with experimental dense plasma focus milestone
In early May, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Megajoule Neutron Imaging Radiography Experiment (MJOLNIR) team’s dense plasma focus (DPF) achieved greater than 1012 neutrons in a single deuterium gas shot — an achievement that expands the possibilities for understanding lightning-fast phenomena that can’t be seen with the naked eye. As an alternative to X-ray…
Summer intern learns at intersection of chemistry and optical fiber
Mary Ann Cahoon’s journey to an internship with the National Ignition Facility (NIF) & Photon Science Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) began at the Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York. “I was a high school student, considering studying chemical engineering in college,” she said. “But that museum opened me up to the world of optical…
LLNL Director Kim Budil named one of Fast Company’s 2023 Most Creative People in Business
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Director Kim Budil has been selected by Fast Company as one of the Most Creative People in Business for 2023. The annual list, in its 15th year, recognizes individuals making an impact in society via daring achievements in their chosen fields, from tech to design to healthcare. Budil was selected for leading the team that…
From Shasta County to NIF: Brandi Lechleiter's veteran journey
Air Force veteran and Lab employee Brandi Lechleiter has been on a true journey: from the countryside of Shasta County to a military career that took her all over the world and opened the door to a fascinating and mission-driven career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF). At a Women's History Month event in March, she…
Advanced masking technology enables new applications for metasurface optics
Optics researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have refined their novel metasurface process to create taller features without increasing feature-to-feature spacing, an advance that unlocks exciting new design possibilities. “We have refined our process to create metasurfaces that allow for a wide optical bandwidth and a large span of incidence angles…
High-performance computing, AI and cognitive simulation helped LLNL conquer fusion ignition
Part 10 a series of articles describing the elements of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s fusion breakthrough. For hundreds of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists on the design, experimental, and modeling and simulation teams behind inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the results of the now…
American Society of Safety Professionals honors NIF manager with safety award
The American Society of Safety Professionals, San Francisco Chapter, has awarded Bruno Van Wonterghem, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) Operations manager, with the “Managers Who Get Safety” Award. “I feel both honored and humbled at receiving this award on behalf of my NIF Facility Team,” Van Wonterghem said. “This year we achieved…
Bringing the literature on laser-plasma interactions up to date
For many years, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Pierre Michel, an internationally known expert on the physics of laser-plasma interactions (LPI), saw a gap in his field’s literature: the lack of an up-to-date textbook on LPI relevant to the kind of experiments conducted on LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF). Michel was concerned because LPI,…
Telly Awards honor two LLNL videos
The 44th Annual Telly Awards honored Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) with five awards for two videos that helped announce the Lab’s Dec. 5, 2022, fusion ignition achievement and visualize how experiments happen at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). LLNL’s Technical Information Department (TID) and the Office of Strategic Communications collaborated on the…
Experiments shed light on pressure-driven ionization in giant planets and stars
Scientists have conducted laboratory experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that provide new insights on the complex process of pressure-driven ionization in giant planets and stars. Their research, published today in Nature, unveils the material properties and behavior of matter under extreme compression, offering important implications for…
Igniting the future: Hundreds gather to celebrate historic fusion achievement
On a day certain to rank in the upper echelon of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s historical milestones, Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials, members of Congress, past Lab directors, employees and partners gathered on May 8 to celebrate the Lab’s 2022 fusion ignition achievement. Even a light shower couldn’t…
NIF sustainment: Ensuring the next 20 years of progress
Part 9 in a series of articles describing the elements of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's fusion breakthrough. Having blazed the path to fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers and their collaborators are now making plans for sustained, and even higher, nuclear yields to enable and expand…
NIF and JLF user groups look beyond ignition to bright possibilities in science
Attendees at this year’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) and Jupiter Laser Facility (JLF) User Groups Meeting celebrated Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) recent fusion ignition breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility, but also kept their focus on looking ahead to a bright future of high energy density (HED) science research. The forward-thinking…
Krell Institute honors Ma with Corones Award
The Krell Institute, a nonprofit organization serving the scientific and educational communities, has awarded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Tammy Ma with its 2023 James Corones Award Leadership, Community Building and Communication. The award, named for the institute’s founder, recognizes mid-career scientists and engineers who are making an…
