FY26–FY27 NLUF projects
The 2025 selection of National Laser Users’ Facility (NLUF) projects with experiments to be conducted at the Omega Laser Facility during fiscal years (FY) 2026 and 2027 are listed below.
| Principal Investigator (PI)/Co-PI |
Lead institution | Project Title |
|---|---|---|
| Bailly-Grandvaux, Mathieu | UC San Diego | Probing the Effects of Varying Magnetization in Cylindrical Implosions with Applied B Field to Validate MHD Models |
| Christopherson, Alison | Xcimer Energy | Optimization of Mid-Z and Baffled Halfraums as HED Physics Drivers |
| Dan Shim, Sang-Heon | Arizona State University | Sulfur in the Metallic Cores of Super-Earths |
| Duffy, Thomas | Princeton University | Phase Transitions in Silicates and Oxides at Ultrahigh Pressures |
| Evans, Tucker/Frenje, Johan | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | Studies of the Evolution of Kinetic and Multi-Ion-Fluid Physics, and Ion–Electron Energy Transfer in High-Z, Multi-Element HED Plasmas Generated by Shock-Driven or Ablatively Driven Implosions |
| Foo, Bryan/Gatu Johnson, Maria | MIT | Prevalence and Impact of Kinetic Beaming and Non-Maxwellian Ion Velocity Distributions in Inertial Confinement Fusion-Relevant Conditions |
| Fox, William | University of Maryland | Heat Transport in High-Energy-Density Plasmas with Self-Generated Magnetic Fields |
| Ji, Hantao | Princeton University | Multi-Scale Reconnection and Particle Acceleration in Long Current Sheets During Magnetically Driven Collisionless Reconnection at Low Plasma β |
| Krushelnick, Karl | University of Michigan | Reconnection and Control of Strong Magnetic Fields in Intense Laser– Plasma Interactions |
| Kuranz, Carolyn | University of Michigan | Photoionization Fronts at the Omega Laser Facility |
| Lanzrath, Andrew/Gatu Johnson, Maria | MIT | Nuclear Astrophysics Experiments Using High-Energy-Density Plasmas |
| Lawrence, Yousef/Li, Chiking | MIT | Investigation of the Dynamics of Coronal Plasma Structures in Conventional Direct-Drive and Dynamic-Shell ICF Implosions |
| LeFevre, Heath | University of Michigan | Radiation Hydrodynamics in Strongly Coupled Plasmas |
| Luoma, Joshua/Shvets, Gennady | Cornell University | Investigation of 3D-Printed Microstructured Targets for Ion Fast Ignition |
| Manuel, Mario | General Atomics | Characterization of Early-Stage, Quasi-Parallel Shock Formation in Asymmetric Flows |
| Nedbailo, Ryan/Ditmire, Todd/Malko, Sophia | University of Texas at Austin | Comprehensive Characterization of Proton Focusing and Heating from Hemispherical Targets |
| Oleynik, Ivan | University of South Florida | Exploring the HED Physics of Amorphous Boron Carbide ICF Ablator Materials |
| Samimy, Perry/Bailly-Grandvaux, Mathieu | UC San Diego | Investigation of Proton Source Survivability and Heating in Integrated Proton-FI Experiments |
| Schaeffer, Derek | University of California, Los Angeles | Particle Heating by Strongly Driven Shocks in Magnetized HED Plasmas |
| Shi, Yuan | University of Colorado, Boulder | Magnetization Effects on Coupling Between Laser Polarizations |
| Sims, Melissa | University of Alabama at Birmingham | Shock Response of bcc-Structured High-Entropy Alloys: From Disorder to Discovery |
| Tracy, Sally J. | Carnegie Institution for Science | High-Pressure Behavior of Hydrous Minerals Under Ramp Loading: Implications for Water-Rich Exoplanet Interiors |
| Valenzuela-Villaseca, Vincente | Princeton University | Evolution of Magnetized Differentially Rotating Plasmas Driven by Long-Pulse Lasers |
| Valenzuela-Villaseca, Vincente | Princeton University | Investigation of the Nonlinear Evolution of Long-Lived Perpendicular Magnetized Shocks |
| Wadas, Michael | California Institute of Technology | Vortex Interactions and Ejection from Shocked Interfacial Mixing Regions |
| White, Thomas | University of Nevada, Reno | Measurement of Mutual Diffusivity in Warm Dense Deuterium |
| Willingale, Louise | University of Michigan | Direct Laser Acceleration of Electrons for Bright, Directional Radiation Sources |