Dr. Solodov received a Ph.D. degree in Plasma Physics from École Polytechnique, France and a Ph.D. degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Institute of Applied Physics RAS, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. During Ph.D. Dr. Solodov worked on the theory and particle-in-cell simulations of high-intensity laser–plasma interaction and plasma-based electron acceleration. Dr. Solodov had a postdoctoral appointment at Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, where he worked on powerful backward Raman amplification of laser pulses in plasmas. Dr. Solodov joined LLE in 2005, where he worked first with the Fusion Science Center for Extreme States of Matter and Fast Ignition Physics on fast ignition of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. Dr. Solodov contributed to the theory and simulations of fast-electron transport, quasi-static electromagnetic field generation, and hydrodynamics of fast-ignition targets. Dr. Solodov performed integrated simulations of cone-in-shell core-heating fast-ignition experiments at LLE. Dr. Solodov’s current research areas include laser–plasma interactions relevant to direct-drive ICF, hot-electron preheat and hydrodynamics of ICF targets, and high-intensity laser–plasma interactions. Dr. Solodov is a designer of the experiments at the National Ignition Facility, studying the laser–plasma interaction at direct-drive ignition-relevant coronal plasma conditions. These experiments demonstrated the dominance of stimulated Raman Scattering at direct-drive ignition-relevant coronal conditions and origins of hot-electron preheat. Dr. Solodov’s modeling of these experiments using a combination of hydrodynamic, Monte Carlo, and laser–plasma interaction codes was used to infer the scaling of hot-electron preheat with the laser and plasma parameters. The laser-intensity limit for direct-drive ignition designs in which the hot-electron preheat is tolerable was determined. Dr. Solodov is a designer of the laser–plasma interaction experiments on OMEGA EP laser that study the mechanisms of hot-electron generation in the coronal plasma conditions, which are intermediate to those on the NIF and OMEGA. Dr. Solodov’s hybrid particle-in-cell simulations allowed developing the theory of fast-electron equilibration dynamics and isochorical heating of mass-limited solid targets in the high-intensity laser–plasma interaction experiments on OMEGA EP.
A complete list of his papers can be found here.
