Matthew Cufari standing against stone wall in the LLE east lobby.

Matthew Cufari Awarded 2024 NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship

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Matthew Cufari, a participant in LLE’s 2018 Summer High School Research Program, has been awarded the 2024 US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship. This prestigious award provides financial benefits and professional development opportunities to students pursuing a PhD in fields of study that address complex science and engineering problems critical to stewardship science. Matt’s work at LLE, while as a high school student and in subsequent summers as an undergraduate, involved implementing charged-particle transport in IRIS, a workhorse code used to interpret cryogenic implosions on OMEGA. Matt’s contributions are now being used by several graduate students at LLE and MIT. Matt received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and is now a graduate student at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT. He is currently studying the effects of externally imposed magnetic fields on implosion physics. Matt has performed experiments on OMEGA and, as part of his fellowship, is expected to continue this work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in an attempt to improve fusion yields. At LLE, Matt was advised by Radha Bahukutumbi and Owen Mannion.

LLE Celebrates the Retirement of Distinguished Scientist Vladimir Glebov

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Earlier this spring, LLE scientists, students, and staff gathered to celebrate the retirement of Distinguished Scientist Dr. Vladimir Glebov, whose 30-year career at the University of Rochester included 27 years at LLE. Glebov was responsible for implementing much of the nuclear diagnostic suite—particularly, the neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detectors—at the Omega Laser Facility and also played a crucial role in the development of nuclear instrumentation for other major laser systems, such as Laser Mégajoule in France and the National Ignition Facility. In total, he was an instrument specialist for over 60 diagnostics, 32 of which are still in operation, and was a PI or co-PI on 6000 shots on OMEGA. In recognition for his important contributions to the field, Glebov was named a Fellow of the American Physics Society by the Topical Group on Measurement Innovation. Congratulations to Dr. Glebov on a wonderful career and a well-deserved retirement!

Gerrit Bruhaug working in a laboratory, wearing safety equipment, bathed in purple light.

Gerrit Bruhaug’s Paper Highlighted as Editor’s Pick in Optics Letters

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Congratulations are in order to Gerrit Bruhaug, whose newly published paper “Joule-class THz pulses from microchannel targets” has been highlighted as an Editor’s Pick in Optics Letters. This prestigious selection shines the spotlight on top-quality scientific articles that are representative of the research and work being done in specific fields of optics. Gerrit’s paper, which presents the first experimental evidence of joule-class terahertz pulses from microchannel targets driven by picosecond-class lasers, demonstrates that these targets are efficient, energetic, and powerful sources of THz radiation. In the culmination of a remarkable graduate career at the University of Rochester and LLE, Gerrit successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in mechanical engineering earlier this year and looks forward to continuing his many research endeavors at Los Alamos National Laboratories.

To read Gerrit’s article in full and to browse the April 2024 edition of Optics Letters, please visit the journal’s website.

Group photo of students in front of the National Ignition Facility with a border around it showing the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of Rochester, and LLE logos and Univeristy of Rochester: March 11, 2024.

Inaugural National Lab Trip for Students in LLE’s Undergraduate Education Program

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Sixteen students in LLE’s Undergraduate Education Program visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories as part of LLE’s inaugural National Nuclear Security Administration workforce-building National Lab Trip. This unique opportunity, which was packed with exciting demonstrations, activities, and tours at each facility, “was a dream come true for the LLE, for our Undergraduate Education Program, and for me,” says Laura Kappy, who runs the program. “We are so grateful to the staff at LLNL, LANL, and SNL for making this trip possible. It far exceeded our wildest expectations. To all of our undergraduate students—we look forward to knowing you well into the future!”

For more information about LLE’s Undergraduate Education Program, please visit the LLE website.

Photo portrait of Dhurmir Patel pictured in front of a background illustration of a figure from his paper.

Dhrumir Patel’s Paper Selected for Physics of Plasma’s 2023 Early Career Author Special Collection

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Congratulations to Dhrumir Patel, whose paper “Measuring higher-order moments of neutron-time-of-flight data for cryogenic inertial confinement fusion implosions on OMEGA” has been selected for inclusion in the 2023 Early Career Author Special Collection in the journal Physics of Plasmas. This prestigious selection, aimed at showcasing the high-quality contributions made by early-career researchers, features 30 authors from around the world and their papers published last year, representing all ten of the topical sections in Physics of Plasmas. Dhrumir, who received his PhD in mechanical engineering this past May 2023 from the University of Rochester, currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Rochester’s Mechanical Engineering department. His research focuses on experimental diagnostics related to inertial confinement fusion experiments and utilizes machine-learning techniques to enhance cryogenic implosions on the OMEGA laser. Dhrumir’s fellow colleagues and staff at LLE wish him continued success in his research.

You can read Dhrumir’s article in full and browse the entire 2023 Early Career Author Special on the Physics of Plasmas website.


Past Quick Shots

Gregory Demos where protective eyewear adjusting equipment on a light table.

Paper by LLE Summer High School Research Program Student Published in Optical Engineering

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A paper by lead author Gregory S. Demos titled “Laser-damage performance of gallium-alloy liquid metal mirrors” has just been published in the journal Optical Engineering. Gregory, currently a senior at Pittsford Mendon High School, performed this work while participating in the LLE Summer High School Research Program. His work, supervised by LLE researchers Marcela Mireles and Brittany Hoffman, focused on exploring gallium-alloy–based metal mirrors, which are in liquid phase at room temperature. He investigated key performance metrics, such as reflectivity and the laser-damage–initiation mechanism under exposure to 355-nm laser pulses. This exploratory work is the first of its kind and demonstrates favorable performance characteristics of gallium-alloy metal mirrors, providing an innovative approach for the development of robust final optics in future inertial fusion energy systems. LLE researchers Brittany N. Hoffman, John C. Lambropoulos, and Marcela Mireles are co-authors of the paper.

Person standing in front of OMEGA Laser System painting.

Michelle Marshall to Lead High-Energy-Density Physics Experiments Group

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Michelle Marshall has been appointed as the new leader for the High-Energy-Density Physics (HEDP) Experiments Group in the Experimental Division, bringing her extensive expertise in studying materials under extreme conditions to the forefront. After earning her BA in Physics in 2011 from SUNY Geneseo and her PhD from the University of Rochester in 2017, where she explored diamond behaviors under extreme pressure, Marshall advanced her career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). There, she led a team of scientists and engineers at LLNL and Omega to perform the first HEDP experiments on high explosives at high-power laser facilities. Marshall joined LLE as a Scientist in 2020 where she performed pivotal work on diamond formation in shocked polymers, high-pressure solid phases of silicon dioxide to inform models of rocky planets, and the development of Raman spectroscopy to diagnose chemical bonding in laser-driven experiments. Her leadership role recognizes her achievements and her commitment to mentoring the next generation of scientists in groundbreaking research.

High School Program students inside of the OMEGA EP Laser System.

2024 Summer High School Research Program

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Collage of people giving demonstrations at the LLE Safety Appreciation Day.

LLE Holds Safety Appreciation Day

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