Quick Shot

Research from the Laboratory for Laser Energetics paves the way for more-accurate computer models, which are needed to understand the interior of planets and the physical properties of nuclear fusion. In a new paper in Nature’s “Matters Arising,” researchers at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), including lead author Valentin Karasiev, an LLE Staff Scientist; graduate student and Horton Fellow, Joshua Hinz; and Suxing Hu, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a Distinguished Scientist at the LLE, together with Professor Sam Trickey from the University of Florida, respond to a 2020 Nature article. The paper discussed using machine-learning techniques to study the liquid–liquid phase transitions of dense hydrogen from an insulating liquid to a liquid metal. Through large-scale quantum simulations, Karasiev et al. demonstrated that this hydrogen’s transition is an abrupt first-order phase transition.

Read more on the University website.