It is with great pleasure that we announce that LLE staff scientist Jessica Shaw has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research by the American Physical Society (APS).

This award, which recognizes Shaw’s experimental demonstration of the Raman amplification of intense, broadband laser light in plasma and her contributions to applications of laser-wakefield–accelerated electron beams, follows the recent publication of groundbreaking new research by Shaw and her team in the September 2026 issue of Nature Photonics. Their work, “Laser-Plasma Amplification of an Ultra-Broadband Laser Pulse to 0.3 TW,” has set a new benchmark in laser-plasma amplification and marks a major milestone in the field of high-intensity laser physics.

“I’m very excited that the Division of Plasma Physics has selected Jess for this year’s Stix Award,” says staff scientist Hans Rinderknecht. “Jess earned it: her leadership over 7 years and 24 experimental campaigns to achieve intense Raman amplification in a plasma was a major accomplishment. I have no doubt this program succeeded only because of her particular combination of scientific rigor and responsive leadership. Bravo!” Shaw, who joins recipient David Turnbull in 2023, is the second LLE scientist in recent years to win the Stix Award—a significant honor for LLE and a recognition of the laboratory’s leadership in high-energy-density research.

Shaw will receive the award in person at next month’s annual APS Division of Plasma Physics conference in Chicago, where she will also be giving an invited talk. Congratulations on this wonderful achievement!