Quick Shot

Dr. Reetam Paul (LLE Horton Fellow, Ph.D. 2022) is the first Ph.D. from the HEDP-Theory Group. He successfully defended his thesis on “Temperature-Induced Complexities in Phase Transitions and Dynamics of Compressed Matter,” which developed first-principles computational methods to predict high-pressure phases of materials. His thesis focuses on understanding thermally driven effects in dynamically compressed materials such as Si and FeO₂. This work is crucial to accurately simulate Si-doped ablators for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments and to better understand the properties of planetary cores. His work revealed new solid phases of Si at ultrahigh pressures and novel magnetic phase transitions of FeO₂ at geological pressures. After graduation, Dr. Paul joined the Quantum Simulation Group at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow working on energetic materials to continuously contribute to DOE/NNSA missions. The thesis committee members were Suxing Hu (Advisor), Jonathan Carroll-Nellenback (Defense Committee Chair), Frank Huo (Dept. of Chemistry), and Niaz Abdolrahim (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering).