NEWS: High-energy-density physics

PSFC researchers honored with John Dawson Award

Three members of the PSFC High-Energy-Density Physics (HEDP) Division have been honored with the APS John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research: Maria Gatu Johnson, Richard Petrasso and Johan Frenje.

PSFC News

Skylar Dannhoff in grey chair in lounge area

Finding community in high-energy-density physics

As part of the PSFC's High-Energy-Density Physics Division, graduate student Skylar Dannhoff is discovering the collaborative world of fusion research.

Plasma Science and Fusion Center

Image of lasers at NIF

MIT students contribute to the success of historic fusion experiment

MIT has contributed to the success of the ignition program at the National Ignition Facilty for more than a decade by providing and using a dozen diagnostics, implemented by MIT PhD students and staff, which have been critical for assessing the performance of an implosion, like the one pictured.  

PSFC News

bow shock in the Orion Nebula

Astrophysical shock phenomena reproduced in laboratory

PSFC's Chikang Li and an international team of researachers have reproduced critical conditions of collisionless shocks in the laboratory, allowing for detailed study of the processes taking place within giant cosmic smashups.

MIT News

PSFC physicist Maria Gatu Johnson wins APS award

Research scientist Maria Gatu Johnson, part of the PSFC’s High-Energy-Density Physics Division, will receive the American Physical Society’s Katherine E. Weimer Award, which recognizes outstanding plasma science research by a woman physicist in the early stages of her career.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

From summer research program to PhD dissertation

One of the most important aspects of MIT’s educational mission is preparing students to be effective members of their scientific and technological communities. For Raspberry Simpson, that process began when she was a 17-year-old participant in the MIT Summer Research Program.

NSE News

Members of the HEDP division, MIT

Stronger together

Officially entitled the Center for Advanced Nuclear Diagnostics and Platforms for Inertial ICF and HEDP at Omega, NIF and Z, the new Center will focus on the properties of plasma under extreme conditions of temperature, density and pressure.

PSFC

Chikang Li, Richard Petrasso, Fredrick Seguin

Twelve from MIT honored by American Physical Society

Three members of MIT's PSFC High-Energy-Density Physics Division Richard Petrasso, Chikang Li, and Fredrick Seguin — were honored with the APS John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research.

School of Science

PSFC researchers honored with John Dawson Award

PSFC's Richard Petrasso, Chikang Li, and Fredrick Seguin were selected to share the award for “the pioneering use of proton radiography to reveal new aspects of flows, instabilities, and fields in high-energy-density (HED) plasmas.”

PSFC

Hong Sio: On the road for fusion

Graduate student Hong Sio spent 120 days on the road in 2016, visiting the OMEGA laser at the University of Rochester and the National Ignition Facility at Laweremce Livermore National Laboratory, in search of answers about inertial confinement fusion (ICF).

PSFC

NNSA visits HEDP Lab

NNSA’s Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton and Dr. Njema Frazier, physicist in the NNSA’s Office of Defense Programs, visited the MIT to meet with the High Energy Density and Inertial Confinement Fusion Physics Division of the PSFC. 

NNSA Blog

Mike Rosenberg, MIT

Mike Rosenberg wins Rosenbluth Award

Although Mike Rosenberg received his PhD from MIT in September 2014, his work at the PSFC is still getting attention. Rosenberg has been selected by the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics (APS-DPP) to receive their Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award.

PSFC

MIT PhD research advances at the National Ignition Facility

MIT’s IAP brought National Ignition Facility Director Mark Hermann to the PSFC in January to talk about the science behind the inertial confinement fusion experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

PSFC

Maria Gatu Johnson, MIT

Maria Gatu Johnson: Embracing the Challenges of Inertial Fusion

Research scientist Maria Gatu Johnson is intrigued. The results of her recent experiment are very different from what she anticipated, giving rise to even more questions. But her smile suggests she’s enjoying every minute of her bewilderment. “It’s the fun of physics,” she says.

PSFC

Hans Rinderknecht, Dan Casey, Alex Zylstra, and Mike Rosenberg

MIT graduate students receive prestigious Lawrence award

Graduate students Hans Rinderknecht and Alex Zylstra, members of the MIT Physics Department who both work in the PSFC’s High-Energy-Density (HEDP) division, have each received the Lawrence fellowship.

MIT News

NIF-MIT PhD Thesis Program participants

NIF-MIT Partnership Mints New PhDs

Working hand-in-hand with LLNL researchers on NIF experiments and diagnostics is proving to be a highly successful academic strategy for recent and current physics PhD students at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory