Seminars 2024-2025

MIPSE Early Career Award 2024-2025

Abstract: Electrical discharges in aerospace applications occur in complex, nonuniform environments featuring reactive and flowing gases. Understanding and controlling these plasmas requires a multiphysics approach and consideration of the coupling between plasma and its environment. One example is use of pulsed nanosecond discharges in plasma-assisted combustion. To combat climate change, reducing emissions of CO₂ and NO_x is critical. Pulsed nanosecond discharges have proven effective in stabilizing lean flames and mitigating combustion instabilities under lean conditions, which help minimize thermal NOₓ formation. However, the interplay between flame and plasma presents ongoing challenges. This presentation will explore experimental and theoretical investigations into these two-way coupled interactions for fundamental and industry-relevant flames. Another example involves discharges in non-reactive, flowing gas environments, such as lightning arcs attaching to aircraft in flight or wind turbine blades. During the damaging current flow phase, an aircraft can travel ten times its length, causing the arc to interact with the fluid boundary layer and reattach to new locations (the swept stroke phase). Understanding the interplay between flow physics and electrical breakdown is essential for developing lightning protection systems. We will review experiments and models to address these interactions.

About the Speaker: Carmen Guerra-Garcia is the Charles Stark Draper Assoc. Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics (A&A) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she leads the Aerospace Plasma Group at the intersection of aerospace engineering, low temperature plasma technologies, and gas discharge physics. She majored in Aeronautical Engr. at Polytechnic Univ. of Madrid (Spain) and obtained her SM and PhD in A&A from MIT. Prior to joining MIT, Guerra-Garcia was with the Boeing Research and Technology Europe and a visiting researcher at Princeton University. Guerra-Garcia has received NSF CAREER Award (2024), Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (2021) Intl. Fulbright Science and Technology Award (2009), Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching (2024) and Earll M. Murman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising (2021). She is a member of the APS Gaseous Electronics Conference Exec. Committee and the AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Technical Committee. Guerra-Garcia’s research spans from interaction of lightning with aircraft and wind turbines, to plasma technologies for ignition, combustion, and chemical conversion.

Abstract: Temperature is a cornerstone of thermodynamics, yet its measurement in high-pressure solids, dense opaque plasmas, and highly ionized systems remains one of the greatest challenges in extreme physics. Accurate temperature diagnostics are essential for understanding material behavior under such conditions, but traditional methods are often hindered by opacity and limited sensitivity. Using high-resolution inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) at facilities like the Linac Coherent Light Source and European X-ray Free Electron Laser, we developed an advanced diagnostic capable of directly probing bulk ion temperatures. This technique leverages the exceptional resolution and narrow bandwidth of IXS to detect small energy shifts and broadenings in scattered X-ray spectra, offering unprecedented insights into the ion dynamics of matter in extreme states. In this talk, I will highlight how IXS has been utilized to address: (1) Electron-ion equilibration rates in warm dense matter, (2) superheating of solids to temperatures far exceeding their theoretical stability limits, (3) bond hardening under non-equilibrium conditions, and (4) Ion-acoustic wave propagation. The ability to directly measure ion temperatures and dynamics not only advances understanding of fundamental physics but also opens pathways for experimental research in HED science and beyond.

About the Speaker: Thomas White is an Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Nevada-Reno. He earned the MS in physics from the Univ. of Bath (2005) and Ph.D. in Atomic and Laser Physics from Univ. of Oxford (2015), where his dissertation earned the Culham Thesis Prize. Before joining UNR in 2017, he was a postdoc at Imperial College London and Univ. of Oxford. White’s research focuses on the behavior of matter under extreme conditions, using high-power optical and X-ray free-electron lasers to replicate environments found in planetary interiors and fusion plasmas. His work combines experiments at facilities such as the NIF and the European X-ray Free Electron Laser with advanced quantum-mechanical simulations. His research is supported by the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, and National Science Foundation. In 2021, White received the NSF CAREER Award and UNR’s Mousel-Feltner Excellence in Research Award. He currently serves as Chair of the Jupiter Laser Facility Executive Committee and Deputy Chair of the High Energy Density Science Association.

Abstract: Of all the planets in the solar system, Jupiter’s space environment is often described using superlatives, e.g., fastest rotating planet, strongest magnetic field, most powerful aurora, largest magnetosphere. These qualities make experimental pursuits at Jupiter ripe for discovery. One example, is the pursuit of the underlying physics powering Jupiter’s auroras. Prior to 2016, the phenomenological picture of Jupiter’s northern aurora was established based on sparse ultraviolet and X-ray observations from Earth-orbiting observatories. Those auroral maps hinted that Jupiter’s auroras were driven in a much different manner than other planets’; however, in situ measurements were lacking to test various hypotheses. In 2016, NASA’s Juno mission provided the first measurements of Jupiter’s polar magnetosphere and auroral regions, and revealed that Jupiter is more complex than theories originally established. Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for over eight years and has executed 70 polar orbits with altitudes as close as a few thousand kilometers over its one-bar “surface”. This presentation will highlight Juno’s major auroral discoveries with an emphasis on its enigmatic polar cap auroral region. We will discuss how Jupiter’s space environment gives us access to a plasma parameter regime that is unlike other planets and how we can use that to explore similar and distinct properties of planetary magnetospheres.

About the Speaker: George Clark received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas, San Antonio in 2014. George then joined the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in 2015 where his research specializes in the physics of energetic particle phenomena in the magnetospheric and auroral regions at Jupiter. He also builds energetic particle instruments for NASA and ESA missions. He is currently a science team member on NASA’s Juno mission, the lead of the Jovian Energetic Electron sensor on ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission, and the lead of the Ultra energetic neutral atom imager on NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe. George was awarded the NASA early career achievement medal for his scientific contributions in understanding Jupiter’s magnetosphere and auroras.

Abstract: Inertial confinement fusion research has been anchored in the Stockpile Stewardship program for decades. National laboratories and universities have partnered to drive fusion research at the National Ignition Facility through a highly complex National Diagnostics roadmap. Los Alamos National Laboratory has played a crucial role through unique expertise in nuclear diagnostics (neutron and gamma imaging, gamma reaction history measurements, radio-chemical analyses). These diagnostics have taken tremendous development effort and expertise, providing crucial information on fusion implosions (implosion asymmetries, bang time, contaminant mix). Now, since the achievement of ignition and energy gain on the NIF, the US fusion landscape is changing – private companies are emerging with the goal of realizing fusion energy. The DOE Fusion Energy Science program is encouraging private-public partnership to advance fusion energy for the US. While a fusion power plant will likely need a minimal suite of diagnostics, diagnostics will be needed on the path to a pilot plant and diagnostic expertise will be needed to develop a minimally viable set for a plant. This talk explores how the long history of diagnostic expertise at LANL can enable fusion energy research while simultaneously benefitting from a drive for innovation and an energized workforce.

About the Speaker: Verena Geppert-Kleinrath is Deputy Group Leader of the P-1 Dynamic Imaging and Radiography group in Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Physics Division, managing over 60 scientists, engineers, postdocs, students, technologists and technicians. She also pursues nuclear imaging for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and is excited about the prospect of fusion energy. She and her team have developed 3D neutron and gamma imaging for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Her nuclear imaging diagnostics have delivered key performance metrics for high-yield ICF implosions on NIF – ultimately leading to the first successful ignition shots. She has authored over 60 publications in with over 2500 citations. For her successes in ICF diagnostics she has received the Department of Energy Secretary’s Honors Award three times and the American Physical Society’s John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research. She serves as the vice-chair for the American Physical Society 4 Corners Section. She has been at LANL since 2012 when she started as a graduate student. Verena holds a PhD in Nuclear Physics from Vienna University of Technology and originally hails from Austria.

Abstract: I believe that the whole field of plasma science and its applications has entered a new era. What we are seeing is not only progress in individual separate areas of plasma physics and technology, whether it is fusion, astro/space, materials or even biomedical applications; but also growing interconnectivity among these areas.

About the Speaker: Dr. Roald Sagdeev is a distinguished plasma physicist whose pioneering work in controlled fusion, and space research has left a lasting impact on the field. Born in the Soviet Union, he became one of the youngest full academicians of the USSR Academy of Sciences at the age of 35. From 1973 to 1988, Dr. Sagdeev was director of the Soviet Space Research Institute, where he played a crucial role in groundbreaking space missions, including the Venera probes to Venus, Vega mission to Halley’s Comet, Phobos missions to Mars’ moons, and the Soyuz-Apollo Test Project, the first U.S.-Soviet space collaboration. His leadership helped advance international space cooperation during the Cold War. Dr. Sagdeev has been an influential voice in space policy and arms control. In 1990, he moved to the United States and became a professor at the University of Maryland, where he continued his research in plasma physics, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), and international scientific collaboration. Dr. Sagdeev’s groundbreaking work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of plasma dynamics and space exploration, cementing his legacy as one of the most influential figures in modern space science.

Abstract: This talk discusses recent work on RF plasma cathodes, propellant agnostic electron sources for electric propulsion systems that enable new deep space exploration mission architectures such as in-situ resource utilization. We develop the fundamental theory for these devices and demonstrate its effectiveness at determining I-V characteristics and performance. From our measurements and model, we project thruster performance and discuss the consequences for space exploration. Then we dive into non-ideal behavior that can be exhibited in these cathodes including sheath expansion and mode transitions. The remainder of the discussion will overview other plasma-related research activities in the NRL propulsion group.

About the Speaker: Dr. Marcel Georgin is an Aerospace Engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and his Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of Michigan where he studied plasma instabilities in electron sources for electric propulsion systems. His research interests are at the intersection of plasma physics and engineering, with a strong focus on space propulsion. He is currently working on a variety of plasma-related topics, including propellant agnostic electron sources, hypersonics environmental simulation, advanced thermionic cathodes, and more.

Abstract: The microelectronics industry has undergone significant innovation in recent years. The decades-long technology roadmap involving planar transistor scaling has evolved into a search for optimal geometries and materials beyond silicon. Circuit designers and fabrication engineers can no longer enjoy the benefits of decades of experimental data solely on silicon. Technology computer aided design (TCAD) and design-technology co-optimization (DTCO) strategies need to adapt to include the search for novel materials through a multi-scale modeling approach, where the atomistic behavior of a material informs design decisions. With continued reduction of design margins, process variability is becoming a significant concern. Understanding equipment-level and across-wafer variation is paramount. However, current physical deposition and etching models do not provide a direct link to equipment inputs. This talk will discuss the state of process simulation and emulation, and what we are developing to assist the microelectronics industry, including both semiconductor manufacturers and electronic design automation (EDA) vendors. Including TCAD and DTCO during the design process has become invaluable. I will discuss how machine learning is helping merge feature-scale modeling with reactor-level inputs and equipment variability. Ultimately, we are aiming towards a digital DTCO strategy for design discovery while reducing cost, time, and environmental impact of the design cycle by reducing the reliance on experimental process development.

About the Speaker: Lado Filipovic is an Associate Professor of Micro- and Nanoelectronics at TU Wien and the director of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Multi-Scale Process Modeling of Semiconductor Devices and Sensors. He obtained his venia docendi (habilitation) in Semiconductor Based Integrated Sensors and his doctoral degree (Dr.techn.) in Microelectronics from TU Wien in 2020 and 2012. He is a Principal Investigator in research projects related to both basic science and industry-relevant research. His primary research interests are the fabrication, operation, stability, and reliability of novel semiconductor devices and sensors, using advanced process and device modeling; and the multi-scale modeling of processes involved in the fabrication of semiconductor devices and sensors. This involves combining atomistic modeling with Monte Carlo and continuum approaches, as well as merging physical models with empirical geometric descriptors in a single framework, specifically for process TCAD. His team has released several open-source software tools to model semiconductor device fabrication (ViennaPS) and operation (ViennaEMC). He is currently also investigating efficient integration of machine learning with process TCAD to merge ab-initio with molecular dynamics, to aid in material and design discovery, and to combine feature-scale and reactor-scale models.

Abstract: Space weather has been identified as a national and international priority which, by some estimates, could cost the US over $40B a day during an extreme event. Different aspects of space weather affect myriad assets including spacecraft, astronauts, commercial airline flights, power grids, and even oil pipelines. Solar energetic particle (SEP) events are one component of space weather and the desire to predict their occurrence and characteristics is strong. Despite immense progress over the last few decades in understanding the generation of SEPs and increases in the number of spacecraft measuring them, predictions are hampered by what we still do not understand and by limited observations. In this talk, we’ll discuss space weather hazards focusing on SEP events – what we know, what we don’t know, what we’re missing. We’ll highlight specific space missions, including Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter, making revolutionary observations closer to the Sun than ever before.

About the Speaker: Christina M. S. Cohen is a research scientist in the Space Radiation Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Currently, her work focuses on energetic particles in space, particularly those resulting from solar activity, but she has prior experience studying energetic particles in the Jovian system and the composition of the solar wind. Cohen is involved in the design, building and testing of instruments that have flown and will fly on a number of NASA satellites as well as analysis of the data returned from them. She is a past president of the Space Physics and Aeronomy section of the AGU, an AGU Fellow, Principal Investigator of the Solar Isotope Spectrometer and Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer on Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), and Deputy Principal Investigator on the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun on Parker Solar Probe and on the Low Energy Telescope experiment on STEREO. Cohen has received NASA awards for her work on the Ulysses, Wind, Advanced Composition Explorer, and Parker Solar Probe missions.

Abstract: Magnetic reconnection is the reconfiguration of the topology of the magnetic field in a plasma. It is associated with the efficient conversion of magnetic energy, resulting in, for example, solar flares, and the generation of supra-thermal particle populations. Reconnection is present throughout the magnetized universe: from lab plasmas and the Earth’s magnetosphere to magnetar flares and gamma-ray bursts. It is thought to be a key ingredient of plasma turbulence, determining much of the energy dissipation.

The importance of reconnection across multiple areas has meant that it has been the subject of investigation over the last 70 years. Broadly speaking, the main questions are: what triggers reconnection (onset problem); how fast it can proceed (rate problem); and how is the magnetic energy divided amongst the different possible channels (energy partition problem). While much progress has been made, investigations are hampered by the fundamental nonlinear character of the problem and its intrinsic multi-scale nature: conspiring to make analytical and numerical calculations extremely challenging, and prompt researchers to seek to simplify the problem as much as possible.

This talk reflects on these challenges, how they have constrained the research that has been done to date, and possible theoretical frameworks to move the field forward.

About the Speaker: Nuno F. Loureiro is Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and the Herman Feshbach (1942) Professor of Physics at MIT. He majored in Physics at Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon (Portugal) in 2000 and obtained a Ph.D. in Physics at Imperial College London (UK) in 2005. He did post-doctoral work at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory between 2005-07, and at the UKAEA Culham Centre for Fusion Energy between 2007-09. Prior to joining MIT in 2016 Loureiro was a researcher at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion at IST Lisbon. He is the recipient of the American Physical Society (APS) Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research in 2015, and of an NSF CAREER Award in 2017. Loureiro was elected APS Fellow in 2022.

Loureiro has an active interest in several fundamental aspects of magnetized plasma dynamics, such as magnetic reconnection, magnetic field generation and amplification, confinement and transport in fusion plasmas, and turbulence in strongly magnetized, weakly collisional plasmas.

Abstract: The achievement of ignition and gain on NIF has validated the scientific basis of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The Department of Energy (DOE) and venture capital funded private companies are again interested in inertial fusion energy (IFE). The new DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program and other Federal programs are creating public–private partnerships to accelerate progress toward fusion pilot plants. The U.S. leads in ICF, but the race to develop the first IFE power plant is an international competition. Private companies will need to play a leading role in developing the necessary technologies. This talk will provide a 50-year perspective as well as discuss promising strategies for the U.S. IFE program from both public and private view-points. It will also describe the research of three companies that I am advising: HB11 Energy Pty Ltd. (aneutronic proton–boron fuel cycle), 2) Xcimer Energy (IFE technology to achieve high laser energies), and 3) Fuse Federal (next generation pulsed power technologies for both defense and energy applications).

About the Speaker: Dr. Tom Mehlhorn is an advisor to several private fusion companies including HB11 Energy Pty LTD, Xcimer Energy, and Fuse Energy. He is also an adjunct professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan, and a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics. From 2009 to 2019 he directed the Naval Research Laboratory Division of Plasma Physics, following a 31-year career in pulsed power fusion and high energy density physics at Sandia National Laboratories. He is the author/coauthor of over 160 papers (H-index=43). He was recognized in 2004 with a University of Michigan Engineering Alumni Society Merit Award (NERS) and is a Fellow of the AAAS in Physics (2006), the APS Division of Plasma Physics (2011), the IEEE (2014), and the ANS (2020). In 2019 he received the IEEE Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society Peter Haas Award and a Lockheed Martin NOVA Award for Thermonuclear Neutrons on Z in 2003.

Abstract: Low temperature atmospheric pressure plasmas are an abundant source of reactive species. Their unique capability to produce a highly reactive environment at moderate gas temperatures enables several emerging applications with the potential to contribute to health care and a sustainable future. Low temperature plasmas offer fertile ground for many interesting often multidisciplinary fundamental studies with direct societal benefit. We will report on several fundamental case studies of interactions of plasmas with liquids, bacteria, virus and catalysts in the context of decontamination, water treatment, materials synthesis and chemical conversion. The case studies often involve a detailed comparison between diagnostics and modeling which allowed us to uniquely identify mechanisms and rate limiting steps. While these studies have often been conducted in highly controlled environments and with canonical reactor setups, such studies provide insights that are critical for process development and might open the path towards a model of science driving technology development.

About the Speaker: Peter Bruggeman is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Ernst Eckert Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research is focused on low temperature plasma science and engineering with applications in health and sustainability. He also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the High Temperature and Plasma Laboratory. Peter was an Assistant Professor of Applied Physics at the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, from 2009 until he joined the University of Minnesota in 2013. He serves as an editorial board member of several journals, served on the National Academies Decadal Study of Plasma Science (Plasma 2020) committee, and co-edited the 2017 and 2022 Plasma Roadmap contributing to shape research directions for the field of low temperature plasma.

Abstract: Highly sensitive, space-time resolved electric field vector measurements are essential for addressing numerous critical questions across nearly all sub-fields of plasma physics. These measurements are crucial for understanding edge-localized mode plasma instabilities in tokamaks, unraveling surface streamers and ionization wave dynamics, analyzing surface charging in low-temperature plasmas, gaining insights into magnetic reconnection events, and validating fundamental sheath theories under different collisionality regimes. In this talk, I will present a novel laser-based approach for electric field measurements that offers exceptional sensitivity across multiple orders of magnitude and is suitable for both high and low pressure plasmas. Additionally, I will demonstrate how this setup can simultaneously perform gas density measurements, providing reduced electric field estimates. We anticipate that this newly developed approach will be applicable to a wide variety of plasma physics sub-fields, making electric field measurements more accessible and straightforward.

About the Speaker: Marien Simeni is an Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Minnesota (UMN), where he started in April 2022. His research group focuses on the development of ultrafast laser diagnostics to unravel kinetic mechanisms and energy transfers in non-equilibrium and laser-produced plasmas as well as in reactive flows. Marien received his B.S. in physics from Ecole Normale Superieure Cachan (France) in 2009, his M.S. in aerospace engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris (France) in 2011 and his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the same institution in 2015. He subsequently held a postdoctoral position at the Ohio State University (2015-2018), a research associate position at UMN (2018-2020) and an associate research physicist position at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (2020-2022).