Center Collaborates with UC San Diego to Deliver Plasma Diagnostics Course

LLNL’s HED Science Center is collaborating with the University of California (UC) San Diego, to offer a graduate-level course in diagnostics for HED plasmas. The 10-week online course will begin on March 31, 2020 and will be co-taught by two HED science experts from LLNL.

HED plasma physics is a growing field, with many major laser and pulsed-power facilities around the world, as well as smaller, high-laser-intensity facilities. The excellent quality of science at these facilities is enabled by their accurate, quantitative diagnostics, which they conduct using a wide range of electrical, optical, x-ray, and nuclear measurement techniques.   

The upcoming course will provide an introduction to the evolving and diverse technologies underlying many of these HED diagnostics, with an emphasis on the underlying physics of measurement techniques. Students will explore examples of measurements provided by three large HED facilities—LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), OMEGA at the University of Rochester, and Z at Sandia National Laboratories.

The for-credit course will be taught by Joe Kilkenny, vice president for HED physics at General Atomics, who currently serves as the scientific diagnostic leader for NIF. His co-instructor will be Hui Chen, an LLNL scientist whose research focuses on high temperature plasma physics.

The first step to enroll in the course is to contact the HEDS Center Administrator, Jessica Letteer, at letteer1 [at] llnl.gov (letteer1[at]llnl[dot]gov).

Students from UC campuses and other academic institutions will receive instructions from the Center Administrator regarding how to enroll in the course.

LLNL employees can also participate in this professional development opportunity by enrolling as a non-matriculated student or by auditing the course.

LLNL employees who would like to receive financial assistance to help cover course costs should contact Carol Musto, who coordinates LLNL’s educational assistance program (EAP), at musto1 [at] llnl.gov (musto1[at]llnl[dot]gov). All EAP forms must be in Carol’s office no later than 24 hours prior to the start of class.