HED Science Center Hosts Workshop on Nuclear Processes in Dense Plasmas

The Laboratory’s High Energy Density (HED) Science Center hosted a workshop regarding nuclear processes in dense plasmas, providing a forum where members of the HED science and nuclear physics communities could share ideas. The workshop took place on July 30 and August 1, 2018, at LLNL.

According to Frank Graziani, director of the HED Science Center, the workshop offered an environment where HED physics experts could understand the challenges confronting the nuclear physics community. At the same time, nuclear physicists had the opportunity to explore how experimental HED capabilities could potentially address their research needs.

Workshop attendees discussed stellar nucleosynthesis, big bang nucleosynthesis, light ion reactions, heavy ion reactions, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), pulse power, short-pulse lasers, and HED diagnostics.

“Many of the open and exciting questions in nuclear physics relate to the nuclear process in dense plasmas,” Graziani said. “Creating extreme states of matter in the plasma regime is the purview of high energy density physics. Today there are a wide variety of HED facilities that provide the conditions suitable for exploring questions relating to nuclear physics in dense plasmas.”

Graziani chaired the workshop’s organizing committee, and its members included Carl Brune (Ohio University), Dieter Schneider (LLNL), and Michael Wiescher (University of Notre Dame).