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Project Summaries

As a participant in the Inertial Fusion Energy Summer Research Program, you’ll work on real projects that reflect the breadth and depth of fusion energy research at LLNL. Our students tackle problems that address key scientific and engineering questions in fusion energy, such as simulating plasma behavior, designing and optimizing fusion targets, developing advanced diagnostics, analyzing experimental data from fusion experiments, modeling energy output, and much more. This curriculum is designed to help students build technical expertise and strengthen teamwork skills.

Our interns are also paired with mentors—leading experts in fusion energy science and engineering at the Lab—whose projects align with students’ backgrounds and interests. Check out recent intern projects below.

Julie Simms
Julie Simms

Julie Simms:
Second Year Physics Undergraduate, U.S. Air Force Academy. Military Academic Research Associate (MARA).
Calculating DD and DT Reactivity and Fusion Energy Yield.

Nuclear fusion is when two atomic nuclei combine and release energy. NIF uses laser-based inertial confinement fusion to achieve this release from a capsule containing two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium. The project explored the reactivity and resulting fusion yield for relevant nuclear interactions for NIF and IFE schemes.

Shane Robinson
Shane Robinson

Shane Robinson:
Physics/Economics Graduate, Auburn University; U.S. Navy. MARA.
Modeling the Economics of Nuclear Fusion.

Providing cost-effective and environmentally friendly electricity will be key to the sustainment of modern society through the 21st century and beyond. This work defined the current state of the U.S. electrical grid and fusion energy’s potential place in it. A potential inertial confinement fusion plant architecture for electrical production is analyzed, and the case is made for commercially viable power plants given sufficient engineering progress.

Jaya Sicard
Jaya Sicard

Jaya Sicard:
Physics and Engineering Graduate, University of Nevada, Reno. Livermore Lab Foundation Fusion Fellow.
Development of an Activation-Based Diagnostic for Measurement of Laser-Driven Ion Sources in Support of Ion Fast Ignition.

Ion fast ignition (IFI) is a promising method for high-gain inertial fusion energy, using laser-driven ion beams to heat pre-compressed fusion fuel. Understanding the focusing behavior of heavier ions compared to protons is crucial, motivating the need for a diagnostic tool to measure the spatial profiles of both ion types separately.

Chenkai Mao
Chenkai Mao

Chenkai Mao:
Electrical Engineering Ph.D. Student, Stanford University; Livermore Lab Foundation Fusion Fellow.
Novel Photonic Systems for Nano-3D-Printing.

Micro- and nanoscale-3D printing opens the door for applications including drug delivery, chip scale cooling, terahertz metamaterials, and materials for clean energy. However, most existing methods and industrial machinery suffer from low throughput. Mao’s two projects used a high-numerical-aperture-metalens array and dual-color light-sheet volumetric additive manufacturing techniques to realize high-throughput nano-3D-printing systems.

Alex Pietrow
Alex Pietrow

Alex Pietrow:
Physics Ph.D. Student, UC San Diego.
Effects of Back-Surface Degradation on TNSA Ions for Fast Ignition.

When a high-intensity (>1018 W/cm2) picosecond laser pulse irradiates a thin (<100 micron) foil, laser-accelerated electrons generate strong electrostatic fields on the rear surface, driving multi-MeV ion acceleration via a mechanism called target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA). Using particle-in-cell simulations, we study the effect of finite rear-surface density profiles that could be caused by laser pre-pulses or radiative heating of the foil on the TNSA generated ion spectrum.