JOINT MAE-CER SEMINAR

Magnetized ICF

John D. Moody, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
November 29, 2017, 11:00am - 12:00pm, EBU-II 479

ABSTRACT:

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in astrophysical and laboratory-produced plasmas where they can affect energy and particle transport. Laser-generated high-energy density plasmas are known to generate B-fields which advect, dissipate, and alter transport; however, relatively little data exists for checking existing models of B-field dynamics and affects. This talk will cover some of the experimental efforts we are taking in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program at LLNL to better understand self-generated B-fields in hohlraums and the potential uses for externally-applied B-fields for ignition and basic science.

BIO:

John is the campaign co-lead for Hohlraum Science on NIF and the optical diagnostics and hohlraum experiments group leader.  His responsibilities include defining and executing experiments which develop understanding of NIF hohlraums in order to improve hohlraum predictive capability and develop hohlraums which can expand the design space for ignition designs.  In addition, John is developing experiments to produce magnetized HED plasmas for basic physics studies.  This includes a collaborative effort with Sandia on Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion, building a pulsed-power capability on NIF, developing an experimental effort to characterize the topology of self-generated B-fields in NIF hohlraums, and exploring laser-driven magnetic fields.

John attended UC Berkeley from 1978 to 1982 where he received a BA in Physics.  He continued his study of Physics at MIT from 1982 to 1988 where he received a PhD in plasma physics for work on the Alcator C tokamak.  John took a post-doc at UCSD from 1988 to 1991 where he worked on linear and non-linear waves in pure electron plasmas.  In 1991 John took another post-doc at LLNL where he studied laser-plasma interactions (LPI) in laser-produced plasmas.  John developed experiments to study laser beam transmission and forward scattering in laser plasmas.  In 2000 John took over the cryo layering group where he helped develop layering methods, optical and x-ray diagnostic methods and analytical tools for fuel layer growth and evaluation.  Recently, John is focusing his efforts on hohlraum science, laser-plasma interactions and magnetized HED plasmas.