Affiliated Students

Research area keywords: laser-plasma ion acceleration, high-repetition rate diagnostics for ion acceleration on ZEUS

Veronica received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California – Davis in 2020. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Michigan where she works in the High Field Science group of CUOS under the direction of her advisor Dr. Louise Willingale. She is studying ion acceleration from intense laser-plasma experiments and building up a high-repetition rate diagnostic for ion acceleration to be used on ZEUS. In addition, she has had the opportunity to participate in direct laser acceleration experiments at the OMEGA-EP laser facility at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics studying ion acceleration.

Research area keywords: high power laser development, high intensity laser-plasma interaction, table-top particle accelerators

Research profile on ResearchGate. 

In 2016, Nicholas received his bachelor’s degree in Physics (with highest honors) from Missouri University of Science and Technology while he competed on the NCAA track and cross country teams. Thereafter he attended the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, where he is currently a doctoral student
in the Applied Physics department with embedded emphasis on plasma physics (Cert. Plasma Science and Engineering) and optics (M.Sc. Electrical Engineering).

He is part of the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science (CUOS) working under the advisership of Dr. Karl Krushelnick. His current projects include experimental and computational work on high intensity laser-plasma interactions for the next generation of table-top particle accelerators and radiation devices. In addition to this, Nicholas has an interest in the development of high power laser systems and has been
involved in design considerations for the ZEUS 3 PW laser.

Outside of the lab, Nicholas can be found running around Ann Arbor, backpacking in the mountains, playing overly complex boardgames, or drinking coffee after mass at St. Thomas the Apostle – Ann Arbor.

In 2022, Nicholas was selected as a Michigan Institute of Plasma Physics and Engineering (MIPSE) Fellow.

Research area keywords: high-energy diagnostic development, multi-MeV photon production and measurement

Rebecca received her B.S. degree in both physics and math with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2020. Her research focused on atomic, molecular, and optical physics before making the switch to plasma physics at the start of graduate school. She is currently pursuing her PhD as part of the Applied Physics department under the guidance of Dr. Alec Thomas. Her current research focuses on the development of a high-repetition-rate gamma ray spectrometer for ZEUS, and she has worked with both gas targets and solid targets during experiments at a variety of laser facilities to study topics such as multi-MeV photon generation, nonlinear Compton scattering, and betatron radiation. 

Research area keywords: Direct laser acceleration of electrons, high intensity laser-plasma interactions, high rep-rate diagnostics for ZEUS

Nicolas received his B.A. in Physics with honors from University of California — Berkeley in 2023. During his four years there, he worked in a niche area of plasma physics, investigating antimatter behavior as part of the ALPHA experiment at CERN. 

In the fall of 2023 he began as an Applied Physics Ph.D. at the University of Michigan — Ann Arbor. Nicolas works with Dr. Louise Willingale in the realm of high intensity laser-plasma physics. His current work involves experimental and computational investigations into techniques for laser acceleration of electrons, as well as the development of diagnostics for ZEUS.

His academic interests are quite broad and extend beyond his immediate research. Outside of the lab, Nicolas enjoys swimming almost daily and playing volleyball.

Research area keywords: laser-induced electromagnetic pulses (EMP), laser-plasma magnetic field generation

Joshua received an A.B. degree in Physics from Princeton University in 2020, publishing work on the physics of solar plasma jets. Upon starting work towards his Ph.D. degree at the University of Michigan’s Center for Ultrafast Optical Sciences, he has taken an interest in the physics of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation from laser-plasma interactions and the mitigation of such EMPs for experimental fidelity at the ZEUS laser facility. He is also interested in the generation and destruction of magnetic fields in laser-generated plasmas, conducting experiments at the OMEGA-EP facility at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Research area keywords: laser wakefield acceleration, laser-plasma interactions, control of laser beam pointing instabilities

Tanner received his B.S.E. degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Michigan in 2022. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Nuclear Engineering department at the University of Michigan where he works in the High Field Science group of CUOS under the direction of his advisor Dr. Karl Krushelnick. He is studying laser wakefield acceleration and laser plasma interactions through experiments and simulations. He is also working on the control of laser beam pointing instabilities for the ZEUS facility. 

Research area keywords: Lepton spin-and photon polarization-resolved QED simulation, Laser-plasma interaction

Qian received his bachelor’s degree in Apply Physics from Southeast University, Nanjing, in 2018. He is currently a graduate student in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the University of Michigan. His research interest includes lepton spin-and photon polarization-resolved QED simulation and laser-plasma interaction.

Research area keywords: High harmonic generation, plasma physics, attosecond science

Jeremy received a bachelors in physics with minors in mathematics and computational modeling from Michigan State University. In undergrad he published on nuclear astrophysics and was heavily involved in both the SPS and Astronomy club leadership. Upon joining Michigan for a PhD in applied physics Jeremy began his work with Professor Krushelnick on laser plasma interactions at the ZEUS laser facility. He currently works on both simulations and experiments involving high harmonic generation from solid target laser interactions.