Affiliated Students

Research area keywords: Laser Wakefield Acceleration,  Laser-plasma interactions, Relativistic plasma instability

Research profile on Google Scholar.

Jason Cardarelli (he/him) received his bachelor’s degree in physics with honors from the University of South Florida in 2018. He is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Science department at the University of Michigan, wherein he works in the High-Field Science group of CUOS under the direction of his advisor Dr. Alec Thomas. Now working primarily with the ZEUS laser system at the University of Michigan, Jason has also had the opportunity to work on laser wakefield experimental collaborations at the Gemini Laser in Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK; the ALEPH 800nm laser at Colorado State University; and the ALLS laser in Montréal, Canada thanks to both DOE and NSF funding sources. Jason has research experience in laser-wakefield electron acceleration, plasma PIC simulations, optics laboratory equipment, and nanoparticle material science. Jason is expected to graduate during summer 2023.

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: 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.