The field of high-energy-density (HED) physics refers to experiments where the energy density (pressure) of the materials involved is increased to the point where new and interesting effects, normally negligible in everyday circumstances, become magnified and important. The conditions where these new physical effects become important – with pressures above one million atmospheres typical, flow speeds often above 100 km/s, and experiment durations frequently not exceeding several nanoseconds – can only be reached with the aid of large experimental facilities, such as the laser fusion research facilities at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester NY or the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The author plans to summarize his opportunities in HED physics both as a graduate student working in the area of radiation hydrodynamics, fluids in which the temperature is so high that new thermodynamic effects relating to the energy in the photon field begin to dominate the flow behavior, as well as his more recent work in the area of HED turbulence, in which classical theories of fluid mechanics are tested to see how well they scale to the more intense HED regimes.
University
Los Alamos National Laboratory