Summary of Research
This fall, I will begin doctoral research at MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center under Johan Frenje, whose group specializes in nuclear diagnostics for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at major facilities like the National Ignition Facility and OMEGA. The work centers on developing and applying instruments that measure plasma parameters such as neutron yield, ion temperature, and areal density to better understand what happens inside an imploding fusion capsule.
My specific project will take shape during my first year, but will likely involve some mix of diagnostic development, experimental data analysis, and computational modeling. This research sits at the front lines of burning plasma science, a field that gained significant momentum following the 2022 ignition milestone at NIF, and is directly relevant to the broader pursuit of fusion energy.
Publications
Publications, Technical Reports, and Patents
Hancock, L., Mertes, K., Carr, A., Xia, X., Sweeney, C., Ikeya, M., Chen, Y., Esposito, V., Hodge, D., Hoidn, O., Martin, W. M., Mettry Yassa, M., Parisuaña, C., Sato, T., Sechrest, Y., Seaberg, M. H., Song, S., Vong, A., White, A., Sandberg, R. L., Gleason, A. E. (2025). Determining the nanostructure of polymer foams using 3D ptycho tomography for inertial fusion energy applications. Physics of Plasmas, 32(10), 102707.
Vong, A., Henke, S., Hoidn, O., Ruth, H., Deng, J., Hexemer, A., Mehta, A., Gleason, A., Hancock, L., Schwarz, N. (2025). Towards generalizable deep ptychography neural networks. arXiv preprint, arXiv:2509.25104.
Martin, W. M., Nilsen, J., Fletcher, L. B., MacDonald, M. J., Andersen, L., Arnott, A., Bellenbaum, H., Böhme, M., Boiadjieva, N., Czapla, N., Cowan, T. E., Döppner, T., Dyer, G., Ettelbrick, R. N., Falcone, R., Faubel, S., Galtier, E., Laso Garcia, A., Gawne, T., Hancock, L., et al. (2025). Characterizing laser heated polymer foams with simultaneous X ray fluorescence spectroscopy and Thomson scattering at the Matter in Extreme Conditions endstation at LCLS. Physics of Plasmas, 32(7), 072701.
Carr, A., Sechrest, Y., Mertes, K., Patterson, B. M., Wohlberg, B., Hancock, L., Sirica, N., Sandberg, R., Sweeney, C., Hunter, J., Ward, W., Seaberg, M. H., Zhu, D., Esposito, V., Galtier, E., Song, S., Baumann, T. F., Stadermann, M., Gleason, A., Weisse Bernstein, N. R. (2024). Morphology of copper nanofoams for radiation hydrodynamics and fusion applications investigated by 3D ptycho tomography. Nano Letters, 24(32).
Lewis, W. K., Craft, E. M., Walsh, P. S. (2024). Apparatus for measuring fuel thermal stability, deposit formation rate, and in situ reactivity via optical methods. US Patent 11,906,500. Hancock, L., contributor.
Swartz, P., Hobbs, K., Hancock, L., Salih, R., Clark, M. R. (2021). Adversarial robustness of machine learning based indoor positioning systems. Proceedings of SPIE, 11751, 117510G.
Conference Posters and Presentations
Hancock, L. (2025). Revealing nanostructure and density variations in polymer foams for inertial fusion energy. APS Division of Plasma Physics Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA. Poster.
Hancock, L. (2025). Advanced 3D imaging of polymer foams for inertial fusion energy applications. FiO+LS / Optica Undergraduate Research Symposium, Denver, CO. Poster.
Hancock, L. (2025). Modeling the nanostructure of polymer foams using 3D ptycho tomography for inertial fusion energy applications. IFE STAR Conference, Breckenridge, CO. Poster.
Hancock, L. (2025). Nanostructure of polymer foams using 3D ptycho tomography for inertial fusion energy applications. BYU Student Research Conference, Provo, UT. Oral presentation.
Hancock, L. (2024). Performance of convolutional neural networks for image registration. BYU Student Research Conference, Provo, UT. Oral presentation.
Hancock, L. (2023). Automatic alignment of tomographic projection data using machine learning. FiO+LS / Optica Undergraduate Research Symposium, Tacoma, WA. Oral presentation.
Hancock, L. (2023). Analysis of copper foams in fusion capsules using coherent X ray imaging and tomography. BYU Student Research Conference, Provo, UT. Oral presentation.
Awards
Barry Goldwater Scholar, 2025
American Nuclear Society Fusion Energy Division Dr. Kenneth R. Schultz Undergraduate Scholarship, 2025
Google - Society of Physics Students Scholarship, 2025
Society of Physics Students Outstanding Leadership Award, 2025
Roger and Francell Bottomfield Scholarship (BYU College Scholarship), 2025
Outstanding Chapter Award, as Society of Physics Students (BYU Chapter) President, 2024, 2025
Scholarship America Dream Award, 2024
BYU Student Research Conference Section Winner, 2023, 2024
Dean's List, Brigham Young University, 2020, 2023, 2024, 2025
Russell M. Nelson Presidential Scholar (Most prestigious BYU acadedemic scholarship, 150% tuition, ~0.5% of applicants), 2019