Ou Z. Labun

I build the physics models and AI tools that let high-intensity laser experiments be designed, diagnosed, and controlled between shots, from reduced ionization and heating models to graph-network PIC surrogates deployed at operating facilities.

I have contributed to experiments producing 10 GeV electron beams from nanoparticle-assisted hybrid wakefield acceleration, and have built a graph-network surrogate that runs roughly 1000× faster than particle-in-cell simulation and a latent state-space diagnostic validated against more than 100,000 shots of continuous accelerator operation. I hold $1.05M as principal investigator, through the AFOSR Young Investigator Program and DOE/NNSA.

I am Ou Z. Labun, a research associate in the Center for High Energy Density Science, Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin. I study particle source generation from plasmas interacting with high-intensity lasers, Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator for laser wakefield accelerator development, and PI of a DOE/NNSA grant on high-energy-density physics experiments.

I earned my PhD in physics at the University of Arizona in 2017 and was a postdoctoral fellow at UT Austin from 2018 to 2023, including a period as machine learning scientist at Tau Systems working on high-repetition-rate laser-plasma accelerators. Before moving to the United States I studied applied mathematics (B.S.) and physics (M.A.) at Peking University.

Also published as Ou Zhang.

I grew up in Beijing, China. In my spare time, I enjoy endurance exercises such as marathons and Ironman distance triathlons. In 2022, I qualified for half-marathon XTERRA Planet Trail Run World Championship (Hooray!). I am also a mother of two, and a practitioner of Chinese calligraphy.