My research interests center on laser-driven particle and radiation sources — electrons, photons, neutrons, and ions — produced through laser wakefield acceleration, laser-solid interaction, and laser-driven fusion. The overarching goal is to make these sources reliable, predictable, and useful for both fundamental science and real-world technology, spanning the full chain from source development to diagnostics to applications.
Our group has used the Texas Petawatt laser to demonstrate acceleration of high-charge electron bunches to 10 GeV(paper) by injecting metallic nanoparticles into the plasma — a technology that is now patented and has jump-started efforts to commercialize laser wakefield acceleration. Extended analysis of the data suggests hidden correlations in the electron beam phase space(github). Source development also extends to liquid targets for high-repetition-rate laser operation and laser-solid interactions for neutron and gamma-ray production, pushing toward target configurations suited for sustained, high-throughput operation.
In photon production, we have shown that ultra-high intensity lasers irradiating plasma in an optimal density range can drive jet-like distributions of high-energy (>MeV) photons with presently available lasers and simple, unstructured target plasma. With students at UT Austin, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Ludwig-Maxilimians University in Munich, we showed: (1) these jets can be produced with presently-available lasers(paper) and simple, unstructured target plasma, and (2) defining a jet observable(paper) opens the door to better measurements of the phenomenon and how it is controlled by laser and plasma initial conditions. I have summarized the challenges and needs(paper) to improve the theoretical description of radiation in strong-field plus plasma regime.
In an experiment with SLAC, we obtained high neutron yields(paper) best explained by deuteron-deuteron fusion in a small domain of laser-heated plasma, suggesting peak neutron fluxes exceeding 10²² per cm² per second. Such peak fluxes, especially when combined with a dense photon environment, may be reaching a threshold where novel studies of nuclear reaction cross sections become possible.
A recurring theme across my research is the development of observables and analysis algorithms for laboratory diagnostics — the tools needed to characterize particle beams, radiation, and the laser-plasma interaction itself in the challenging environments of high-intensity laser experiments. This includes electron beam characterization for laser wakefield accelerators (such as statistical methods for reconstructing transverse phase space from magnetic spectrometers), in-situ diagnostic signatures for fusion reactions, jet observables for high-intensity photon production, and interferometric and optical diagnostics for laser-plasma interaction conditions. Both traditional algorithmic approaches (signal processing, statistical reconstruction, model fitting) and machine learning methods are employed, choosing whichever is best suited to the physics and data at hand.
I have used the ensemble of past experiments to estimate the performance envelope of a laser wakefield accelerator(paper), that is the maximum achievable outcome for given inputs. I have also extended the definition of collider luminosity to laser-electron collisions, which are hoped to provide a tunable and bright source of high-energy (>MeV) photons for both applications and experimental tests of radiation at ultra-high acceleration. The laser-electron collision luminosity(paper) metric enables design optimization for photon or secondary-event yield.
Understanding the initial target conditions set by the laser pre-pulse is critical to source optimization. Under this theme, we develop theoretical models of laser pre-pulse heating and the resulting plasma expansion(paper), which determine the density and temperature profile that the main pulse encounters. Complementary interferometric diagnostics measure these pre-pulse plasma conditions experimentally. This work directly informs the design and interpretation of experiments across all source types, since pre-pulse conditions strongly influence the interaction physics and ultimately the source performance.
Beyond plasma physics in classic regime, my interests include the fundamental behavior of relativistic plasmas under strong electromagnetic fields. With collaborators in Brazil, I have proven the equivalence(paper) of accelerated frame and classical electrodynamics predictions for the electron recoil to radiation (as known as radiation reaction) under linear acceleration, identified a realistic observable, and evaluated the leading QED corrections. Wakefield accelerators appear to be best option to perform the relevant experiment, if stabilized and with enough statistics. I have also shown how choice of observables and laser fluctuations impact(paper) efforts to prove even basic theories of particle acceleration in laser fields.
Our work on high-energy photon production addresses fundamental questions at the intersection of QED and plasma physics: what are the quantum properties of a many-body system under the influence of a strong classical electromagnetic background, how can these be calculated consistently within the quantum field theory formalism, and what can we learn from them about strong gravitational fields?
I actively develop and apply computational approaches that accelerate the design and optimization of particle sources. I run comprehensive start-to-end simulations of laser-driven sources, modeling the full chain from laser-plasma interaction through nuclear reaction processes to particle production and transport — essential for designing experiments, interpreting diagnostic data, and projecting source performance to new operating regimes.
I build surrogate models for particle-in-cell simulations(github) using machine learning, reducing the computational cost of exploring large parameter spaces by orders of magnitude. I also use foundation models as versatile scientific tools for managing complex scientific workflows in laboratory settings, from literature searching(github), to experimental planning, to data analysis. These efforts complement my traditional and ML-based diagnostics work, forming an integrated computational toolkit for laser-driven source development.
The particle sources developed and studied in my research have applications across a wide range of domains. On the technology side, these include semiconductor and medical imaging, medical isotope production, and nuclear waste transmutation. On the fundamental science side, the work addresses plasma properties and fusion cross sections under extreme conditions, nuclear isomer population mechanisms, and the physics of particle radiation in strong electromagnetic fields. The interplay between applications and fundamental understanding is a defining feature of my research: application-driven constraints sharpen the physics questions, and deeper physics understanding opens new application pathways.
I used effective field theory methods to study the strong interactions(paper) known as quantum chromodynamics. I also studied nuclear physics phenomenology.