Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory



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A multi-laboratory Burning Plasma Team that included numerous Livermore researchers received the John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research for cutting-edge experimentation performed at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Presented by the American Physical Society, the award recognizes the first laboratory demonstration of a burning deuterium-tritium plasma where alpha heating dominates the plasma energetics. The team’s work in inertial fusion, detailed in the January 26 issue of Nature Physics, signified a key milestone in attaining the 1.3 megajoule yield at NIF in August 2021 and the promise of progress in the pursuit of self-sustaining fusion energy.


Laboratory plasma scientist Alison Ruth Christopherson earned the American Physical Society’s (APS) Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award for her work describing theoretical foundations of fusion alpha heating and metrics applied to thermonuclear ignition in inertially confined plasmas. The award, named for a famed fusion plasma theorist, recognizes original thesis work of outstanding scientific quality and achievement in plasma physics and includes an invitation to speak at the annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics. Livermore’s Omar Hurricane co-nominated Christopherson for the award citing her important efforts to confirm theory with both experiments and simulations.