Chowdhury wins DOE High-Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas grant

Assistant Professor of Material Science and Engineering Enam Chowdhury recently won a $410,000 Department of Energy (DOE) award under the High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP) program. The three-year grant will fund development of ultrahigh intensity diagnostics for LaserNetUS facilities.

Chowdhury's three-year project incorporates a high spatial and temporal resolution optical probe and single atom probe to study materials, especially how nano-structured surfaces interact and evolve under extreme laser intensities. Deployment will take place at two LaserNetUS laboratories, the Advanced Beam Laboratory at Colorado State University and the BELLA facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, each with high repetition rate petawatt class laser systems. LaserNetUS is a DOE-supported consortium of seven top laser laboratories in the country, one of which is the Scarlet Laser Facility at Ohio State, which is led by Chowdhury.

The Ohio State-led project is one of eight HEDLP research grants totaling $3.5 million that will explore the behavior of matter at extreme conditions including temperature, density, and pressure.

“HEDLP is not only an exciting scientific frontier of plasma physics, but it also has the potential for practical applications in industry, homeland security, and defense,” said James van Dam, DOE Associate Director of Science for Fusion Energy Sciences.