Laser Modeling Physicist

Company Description

Are you interested in joining some of the brightest talent in the world to strengthen the United States’ security? Come join Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where our employees apply their expertise to create solutions for BIG ideas that make our world a better place. We are dedicated to fostering a culture that values individuals, talents, partnerships, ideas, experiences, and different perspectives, recognizing their importance to the continued success of the Laboratory’s mission.

• $140,700 - $214,032 Annually
• $140,700 - $178,392 Annually for the SES.
  2 level
• $168,780 - $214,032 Annually for the SES.
  3 level

This is the lowest to highest salary we in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting; pay will not be below any applicable local minimum wage. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, specific competencies, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

We are seeking a Laser Modeling Physicist within our Laser Science and Systems Engineering Program to participate in the research, development, and modeling of advanced solid state laser technology, and high energy laser design for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). This work will take place within the National Ignition Facility & Photon Science (NIF&PS) Directorate, home to the world’s most energetic laser.

It is an exciting time to join the team that achieved fusion ignition in December 2022, a historic moment in science, opening up new physics regimes and setting the stage for new Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) possibilities.

You will perform design, modeling, and commissioning of cutting‑edge laser technology development and potentially execute experiments to verify and validate advanced laser concepts relevant to ICF laser driver architectures, laser propagation/amplification, linear and nonlinear optics and laser matter interaction research. This position is in the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science (NIF&PS) Principal Associate Directorate (PAD).

• Contribute to the development of advanced laser physics and nonlinear optics models coupled with the existing LLNL beam propagation code VBL++ (Virtual Beam Line) running on both single and extreme parallel‑processor high performance computers with the goal to optimize designs for NIF & Next Generation of High Energy Density (NG‑HED) facilities and ICF‑IFE architectures;
• Collaborate with the Computer Science team and provide solutions to experiments that will validate the physics captured in the thermo‑mechanical codes used to predict the impact of thermal and mechanical effects on beam quality (wavefront and polarization) at the component level and at the system level, when coupled with VBL++;
• Work within a dynamic team environment to document research; publish papers in peer‑reviewed journals, and present results within the DOE community and at conferences;
• Utilize independent judgement along with scientific methods and techniques, contributing to the fulfillment of research and development in one or more of the following areas: modeling and experimental testing of optical parametric short pulse amplifiers, chirped pulse amplification, solid state laser materials science, high‑speed electro‑optics devices, atmospheric beam propagation, frequency conversion and non‑linear optics, and design of advanced laser architectures for NG‑HED in support of National Security missions;
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Utilize in‑depth analysis, contributing to the development of experimental campaigns to enhance NIF performance;
• Conduct technical tasks for advanced laser models using innovative methods and subject knowledge. Work includes expansion beyond the state of the VBL++ art (e.g., related to nonlinear stimulated processes, or nonlinear optics interaction in non‑paraxial regime).

• Ability to secure and maintain a U.S. DOE Q‑level security clearance…