Postdoctoral Appointee - Radiation and Fusion Target Design, Onsite

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The Radiation and Fusion Target Design department has an opening for a postdoctoral physicist emphasizing design of imploding targets for the Z machine. A particular area of emphasis will be on design of multi‑layer MagLIF targets in the presence of pulse shaping. Most Z fusion experiments utilize a synchronous short pulse waveform to provide maximum power to the target and minimize time for instability growth.

However, the recent proposal of multi‑layer targets utilizing heterogeneous materials opens the design space to improve performance by considering differences in material response. A successful applicant for this position will utilize multi‑physics codes to design and assess target concepts that exploit differences in material response under tailored current drive. If promising designs are identified, work will also include work with a large team of experimentalists and technologists to execute and diagnose these experiments on the Z machine.

The successful candidate will perform the following duties:

On any given day, you may be called on to:

• Collaborate as part of an integrated team to plan and execute research on magnetically driven inertial confinement fusion targets
• Work independently to design experiments and analyze simulation and diagnostic results
• Develop new understanding of layered target performance through computational modeling and comparison with experimental data
• Publish findings and engage with the broader scientific community. Due to the nature of the work, the selected applicant will be required to work onsite.

• PhD in Physics, Applied Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Astronomy, or a related discipline (PhD must be conferred within five (5) years prior to employment)
• Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q security clearance

• Experience in the use of theory or computational tools to probe the nature of fusion‑relevant plasmas
• A technical competency in the development of high‑energy‑density experiments, demonstrated through publications in refereed journals
• Excellent communication skills demonstrated through presentations at professional scientific conferences

Department 1684 works to design and analyze fusion and radiation producing experiments on Sandia's Z facility. Scientists in the department use a variety of tools, including scientific computing, artificial intelligence and theoretical models to advance the frontiers of high‑energy‑density plasma experiments. We have a close collaborative relationship with sister organizations tasked with performing Z experiments and developing diagnostics to better understand their characteristics.

This work enables new applications to stockpile science with pulsed…