Lab Astrophysics and High Energy Densities

Supervisor:      Professor Jeremy Chittenden

Type:                     Computational

Funding:              Funding confirmed - requires UK nationality

The studentship will focus on the development of a new state of the art particle in cell modelling capability for the study of high energy density materials. The main objectives of this project are:
Investigation of the physics of intense particle beams generated using pulsed power systems or intense lasers and the effects of these intense particle fluxes on a background material.
Development of a new particle in cell code utilising advanced implicit methods for exact energy and charge conservation which enable longer physical timescales to be simulated. The model will also be built with the ability to utilise GPU computing architecture to enable massively parallel, large-scale computing
Implementation of models for intense particle fluxes in high energy density materials including the self-consistent modelling of electric and magnetic fields due to the particle space charge and currents as well as neutralisation or suppression of these fields by electrons within a surrounding plasma. Further models will be included for the slowing and scattering of the particle flux by the background material and the corresponding thermal and hydrodynamic response of the material.
Research into multiple applications such as the generation of intense X-ray sources using electron beams or for inertial confinement fusion concepts such as proton driven fast ignition as well as high yield fusion burn propagation driven by intense alpha particle fluxes.

Chittenden - Cohort 3 Advert

Supervisor:        Dr Grigory Kagan

Type:                    Theoretical/computational

Funding:              Pending

Magnetic field constrain charged particle orbits, thus affecting their collisional transport. On the other hand, magnetic field penetration into a plasma is governed by the electric conductivity; i.e., a charged particle transport process. This interplay results in a very intriguing physics of plasma mixing at magnetized interfaces.

Interplay between kinetic effects and magnetic fields at plasma interfaces

PhD project for October 2025
Type - Experimental
Funded for some students
Supervised by Prof Simon Bland

Hydrodynamic instabilities dominate material flow at all scales, from the generation of beautiful, yet exquisitely complex nebulae in supernova explosions , to the distribution of nutrition in living cells. Understanding and developing methods to control these instabilities is crucial to many applications, for instance the generation of clean, controlled fusion.
We will use a variety of techniques to generate Richtmyer Meshkov and Kelvin Helmholtz instabilities in shock wave driven experiments on MAGPIE and smaller pulsed power systems, then study their development to provide quantitative comparison to simulations whilst exploring new methods to mitigate the instability growth.

Supervisor:       Professor Stuart Mangles

Type:                  Mix of experimental and simulation

Funding:             Eligible for funding from STFC through JAI for home students.   International students there are scholarship options

Quantum Electrodynamics is one of the best tested models in physics, but at it’s heart QED is a perturbation theory. The next generation of high intensity lasers will be able to produce electromagnetic field strengths where it’s no longer possible to describe QED as a perturbation theory: so called “strong field QED”.

SFQED experiments will provide unique insight into this fundamental force and a platform to test SFQED models used to describe extreme astrophysical environments, such as the surface of magnetars and black holes.

By colliding the high-energy electrons produced by a laser wakefield accelerator with a very intense laser pulse we can access the electromagnetic field strengths where strong field QED is needed to describe reality. As the next generation of multi PW lasers come online (eg ZEUS in the USA, ELI-NP in Europe and the 20 PW projects Vulcan 20-20 and NSF-OPAL in the UK and USA) we will perform laser-electron beam collision experiments that test the emerging field of strong field QED.

Supervisor:    Dr Grigory Kagan

Type:                 Theoretical/Computational

Funding:           To be confirmed

When the plasma becomes dense one can no longer distinguish the binary acts of collisions; a new approach need to be developed for understanding the micro-physics. This is the case in the warm-dense-matter regimes relevant to many astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Of particular interest is the diffusion and thermal conduction. This project will aim at the very basic plasma physics; new many-body kinetic methods will be utilized to gain an insight into how the non-ideal plasma transport is different from the conventional, ideal case.

Transport in non-ideal, dense plasmas

PhD project for October 2025

Supervisor:            Prof. Simon Bland

Type:                        Experimental

Funding:                  Fully funded for UK students

Warm dense plasmas are extremely difficult to model, combining the properties of plasmas with coupling between particles (atoms, electrons, ions) more commonly associated with solids and liquids. One method to produce these plasmas is through the ablation of targets by intense bursts of X-ray radiation.
This PhD builds on previous efforts on the MAGPIE facility to explore the effects of X-ray bursts on solar panels; studying how X-ray energies and intensities will affect the heating and ablation of targets on the nanosecond scale. We will use an array of diagnostics including interferometry, Thomson scattering, X-ray radiography and spectrometry to produce quantitative measurements of the ablating plasmas from different target materials and compare them to cutting edge simulations. This will enable us to better understand the ablation process and optimize it for different purposes such as creating flows of dense plasmas for laboratory astrophysics experiments..