Nigel Woolsey
Professor

Profile

Career

BSc (Bristol), PhD (Oxford)

Summary of expertise

• Laser-plasma physics
• Inertial confinement fusion
• Laboratory astrophysics and high energy density physics
• Ultra-intense laser-plasma interaction

Research

Overview

Research Group:

Research interests:

• How lasers interact with materials from 1e13 to 1e22 W/cm2 and above
• Plasma physics occurring in inertial confinement fusion experiments including indirect drive, fast ignition and shock ignition
• Creation of laboratory analogues and scaled experiments of astrophysical plasmas
• The transport of relativistic particles in high energy plasmas

Research group(s)

• Leo Doehl, PhD student. Work on the physics of ultra-intense laser-solid interactions.
• Phil Durey, PhD student. Working on ICF and X-ray spectroscopy measurement of hot spot mix
• Ellie Tubman, PhD student. Working on magnetised high energy density plasmas
• Dr Reem Alraddadi, graduated July 2016. Thesis: Modelling fast electron transport in solids and with application to Rayleigh-Taylor instability studies
• Dr. Rob Crowston, graduated July 2016. Thesis: The generation of upstream-propagating waves in astrophysically-relevant laboratory plasmas

Grants

• EPSRC: Physics of Ignition. This is in collaboration with Oxford
• LLNL: Academic Partnership in ICF

Available PhD research projects

Please contact me directly. Projects are available from time to time in ICF, laboratory astrophysics and ultra-intense laser-solid interactions.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Stage 4: Advanced Plasma Physics: Astrophysical Plasmas
• BSc Projects: current topics in laser-plasma physics and laboratory astrophysics
• MPhys Projects: current topics in laser-plasma physics and laboratory astrophysics

Postgraduate

• MSc Projects: current topics in laser-plasma physics and laboratory astrophysics