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The Space Science Institute’s (SSI) 2026 summer student cohort with their mentors and program coordinators.

‘A science theme park’: Space science internship offers hands-on access to specialized tools

For the second summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Space Science Institute (SSI) welcomed undergraduate and graduate students to a 10-week internship exploring astronomy, cosmochemistry and astrophysics. Throughout the summer, the 2026 student cohort worked alongside their LLNL mentors on projects reflecting the variety of capabilities available onsite…

LLNL scientists and engineers learned to turn events too fast, too hot and too dense to touch into knowledge.

The Big Ideas Lab takes measure of NIF diagnostics

How do you measure what can’t be seen? In the medical field, this is routine. Thermometers check temperatures and X-rays can show broken bones. But what if you are trying to measure something hotter than the center of the sun that vanishes in 100 trillionths of a second? What if it’s an experiment on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF)…

New melting experiments confirm that diamond floats in metallic liquid carbon at high pressures, much like ice cubes float in a glass of water. (Artist concept: James Wickboldt/LLNL)

Melting diamond could unlock triple fusion gain and the secrets of ice-giant planets

Diamond is more than a dazzling gem — the extremely hard form of carbon makes up the pellet that encases fuel for inertial confinement fusion, and scientists believe it rains down deep inside ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus. In both cases, the material experiences enormous pressures. Until now, experiments and simulations have disagreed about how it actually…

Collage of students

PLS interns shine at the annual poster showcase

The 2026 Physical and Life Sciences (PLS) Summer Student Showcase took place on July 29 in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Library. The day-long event featured the research projects of nearly 130 student interns from across PLS’s divisions. This annual event is a great way for students to practice their science communication skills and gives them the…

Experiments at the National Ignition Facility used direct laser-driven compression of iron to pressure-temperature conditions relevant to Earth’s inner core, with x-ray radiography and VISAR diagnostics. Credit: Brain Chavez/LLNL and Universidad de Mendoza.

Measuring iron in motion at earth-core conditions

It was a journey to the center of the Earth, if only for the briefest of moments. But rather than tunneling thousands of miles from the Earth’s surface, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and several universities used the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to recreate those extreme temperature and pressure conditions of the Earth’s inner core…

Target chamber at the OMEGA laser facility at the University of Rochester, New York (Credit: OMEGA Laser Facility)

Laser experiments push helium to record shock pressures

Deep inside gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, hydrogen and helium coexist under pressures millions of times greater than Earth’s atmosphere. At those conditions, helium may separate from hydrogen and influence a planet’s internal heat flow, structure and magnetic field. Understanding these processes and how these materials behave under extreme conditions is essential to…

An international cohort gathered at the University of California Livermore Collaboration Center for a workshop focused on ideas at the boundary of fusion science. (Photos: Blaise Douros/LLNL)

LLNL, UC San Diego host workshop for innovative fusion concepts

More than 80 attendees recently gathered at the University of California (UC) Livermore Collaboration Center for the Innovative Concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy (IC-IFE) 2026 International Physics Workshop. Hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC San Diego, the three-day conference was supported by the Japan-U.S. Collaboration Program in Fusion…

Plot showing plasma-edge behavior under different density conditions, illustrating that higher scrape-off layer density is associated with smaller instabilities.

Tuning plasma edge density suppresses damaging tokamak instabilities

Tokamak fusion reactors use powerful magnetic fields to confine superheated plasmas, but the plasma edge—the outermost region where magnetic containment begins to weaken—can become unstable. These instabilities, called edge-localized modes (ELMs), can suddenly release intense bursts of heat and particles toward reactor walls and the divertor, the exhaust system that…

The Electron Beam Ion Trap works like a scalpel, isolating the emission from a single ion species or probing specific atomic processes with surgical precision. (Graphic: Dan Herchek)

Meet the machines that matter: the Electron Beam Ion Trap

Imagine listening to an orchestra: overlapping notes, blended timbres and complex harmonies coming together into a cohesive symphony. Now try to isolate a single instrument and the sounds it produces. Nearly impossible, right? The same is true for collections of ions, charged particles that have gained or lost electrons. Each ion — from hydrogen to lithium to lead and…

John Copley works at a laptop with a computer simulation on a screen behind him.

HEDS Fellow John Copley’s modeling methodology

John Copley is the newest High Energy Density Science (HEDS) Center fellow at Lawrence Livermore. This fellowship provides him with the opportunity to independently pursue research related to the study of matter and energy in extreme conditions. In Copley’s case, this involves developing improved methods for modeling material phase transformations and equilibria at high…

Federica Coppari holds a liquid cell target.

Federica Coppari handles the pressure

There are several ways here on Earth to create the pressures and temperatures required to probe material behavior at extreme conditions, like those found in the interiors of stars and planets, for example. Federica Coppari, a research scientist in the Physics Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), specializes in studying materials at the most extreme…

LLNL's Dan Casey speaks with US IFE conference attendees

LLNL experts help advance inertial fusion energy at U.S. IFE conference

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) joined their counterparts from national laboratories, universities, industry and government in a conference last month to discuss the progress, challenges and priorities for moving toward an inertial fusion energy (IFE) future in the United States. The U.S. IFE conference brought together the growing IFE…

An artist conception of a neutron star

NASA's Roman telescope poised to transform hunt for elusive neutron stars

Astronomers have long known that neutron stars, the crushed cores left behind after massive stars explode, should be scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy. However, most of them are effectively invisible. A new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics suggests NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could spot them anyway. Using detailed simulations of…

LLNL’s Innovation and Partnerships Office and the rare-earth element biomining research team

LLNL researchers, partnerships office earn technology transfer awards

The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) has recognized the commercialization efforts of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)’s researchers and Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO) for the mission innovation impact of two Lab-developed technologies through a 2026 award and an honorable mention. IPO’s Business Development Executive (BDE) Yash Vaishnav and…

Educators lead an activity titled 'Be the Quantum Computer.' Three students hold single-digit placards showing 1 or 0, while seven students wear placards displaying various 3-digit combinations of 0s and 1s.

Quantum computing leaps into Science on Saturday

LLNL’s popular education outreach program, Science on Saturday, continued its “Computing the Future” lecture series on the last weekend of February with a presentation titled “Quantum Computing: A Cool Way to Compute the Impossible.” LLNL quantum physicists Kristin (Kristi) Beck and Sean O'Kelley (both PHYS) teamed up with veteran educator Stan Hitomi from Dougherty Valley…

The Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research (JASPER) facility at the Nevada National Security Site uses a two-stage gas gun to study plutonium under extreme conditions.

Big Ideas Lab podcast explores JASPER and the science of measuring plutonium under extreme conditions

In less than a microsecond, a projectile traveling thousands of meters per second strikes its target, generating pressures and temperatures too extreme to observe directly. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), scientists use that moment to answer complex questions for national security. The latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast takes listeners to the…

With recently awarded funding, LLNL will develop quantum and machine learning-accelerated software tools and apply them to discovering ultra-strong, lightweight magnets that are crucial for electronic motors, generators and high-performance information technology. (Image: Janelle Cataldo / LLNL)

LLNL to harness quantum computing for next-generation magnets

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been selected to lead a project that will receive $4.1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) as part of the Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry (QC3) program. QC3 seeks to develop and apply quantum algorithms to accelerate simulations of chemistry…

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has announced five research teams selected for awards through the Lab’s FY26 Academic Collaboration Team annual call for proposals.

Weapons Physics & Design ACT awards drive university partnerships and research

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has announced five research teams selected for awards through the Lab’s FY26 Academic Collaboration Team (ACT) annual call for proposals. Awards support university research partners for up to three years to perform research in collaboration with Lab scientists and offer an important way to build long-term connections with…

A grain boundary defect with two phases (green and orange) in a tungsten crystal (blue) at 1848 degrees Kelvin. A new model gradually adds and removes atoms to calculate material structure and properties that were previously impossible to obtain. (Graphic: Dan Herchek)

Allowing atoms to come and go opens the door to better materials modeling

Most materials, especially metals and ceramics, are crystals. Their atoms are arranged in three-dimensional lattices that repeat the same exact pattern, over and over again. But there’s a well-known saying in materials science: “Crystals are like people. It is the defects that tend to make them interesting.” In a new study, published in Physical Review Letters, researchers…

The 2026 DMTS cohort is pictured here

LLNL honors 36 as 2026 Distinguished Members of Technical Staff

Thirty-six Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have been named Distinguished Members of Technical Staff (DMTS) in recognition of their extraordinary scientific and technical contributions, as affirmed by their professional peers and the broader scientific community. As distinguished citizens of the Laboratory and their respective fields, DMTS honorees…