Rebecca Dylla-Spears is a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). She holds degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (B.S.) and the University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.). Her research interests include materials, manufacturing, and processing science related to a variety of national security missions and applications.  She currently serves as the Deputy Chemistry Lead for the W80-4 life extension program and as Deputy for the Advanced Manufacturing Development program. These efforts span a range of materials, manufacturing methods, and characterization approaches aimed at ensuring the safety and security of the nation’s stockpile. Rebecca is a subject matter expert in glass additive manufacturing and oversees a research portfolio aimed at using 3D printing to create new optical materials and glass components with tailorable structure and material properties.

Rebecca spent the first 12 years of her career at LLNL supporting programs for the NIF & Photon Science (NIF&PS) directorate, where she gained experience with optical fabrication, glasses, crystals, coatings, and assemblies.  She served as group leader for advanced optical materials and processing science and technology in NIF&PS, where she also led and managed the optics supply, processing, and R&D efforts for the DPAL and Barbera laser programs.  Previously, Rebecca served as a subject matter expert for growing cryogenic, single-crystalline deuterium-tritium fuel layers for fusion experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF).  She helped develop processes for fabrication of specialized laser optics used in the HAPLS laser now used at the ELI laser facility and contributed to optical polishing science efforts, including developing methods for slurry stabilization and filtration.

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 2009

B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 2000

B.A., Liberal Arts / Plan II, University of Texas at Austin, 2000

A. Chinn, E. Marsh, T. Nguyen, Z. Alhejaj, M. Butler, B. Nguyen, K. Sasan, R. Dylla-Spears, J. Destino, Silica-encapsulated germania colloids as 3D-printable glass precursors, ACS Omega 7, 17492-17500, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c02292

N.A. Dudukovic, M.E. Ellis, M.M. Foster, R.L. Walton, D.T. Nguyen, B. Giera, R. Dylla-Spears, “3D printing of void-free glass monoliths: rheological and geometric considerations,” Rheologica Acta 61 (10), 773-784, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00397-022-01367-8

J. Ha, K. Sasan, T.D. Yee, A.P. Lange, D.T. Nguyen, N. Dudukovic, R. Dylla-Spears

Refractive Index and Abbe Number Tuning via 3D Printable Optical Quality Silica-Titania-Germania Glasses," Advanced Photonics Research 2200017, 2022.  https://doi.org/10.1002/adpr.202200017

A. Lange, K. Sasan, L.B. Bayu Aji, T.Y. Yee, J. Ha, F.J. Ryerson, G. Remulla, R. Dylla-Spears, “Mass Transport in Binary TiO2:SiO2 and GeO2:SiO2 Direct Ink Write Glasses,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society 105, 4681-4690, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.18422

R. Dylla-Spears. Invited Perspective, “Preshaping Clear Glass at Low Temperature,” Science 2021, 372, 6538. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg7657

R. Dylla-Spears, T.D. Yee, K. Sasan, D.T. Nguyen, N.A. Dudukovic, J.M. Ortega, M.A. Johnson, O.D. Herrera, F.J. Ryerson, L.L. Wong, “3D Printed Gradient Index Glass Optics,” Sci. Adv. 6, eabc7429, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc7429

K. Sasan, A. Lange, T. Yee, N. Dudukovic, M.A. Johnson, O. Herrera, J.H. Yoo, A. Sawvel, M. Ellis, C. Mah, R. Ryerson, L. Wong, T. Suratwala, J. Destino, R. Dylla-Spears, “Additive Manufacturing of Optical Quality Germania-Silica Glasses,” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12, 5, 6736-67, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b21136

D.T. Nguyen, T.D. Yee, N.A. Dudukovic, K. Sasan, A.W. Jaycox, A.M. Golobic, E.B. Duoss, R. Dylla-Spears, “3D Printing of Compositional Gradients Using the Microfluidic Circuit Analogy,” Advanced Mater. Technol., 4 (12), 1900784, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201900784

N.A. Dudukovic, L.A. Wong, D.T. Nguyen, J.F. Destino, T.D. Yee, F.J. Ryerson, T. Suratwala, E. Duoss, R. Dylla-Spears, “Predicting Nanoparticle Suspension Viscoelasticity for Multimaterial 3D Printing of Silica-Titania Glass,” ACS Applied Nano Materials, 1(8), 4038-4044, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.8b00821

J.F. Destino, N.A. Dudukovic, M.A. Johnson, D.T. Nguyen, T.D. Yee, G.C. Egan, A.M. Sawvel, W.A. Steele, T.F. Baumann, E.B. Duoss, T. Suratwala, R. Dylla-Spears, “3D Printed Optical Quality Silica and Silica-Titania Glasses from Sol-Gel Feedstocks,” Adv. Mater. Tech., 2018, https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201700323.

D.T. Nguyen, C. Meyers, T.D. Yee, N.A. Dudukovic, J.F. Destino, C. Zhu, E.B. Duoss, T.F. Baumann, T. Suratwala, J. Smay, R. Dylla-Spears, “3D Printed Transparent Glass,” Adv. Mater., 2017, 29, 1770185. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201701181

T. Suratwala, W. Steele, M. Feit, N. Shen, L. Wong, R. Dylla-Spears, R. Desjardin, S. Elhadj, P. Miller, “Relationship between surface –roughness and interface slurry particle spatial distribution during glass polishing,” J. Amer. Ceramics Soc., 2017, DOI: 10.1111/jace.14820

R. Dylla-Spears, L. Wong, N. Shen, W. Steele, J. Menapace, P. Miller, M. Feit, T. Suratwala, “Adsorption of silica colloids onto like-charged silica surfaces of different roughness,” Coll. Surf. A, 520, 85-96, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2017.01.042

N. Shen, T. Suratwala, W. Steele, L. Wong, M.D. Feit, P.E. Miler, R. Dylla-Spears, R. Desjardin, “Nanoscratching of Optical Glass Surfaces Near the Elastic-Plastic Load Boundary to Mimic the Mechanics of Polishing Particles,” J. Amer. Ceramics Soc., 99, 1477-1484, 2016.

S. J. Shin, L.A. Zepeda-Ruiz, J.R.I. Lee, S.H. Baxamusa, R. Dylla-Spears, T. Suratwala, B.J. Kozioziemski, “Supercooling of Hydrogen on Template Materials to Deterministically Seed Ignition-Quality Solid Fuel Layers,” Fusion Sci. & Tech., 70, 184-190, 2016.

J. D. Sater, F. Espinosa-Loza, B. Kozioziemski, E. R. Mapoles, R. Dylla-Spears, J. W. Pipes, C. F. Walters, Technique for Forming Solid D₂ and D-T Layers for Shock Timing Experiments at the National Ignition Facility, Fusion Sci. & Tech., 70, 191-195, 2016.

T. Suratwala, R. Steele, L. Wong, M. Feit, P. Miller, R. Dylla-Spears, N. Shen, R. Desjardin, “Chemistry and Formation of the Bielby Layer During Polishing of Fused Silica Glass,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 98, 2395-2402, 2015.

T. Suratwala, R. Steele, M. Feit, R. Dylla-Spears, R. Desjardin, D. Mason, L. Wong, P. Geraghty, P. Miller, N. Shen, “Convergent Polishing: A Simple, Rapid, Full Aperture Polishing Process of High Quality Optical Flats & Spheres,” Journal of Visualized Experiments 94, e51965, doi:10.3791/51965, 2014.

R. Dylla-Spears, L. Wong, P.E. Miller, M.D Feit, R. Steele, T. Suratwala, “Charged micelle halo mechanism for agglomeration reduction in metal oxide particle based polishing slurries,” Coll. Surf. A, 447, 32-43, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2014.01.061

S. Baxamusa, J. Field, R. Dylla-Spears, B. Kozioziemski, T. Suratwala, J. Sater, “Effects of self-heating and phase change on the thermal profile of hydrogen isotopes in confined geometries,” J. Appl. Phys. 115, 124901, 2014.

T. Suratwala, M. Feit, W. Steele, L. Wong, N. Shen, R. Dylla-Spears, R. Desjardin, D. Mason, P. Geraghty, P. Miller, S. Baxamusa, “Microscopic Removal Function and the Relationship Between Slurry Particle Size Distribution and Workpiece Roughness During Pad Polishing,” Journal of the American Ceramics Society 97, 81-91, 2014.

A. McKinnon et al. “Assembly of High-Aerial-Density Deuterium-Tritium Fuel from Indirectly Driven Cryogenic Implosions,” Phys Rev Lett 108, 215005, 2012.

R Dylla-Spears, JE Townsend, L Jen-Jacobson, LL Sohn, and SJ Muller. “Single-molecule sequence detection via microfluidic planar extensional flow at a stagnation point.” Lab on a Chip 10, 1543-1549, 2010.

R Dylla-Spears, JE Townsend, LL Sohn, L Jen-Jacobson, and SJ Muller.  “Fluorescent marker for direct observation of specific dsDNA sequences.” Analytical Chemistry 81, 10049-10054, 2009.

JS Lee, R Dylla-Spears, NP Teclemariam, SJ Muller. “Microfluidic four-roll mill for all flow types.” Appl Phys Lett 90, 074103, 2007.

RJ Dylla and BA Korgel. “Temporal organization of nanocrystal self-assembly directed by a chemical oscillator,” ChemPhysChem 2 (1): 62-64, 2001.

• 2022 R&D100 Award: Tailored Glass by Direct Ink Writing
• 2014, 2017, 2020 LLNL Director's S&T Awards team member
• 2018 LLNL Early-Mid Career Recognition Award
• 2014 R&D100 Award: Convergent Polishing