Background

Robert F. Heeter leads experiments on x-ray absorption and emission from high-energy-density plasmas as a senior scientist in the LLNL Physics Division. He joined LLNL as a Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow in 1999 after completing his Ph.D. at Princeton University, where he measured plasma instabilities in magnetic fusion devices. Since 1999 he has led experiments at the National Ignition Facility and Jupiter Laser Facility at LLNL, at the Z facility at Sandia National Lab, and at the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester. His experiments produce detailed x-ray spectra to benchmark codes used in stockpile stewardship, inertial confinement fusion, and the astrophysics of stellar interiors and black hole accretion disks. (In the photo, he is in the X-ray diagnostic lab where the NIF Opacity Spectrometer is configured before experiments.)  He also serves as LLNL's "Omega Coordinator," guiding the teams fielding 70–80 LLNL experiments at Omega each year. In 2020 Bob became Program Group Leader for Plasma Science supporting the stockpile stewardship program, leading the teams studying the equation of state and opacity of hot plasmas.

 

Ph.D., Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, 1999

B.S., Physics, Stanford University, 1993