Professional Background 

Edward began working at LLNL in the summer of 1988 as a mechanical technician on the Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) during its early stages. In the following years, he helped build the facility and then in 2000 moved it to its current location, along with the WarmEBIT and SuperEBIT. He has helped expand the capabilities of the facility, building a wide variety of high-resolution crystal, grating, and optical spectrometers. Many of these spectrometers have been used at leading research facilities across the United States and England. In 2008, he helped develop a technique for absolute calibration of foil filters at low x-ray energies with the help and addition of a microcalorimeter spectrometer. In 2018, he was instrumental in moving the WarmEBIT to NASA Goddard Flight Space Center where it was used for the first time to calibrate an X-ray spectrometer system that will fly on an upcoming astrophysics satellite.   Edward is currently an engineering technical associate still working with the EBIT program and a National Security Engineering Division supervisor. Edward says, “When asked what I do, I always reply with a big smile—‘I build toys for physicists.’” His work with building “toys” still contributes to the better understanding of atomic physics and astrophysics today.  

Research Interests 

• Astrophysics  

• X-ray diagnostics: crystal and grating spectroscopy  

• SolidWorks computer aided design 

Other Activities  

Edward’s other activities include being an inaugural member of the LLNL Community Emergency Response Team, chair of LLESA Organic Gardening Network Group, and volunteer fire fighter in the West Stanislaus County Fire Protection District.   

BS, Mechanized Agriculture, California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, 1988

Vacuum Technology Certificate , Las Positas , 1990

ORCID | Google Scholar

1. E.W. Magee, P. Beiersdorfer, G.V. Brown, N. Hell, “Rare-earth neutral metal injection into an electron beam ion trap plasma,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 11E820 (2014), doi: 10.1063/1.4892899.  
2. E.W. Magee, J. Dunn, G.V. Brown, K Cone, J. Park, F.S. Porter, C.A. Kilbourne, R.L. Kelly, Pl Beiersdorfer, “Calibration of a high resolution grating soft x-ray spectrometer,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 10E314 (2010), doi: 10.1063/1.3494276.    
3. T.E Lockard, E.W. Magee, D. A. Layne, M.A. Leutenegger, M.E. Eckart, N. Hell, G.V. Brown and P. Beiersdorfer, “The Warm Electron Beam Ion Trap (WEBIT); An instrument for ground calibration of space-borne x-ray spectrometers,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 89, 10F124 (2018), doi: 10.1063/1.5039338.  
4. P. Beiersdorfer, E.W. Magee, G.V. Brown, H. Chen, J. Emig, N. Hell, M. Bitter, K.W. 
5. Hill, P. Allen, C.R.D. Brown, M. Hill, D. Hoarty, L.M.R. Hobbs, S.F. James, “Line shape spectroscopy with a very high resolution, very high signal-to-noise crystal spectrometer,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 063501 (2016), doi: 10.1063/1.4952748.  
6. N. Hell, P. Beiersdorfer, E.W. Magee, G.V. Brown. “Calibration of the OHREX High-Resolution imaging crystal spectrometer at the Livermore electron beam ion traps,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 11D604 (2016), doi: 10.1063/1.4959947.