Personal Background

Dr. Smith was first interested in Optics and Physics when he attended Carlow RTC, Ireland, to study for a Diploma in Photonics. His doctoral thesis was entitled "An investigation of the use of Laser-Plasmas for problems of Inertial Fusion" and summarized several experiments on the Vulcan and LULI lasers. In 2001, Dr. Smith took a postdoctoral position in the X-ray laser group based in the Universite Paris-Sud, France, were he was involved in further experimental activities on Vulcan and LULI. In 2001, he joined LLNL as a postdoctoral researcher, were he worked on the development of X-ray lasers for applications on the COMET laser facility. In 2002, he joined Equation of State group were he is currently developing isentropic compression experiments on the Omega and Janus laser facilities.

Ph.D., Plasma Physics, University of Essex

M.S., Plasma Physics, University of Essex

B.S., Physical Optoelectronics, University of Essex, 1994