Saransh Soderlind, formerly Saransh Singh, is a Staff Scientist in the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His research focuses on the structure and properties of materials under extreme conditions, with an emphasis on dynamic compression experiments that combine high-power lasers, X-ray free-electron lasers, and time-resolved diffraction to follow phase transformations, melting, and plastic deformation as they occur on ultrafast time scales.

At LLNL, Saransh develops and applies in situ X-ray diffraction methods to measure lattice-level response of materials subject to extreme compression. Recent work includes studies of shock-compressed zirconium, where femtosecond diffraction revealed disorder and multiple competing transformation pathways; shock-compressed magnesium oxide, where X-ray diffraction constrained a structural phase transition relevant to super-Earth interiors; and high-pressure liquids such as iron and carbon, where diffraction provides rare structural constraints at conditions difficult to access by other methods. He also leads the Highly Extensible X-Ray Diffraction (HEXRD) software project at LLNL.

Before joining LLNL, Saransh earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. This work established a foundation in electron microscopy and diffraction, including forward modeling and dictionary indexing of EBSD, electron channeling patterns, precession electron diffraction, and transmission Kikuchi diffraction. He also contributed to EMsoft, an open-source software package for electron diffraction and image simulations. Although his current research is centered on dynamic compression, he continues to draw on this background in crystallography, texture, and diffraction to interpret transient material response under extreme loading.

Saransh’s broader research interests include dynamic compression, in situ X-ray diffraction, phase transformations, melting, crystallographic texture, electron microscopy and open-source scientific software.

Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (2017).

B. Tech., Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (2013).

For a full list, see:  Google Scholar, ORCID

• High-pressure melt dynamics in shock-compressed titanium, Saransh Singh, Reetam Paul, Nikhil Rampal, Rhys J. Bunting, et al., Physical Review B 113 (17), 174111.
• Body-Centered-Cubic Phase Transformation in Gold at TPa Pressures, Amy L. Coleman, Saransh Singh, Tom E Lockard, Ian K. Ocampo, et al., Physical review letters 135 (18), 186101.
• The structure of liquid carbon elucidated by in situ X-ray diffraction, Dominik Kraus, Johannes Rips, [...] Saransh Singh et al., Nature 642 (8067), 351-355.
• Stability of the fcc phase in shocked nickel up to 332 GPa, Kimberly A. Pereira, Samantha M. Clarke, Saransh Singh, et al., Nature Communications 16 (1), 4385.
• Unexpected observation of disorder and multiple phase-transition pathways in shock-compressed Zr, Saransh Singh, Martin G. Gorman, Patrick G. Heighway et al., Physical Review Letters 133 (9), 096101
• B1-B2 transition in shock-compressed MgO
• June K. Wicks, Saransh Singh, Marius Millot et al., Science Advances 10 (23), eadk0306
• Structural study of hcp and liquid iron under shock compression up to 275 GPa, Saransh Singh, Richard Briggs, Martin G. Gorman et al., Physical Review B 108 (18), 184104.

• R&D 100 Award for Flexible Imaging Diffraction Diagnostic for Laser Experiments (2026).
• Bronze Award, Weapons Physics Division (2025, 2026)
• Director’s Institutional award in Science and Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Lab (2025).
• Silver Award, Weapons Physics Division (2025).
• Publication Awards, Physical and Life Science Directorate (2024, 2026)
• Best paper of the year Award, Microscopy and Microanalysis (2018).
• Paxton Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University (2018).