PHY391S IFS Seminar
Event starts on this day
Nov
12
2026
Featured Speaker(s):
Leland Ellison
Event starts on this day
Nov
12
2026
Title: Fundamentals of Pulser-driven Inertial Confinement Fusion
Description
After the National Ignition Facility achieved ignition in 2022, interest in inertial confinement as a potential commercial energy source has grown. An underappreciated fact is that the facility with the record for second-highest Lawson triple products is the ~20 megaamp Z machine driver at Sandia National Laboratories. Pacific Fusion is actively constructing a 60 megaamp driver in pursuit of the next major goal towards commercial fusion energy: net facility gain. In this talk, I will review key concepts for pulser-driven inertial fusion targets such as MagLIF with emphasis on ignition criteria, hydrodynamic instabilities, and scaling behavior. I will also highlight recent advances and existing challenges in multiphysics radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulations of these targets.
Dr. Leland Ellison is a computational plasma physicist whose research has spanned plasma thrusters, magnetic confinement fusion and inertial confinement fusion. He is Vice President of Technology at Pacific Fusion, where he oversees compute and software, including HPC systems and high-fidelity multiphysics codes. A founding member of the company in 2023, he previously led its Modeling and Simulation Team, directing the development and validation of simulation capabilities that guide Pacific Fusion’s Pulser inertial confinement fusion approach.
Dr. Ellison earned his PhD from the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics, where his research developed conservative numerical methods for simulating charged particle trajectories in magnetic confinement devices. He then developed magnetohydrodynamics capabilities in a flagship multiphysics code at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in support of their pulser ICF program.
Dr. Ellison earned his PhD from the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics, where his research developed conservative numerical methods for simulating charged particle trajectories in magnetic confinement devices. He then developed magnetohydrodynamics capabilities in a flagship multiphysics code at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in support of their pulser ICF program.