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Physics Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics

SJ Spencer

Background

I completed my BSc in Mathematics at the University of Warwick in 2017, and am now in my third year of studying for my PhD in the Centre for Fusion, Space, and Astrophysics. My project title is: "Laser-plasma interactions relevant to shock-ignition inertial confinement fusion" and I am supervised by Prof. Tony Arber and Dr. Keith Bennett.

Research Interests

My primary research interests involve the use of particle-in-cell (PIC) codes to probe the fundamental physics of plasma instabilities. I am currently working as part of a team to understand laser-plasma interactions (LPI) in the shock-ignition model of inertial confinement fusion. I am responsible for simulating LPI phenomena (specifically Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) and inflationary SRS) which we expect to play a role in our collaboration’s experiments on the Omega laser system.

In the winter semester of 2020, I worked in the Center for Energy Research at the University of California in San Diego, under the supervision of Prof. Farhat Beg. I ran PIC simulations in support of a magnetised LPI experiment on the LULI laser system and worked, in collaboration with the LPI group at UCLA, to uncover the relative importance of fluid and kinetic effects on magnetised SRS.

Teaching

Conferences

  • CLF Christmas Meeting of the High Power Laser Science Community 2019, Abbingdon (talk) - "Inflationary Stimulated Raman Scattering in Shock-Ignition Plasmas".
  • IFSA 2019, Osaka (poster) - "Inflationary Stimulated Raman Scattering in Shock-Ignition Plasmas".
  • 46th IOP Plasma Physics Conference 2019, Loughborough (talk) - "Particle-in-Cell Simulations of Inflationary Stimulated Raman Scattering for Shock-Ignition".

Email: s-j dot spencer at warwick dot ac dot uk

Website: sj-spencer@github.io

Office: Physical Sciences Building, PS1.16/17