Summary
As a research professor at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno, Dr. Alla Safronova is extensively involved in research on plasma and atomic physics, has authored and co-authored more than 230 publications and 350 presentations, and personally delivered more than 50 invited talks. She was awarded numerous Department of Energy research grants and led scientific projects continuously from 2006. Recently, she also received a grant from National Science Foundation. She advised ten graduate students, who graduated with PhD from her group and are currently working in US National and Federal Laboratories, scientific companies, as well as at universities Dr. Alla Safronova was an Organizer and Co-Chair of a series of international workshops on Radiation from High-Energy-Density Plasmas (RHEDP) in 2011, 2013, and 2015, and the 10th International Conference on Dense Z-Pinches in 2017. Dr. Alla Safronova was the General Chair of the 48th International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS). Virtual ICOPS 2021 with over 425 registered participants from about 28 countries was a great success in the challenging times of COVID-19 pandemic. She was the Guest Editor of the 5th and 7th Special Issues of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (TPS) on Z-Pinch Plasmas in 2012 and 2018, respectively, and the two special topic sections on RHEDP of Physics of Plasmas in 2014 and 2016. She was the Lead Guest Editor of the Special Issue of the IEEE TPS on Plenary, Invited, and Minicourse Papers from ICOPS 2021. Since 2014, Dr. Alla Safronova is involved with the Far West Section (FWS) of the American Physical Society (APS) and recently served as the Chair of FWS of APS and the Technical Program Chair of the 2023 Annual Meeting of the FWS (University of California, San Diego).
Research interests
Dr. Alla Safronova is one of the pioneers in the application of x-ray line polarization to astrophysical and laboratory plasmas, and currently is working in the field of High Energy Density Plasmas (HEDP). Her research interests are in both plasma and atomic physics and research of her group focuses on understanding and modeling radiation from HEDP that is produced by Z-and X-pinches as well as by short-pulse lasers with applications to powerful x-ray sources and astrophysics. Such plasmas may be non-thermal and also with unique spectroscopic signatures including from exotic (hollow) ions, many of which are not well understood and modelled yet. Though we are theoreticians and are modeling radiation from plasmas, we are also working together with experimentalists on planning and participating in exciting HEDP experiments.
Courses taught
- PHYS 421 (Quantum Mechanics)
- PHYS 422/622 (Applications of Quantum Mechanics)
- PHYS 425/625 (Thermal and Statistical Physics)
- PHYS 427/627 (Plasma Physics)
- PHYS 721 (Quantum Theory I)
- PHYS 722 (Quantum Theory II)
- PHYS 732 (Statistical Mechanics)
- PHYS 761 (Atomic and Molecular Physics)
- PHYS 771 (Advanced Topics: Density Matrix and Applications)
- PHYS 790 (Graduate seminar)
- PHYS 795 (Comprehensive Exam)
Directed research
- Stephanie Hansen (BS, 1999)
- Travis Hoppe (BS, 2004)
- Glenn Osborne (BS, 2005)
- Gus Merwin (BS, 2011)
- Emil Petkov (BS, 2012)
- Heather Zunino (BS, 2012)
- Ryan Childers (BS, 2015)
- Mindy Lorance (BS, 2015)
- Jacqueline Engler (BS, 2016)
- Maximillian Schmidt-Petersen (BS, 2017)
- Kevin Panter (BS, 2023)
- Dr. Stephanie Hansen (PhD, 2003)
- Dr. Safeia Hamasha (PhD, 2004)
- Dr. Fatih Yilmaz (PhD, 2009)
- Dr. Nick Ouart (PhD, 2010)
- Dr. Penka Wilcox (PhD, 2011)
- Dr. Michael Weller (PhD, 2014)
- Dr. Austin Stafford (PhD, 2016)
- Dr. Emil Petkov (PhD, 2018)
- Dr. Amandeep Gill (PhD, 2023)
- Dr. Ryan Childers (PhD, 2023)
Education
- Ph.D., General Physics Institute of A.M. Prokhorov of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Selected publications
- R.R. Childers, S.B. Hansen, A.S. Safronova, D.J. Ampleford, E.C. Harding, A.K. Gill, “Implementation of a Novel Monte Carlo Radiation Transport Code for Modeling Nonthermal Fe Kα Line Generation in a Dense MagLIF Plasma”, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 2024-04, p. 1-9.
- R.R. Childers, A.S. Safronova, V.L. Kantsyrev, A. Stafford, A.K. Gill, “K-shell radiation and bright spot characteristics of high-energy-density Fe-Cr-Ni plasmas influenced by X-pinch load geometry”, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer 303, 108586 (2023)
- A.S. Safronova, “Guest Editorial Special Issue on Plenary, Invited, and Minicourse Papers From ICOPS2021”, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 50, N9, 2519 (2022)
- C. J. Butcher, V. L. Kantsyrev, A. S. Safronova, V. V. Shlyaptseva, A. Stafford, P. C. Campbell, S. M. Miller, N. M. Jordan, R. D. McBride, A. M. Steiner, R. M. Gilgenbach, “Characteristic Effects of Pulsed Power Generators of Different Architecture on the Implosion Dynamics of Mid-Atomic-Number Double Planar Wire Arrays”, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 50, N9, 2588-2602 (2022)
- A.S. Safronova, A. Stafford, A.K. Gill, R.R. Childers, “Polarization of Hard X-ray Dielectronic Satellite Line Emission from Na-like W ions”, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 272, 107788 (2021)
- C.J. Butcher, V.L. Kantsyrev, A.S. Safronova, V.V. Shlyaptseva, I.K. Shrestha, A. Stafford, A.M. Steiner, P.C. Campbell, S.M. Miller, D.A. Yager-Elorriaga, N.M. Jordan, R.D. McBride, R.M. Gilgenbach, “Load Dynamics of Double Planar Foil Liners and Double Planar Wire Arrays on the UM MAIZE LTD Generator”, Physics of Plasmas 28, 082702 (2021)
- E.E. Petkov, A.S. Safronova, V.L. Kantsyrev, A. Stafford, V.V. Shlyaptseva, P. Beiersdorfer, N. Hell, and G.V. Brown, “Polarization measurements of Ne-like Mo x-ray lines excited by an electron beam at LLNL EBIT”, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 52, 195002, pp. 1-9 (2019)
- K.A. Schultz, V.L. Kantsyrev, A.S. Safronova, V.V. Shlyaptseva, E.E. Petkov, I.K. Shrestha, M.C. Cooper, G.M. Petrov, A. Stafford, C.J. Butcher, G.E. Kemp, J. Park, K.B. Fournier, “Study of pure and mixed clustered noble gas puffs irradiated with high intensity (7x1019 W/cm2) sub-ps laser beam and achievement of a strong X-ray flash in a laser-generated debris-free X-ray source”, Laser and Particle Beams 37, 276-287 (2019)