The LaserNetUS "Behind the Scenes" Interview Series

Last updated May 24, 2025, to add the Episode 6 interview with Griffin Glenn.

See below to view the entire interview series introduced in this LaserNetUS press release.


Episode 1: Mario Manuel, originally published February 27, 2025.

In this first interview, LaserNetUS Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Mario Manuel underscores how LaserNetUS expands opportunities for early-career scientists. Click the preview below to watch Dr. Manuel’s interview, or visit the LaserNetUS YouTube channel for this and other recordings.

About Dr. Mario Manuel
Dr. Mario Manuel, a Scientist at General Atomics, Inc., leads the GALADRIEL Laser Facility and plays a crucial role in developing and fabricating precision target capsules for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has made significant contributions to the laboratory astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion fields, including his involvement in the groundbreaking achievement of fusion ignition at NIF in December 2022. He recently served as a PI for the LaserNetUS experiment K200, focusing on the "Characterization of Early-Stage, Quasi-Parallel, Collisionless-Shock Formation." Additionally, Dr. Manuel was an inaugural member of the LaserNetUS User Group, contributing to the Intense-Light USers Engagement (I-USE) Committee.

Episode 2: Andrew Longman, originally published March 12, 2025.

In this second episode of our latest Behind the Scenes interviews, Dr. Andrew Longman, Staff Scientist at LLNL and LaserNetUS Principal Investigator (PI), shares why LaserNetUS is a game-changer for researchers in high-power laser science. Click the preview below to watch Dr. Longman’s interview, or visit the LaserNetUS YouTube channel for this and other recordings.



About Andrew Longman
Dr. Andrew Longman, a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), is advancing the study of high-intensity laser-plasma interactions. During his PhD at the University of Alberta, he designed and developed spiral phase mirrors to generate optical vortices in high-power lasers. His designs, refined using LLNL's magnetorheological finishing techniques, have produced some of the highest-intensity optical vortices and are now employed in laser facilities worldwide. Leveraging LLNL’s resources and LaserNetUS facilities, Longman conducts pioneering experiments on extreme magnetic field generation, particle acceleration, laser-plasma instabilities, and high-energy-density physics utilizing high-power laser systems.

Episode 3: Farhat Beg, originally published March 18, 2025.

This episode features Prof. Farhat Beg, a UC San Diego Professor who describes the advantages his students and future scientists gain from collaborating with LaserNetUS on high-power laser experiments and diagnostics. Click the preview below to watch Dr. Beg’s interview, or visit the LaserNetUS YouTube channel for this and other recordings.

About Farhat Beg
Farhat Beg received his Ph.D. degree in plasma physics from Imperial College, London, where he was a Research Associate and then a Research Fellow. In 2003, he joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where he is currently the Vice Chair and a Professor of engineering physics. He has published 170 articles in high-quality journals—including Nature, Nature Physics, and Physical Review Letters—and has been cited more than 4700 times in peer refereed journals. Dr. Beg has been fellow of the American Physical Society since 2009 and the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) since 2011. He received the Department of Energy's Early Career Award in 2005 and the IEEE Early Achievement Award in 2008. Presently, as the Director of the Center for Energy Research at UC San Diego, he has provided mentorship and supervision to multiple students, postdoctoral fellows, and researchers within the center, starting with LaserNetUS's inaugural Cycle 1.   

Episode 4: Roger Falcone, originally published April 8, 2025.

Episode 4 provides viewers a glimpse into how LaserNetUS came to be—through collaborative, community-driven workshops—as described by Prof. Roger Falcone, a Professor at UC Berkeley and LaserNetUS Scientific Advisory Board Chair. Click the preview below to watch Prof. Falcone’s interview, or visit the LaserNetUS YouTube channel for this and other recordings.

About Roger Falcone
Prof. Falcone is a professor at UC Berkeley in the School of Graduate Studies. Previously, he chaired the Berkeley Physics Department, was Director of the Advanced Light Source at LBNL, and was President of the American Physical Society. He co-chaired the Brightest Light Initiative Workshop, from which the concepts for LaserNetUS were formed. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the LaserNetUS Scientific Advisory Board. Much of his work involves advocating for federal and private support for research and education. The co-author of numerous publications in renowned scientific journals, he has chaired, presided over, served on boards of, been an advisor to, and acted as a key member and contributor to many prestigious departments, committees, organizations, foundations, and affiliations in laser science, physics, and related areas throughout his career. 

Episode 5: Félicie Albert, originally published May 6, 2025.

For this episode, Dr. Félicie Albert, Director of the Jupiter Laser Facility at LLNL and LaserNetUS Point of Contact, describes how she would leverage LaserNetUS’s capabilities as a PhD student today. Click the preview below to watch Dr. Albert’s interview, or visit the LaserNetUS YouTube channel for this and other recordings.

About Félicie Albert
Félicie Albert is the Director of the Jupiter Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She earned her PhD in physics in 2007 from the École Polytechnique in France, her MS in Optics from the University of Central Florida in 2004, and her BS in engineering from the École Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Marseille, France, in 2003. She has conducted many experiments using high-intensity lasers at various facilities worldwide. Elected a Fellow of the APS (Division of Plasma Physics) in 2019, she was recently elected its Chair-Elect and will assume the Chair position in 2026. She served as Chair of LaserNetUS from 2020 to 2022.

Episode 6: Griffin Glenn, originally published May 24, 2025.

This Episode 6 Behind the Scenes video features Griffin Glenn, a PhD Student at Stanford University/SLAC and LaserNetUS Student Ambassador. He shares how LaserNetUS provides students access to a network of facilities with various high-power lasers and other equipment for experiments that are not always available in-house at their home universities and facilities. Click the preview below to watch Griffin Glenn’s interview, or visit the LaserNetUS YouTube channel for this and other recordings.

About Griffin Glenn
Griffin Glenn is a sixth-year PhD candidate at Stanford University, advised by Siegfried Glenzer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. His research focuses on developing high-repetition-rate sources of laser-driven ions and neutrons using ambient-temperature liquid jet targets. He has contributed to and led LaserNetUS experiments at the Texas Petawatt Laser and the ALEPH laser at Colorado State University, in addition to other experiments at the Z Backlighter Facility at Sandia National Laboratories, the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) endstation at SLAC, and the NePTUN laser at Tel Aviv University. Griffin is currently one of LaserNetUS’s first Student Ambassadors.

About LaserNetUS
LaserNetUS is a collaborative network, supported by DOE Fusion Energy Sciences, dedicated to advancing laser-based research in plasma physics. By uniting various institutions and scientists, we aim to foster innovation and application development that can lead to real-world solutions and a deeper understanding of our universe.

Media Contact:
Dr. Chandra Breanne Curry
LaserNetUS Coordinator
ccurry@slac.stanford.edu