Maria Gatu Johnson

Dr. Maria Gatu Johnson is a principal research scientist at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where she develops and uses nuclear diagnostics to diagnose inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. In particular, she has focused her efforts on working to understand stagnation physics in ICF implosions, helping guide the ICF program at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to ignition and energy gain and the program at the OMEGA laser facility to record yields. Another primary focus of her work is plasma nuclear science-relevant basic-science experiments at OMEGA and the NIF. She also manages an accelerator laboratory at MIT dedicated to diagnostic development for ICF and high energy density physics (HEDP) experiments, and advises graduate students in the lab, in HEDP experiments at OMEGA, and in supporting NIF experiments with diagnostic capability and analysis. She obtained her PhD from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 2010, working on neutron diagnostics for the JET tokamak. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

LaserNetUS Affiliations:

• Diagnostics Committee

Featured Publications:

- Maria Gatu Johnson, “Viewpoint: Nuclear Fusion Heats Up”, Physics 16, 137 (2023) (https://physics.aps.org/articles/v16/137).

- Maria Gatu Johnson, Gerald Hale, Mark Paris, Michael Wiescher, Alex Zylstra, “Editorial: Using High Energy Density Plasmas for Nuclear Experiments Relevant to Nuclear Astrophysics”, Frontiers in Physics 11:1180821 (2023); doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2023.1180821

- M. Gatu Johnson, “Charged particle diagnostics for inertial confinement fusion and high-energy-density physics experiments” (review), Rev. Sci. Instrum. 94, 021104 (2023). doi.org/10.1063/5.0127438 

- M. Gatu Johnson, B.M. Haines, C. Forrest, J.A. Frenje, V.Yu. Glebov, W. Grimble, R. Janezic, J.P. Knauer, B. Lahmann, F.J. Marshall, T. Michel, F.H. Séguin, C. Stoeckl, R.D. Petrasso, HEDP 36, 100825 (2020). doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.hedp.2020.100825

- M. Gatu Johnson, B.D. Appelbe, J.P. Chittenden, A. Crilly, J. Delettrez, C. Forrest, J.A. Frenje, V.Yu. Glebov, W. Grimble, B.M. Haines, I. Igumenshchev, R. Janezic, J.P. Knauer, B. Lahmann, F.J. Marshall, T. Michel, F.H. Séguin, C. Stoeckl, C. Walsh, A.B. Zylstra, R.D. Petrasso, Phys. Plasmas 26, 012706 (2019). doi: doi.org/10.1063/1.5066435

- M. Gatu Johnson, B.D. Appelbe, J.P. Chittenden, J. Delettrez, C. Forrest, J.A. Frenje, V.Yu. Glebov, W. Grimble, B.M. Haines, I. Igumenshchev, R. Janezic, J.P. Knauer, B. Lahmann, F.J. Marshall, T. Michel, F.H. Séguin, C. Stoeckl, C. Walsh, A.B. Zylstra, R.D. Petrasso, Phys. Rev. E 98, 051201(R) (2018). doi: doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.98.051201

- M. Gatu Johnson, C.J. Forrest, D.B. Sayre, A. Bacher, J.-L. Bourgade, C.R. Brune, J.A. Caggiano, D.T. Casey, J.A. Frenje, V.Yu. Glebov, G.M. Hale, R. Hatarik, H.W. Herrmann, R. Janezic, Y.H. Kim, J.P. Knauer, O. Landoas, D.P. McNabb, M.W. Paris, R.D. Petrasso, J.E. Pino, S. Quaglioni, B. Rosse, J. Sanchez, T.C. Sangster, H. Sio, W. Shmayda, C. Stoeckl, I. Thompson, and A.B. Zylstra, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 042501 (2018). doi: doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.042501

- M. Gatu Johnson, D.T. Casey, M. Hohenberger, A.B. Zylstra, A. Bacher, C.R. Brune, R.M. Bionta, R.S. Craxton, C.L. Ellison, M. Farrell, J.A. Frenje, W. Garbett, E.M. Garcia, G.P. Grim, E. Hartouni, R. Hatarik, H.W. Herrmann, M. Hohensee, D.M. Holunga, M. Hoppe, M. Jackson, N. Kabadi, S.F. Khan, J.D. Kilkenny, T.R. Kohut, B. Lahmann, H.P. Le, C.K. Li, L. Masse, P.W. McKenty, D.P. McNabb, A. Nikroo, T.G. Parham, C.E. Parker, R.D. Petrasso, J. Pino, B. Remington, N.G. Rice, H.G. Rinderknecht, M.J. Rosenberg, J. Sanchez, D.B. Sayre, M.E. Schoff, C.M. Shuldberg, F.H. Séguin, H. Sio, Z.B. Walters, and H.D. Whitley, Phys. Plasmas 25, 056303 (2018). doi: doi.org/10.1063/1.5017746

- M. Gatu Johnson, A.B. Zylstra, A. Bacher, C.R. Brune, D.T. Casey, C. Forrest, H.W. Herrmann, M. Hohenberger, D.B. Sayre, R.M. Bionta, J.-L. Bourgade, J.A. Caggiano, C. Cerjan, R.S. Craxton, D. Dearborn, M. Farrell, J.A. Frenje, E.M. Garcia, V.Yu. Glebov, G. Hale, E.P. Hartouni, R. Hatarik, M. Hohensee, D.M. Holunga, M. Hoppe, R. Janezic, S.F. Khan, J.D. Kilkenny, Y.H. Kim, J.P. Knauer, T.R. Kohut, B. Lahmann, O. Landoas, C.K. Li, F.J. Marshall, L. Masse, A. McEvoy, P. McKenty, D.P. McNabb, A. Nikroo, T.G. Parham, M. Paris, R.D. Petrasso, J. Pino, P.B. Radha, B. Remington, H.G. Rinderknecht, H. Robey, M.J. Rosenberg, B. Rosse, M. Rubery, T.C. Sangster, J. Sanchez, M. Schmitt, M. Schoff, F.H. Séguin, W. Seka, H. Sio, C. Stoeckl, and B. Tipton, Phys. Plasmas 24, 041407 (2017). doi: doi.org/10.1063/1.4979186

- M. Gatu Johnson, J.P. Knauer, C.J. Cerjan, M.J. Eckart, G.P. Grim, E.P. Hartouni, R. Hatarik, J.D. Kilkenny, D.H. Munro, D.B. Sayre, B.K. Spears, R.M. Bionta, E.J. Bond, J.A. Caggiano, D. Callahan, D.T. Casey, T. Döppner, J.A. Frenje, V.Yu. Glebov, O. Hurricane, A. Kritcher, S. LePape, T. Ma, A. Mackinnon, N. Meezan, P. Patel, R.D. Petrasso, J.E. Ralph, P.T. Springer, and C.B. Yeamans, Phys. Rev. E 94, 021202(R) (2016). doi: doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.021202

- M. Gatu Johnson, D.T. Casey, J.A. Frenje, C.-K. Li, F.H. Séguin, R.D. Petrasso, R. Ashabranner, R. Bionta, S. LePape, M. McKernan, A. Mackinnon, J.D. Kilkenny, J. Knauer and T.C. Sangster, Phys. Plasmas 20, 042707 (2013). doi: doi.org/10.1063/1.4728095

- M. Gatu Johnson,  J.A. Frenje, D.T. Casey, C.K. Li, F.H. Séguin, R. Petrasso, R. Ashabranner, R.M. Bionta, D.L. Bleuel, E.J. Bond, J.A. Caggiano, A. Carpenter, C.J. Cerjan, T.J. Clancy, T. Doeppner, M.J. Eckart, M.J. Edwards, S. Friedrich, S.H. Glenzer, S.W. Haan, E.P. Hartouni, R. Hatarik, S.P. Hatchett, O.S. Jones, G. Kyrala, S. Le Pape, R.A. Lerche, O.L. Landen, T. Ma, A.J. MacKinnon, M.A. McKernan, M.J. Moran, E. Moses, D.H. Munro, J. McNaney, H.S. Park, J. Ralph, B. Remington, J.R. Rygg, S.M. Sepke, V. Smalyuk, B. Spears, P.T. Springer, C.B. Yeamans, M. Farrell, D. Jasion, J.D. Kilkenny, A. Nikroo, R. Paguio, J.P. Knauer, V. Yu Glebov, T.C. Sangster, R. Betti, C. Stoeckl, J. Magoon, M.J. Shoup III, G.P. Grim, J. Kline, G.L. Morgan, T.J. Murphy, R.J. Leeper, C.L. Ruiz, G. W. Cooper and A. J. Nelson, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 83, 10D308 (2012). doi: doi.org/10.1063/1.4802810

- M. Gatu Johnson, L. Giacomelli, A. Hjalmarsson, J. Källne, M. Weiszflog, E. Andersson Sundén, S. Conroy, G. Ericsson, C. Hellesen, E. Ronchi, H. Sjöstrand, G. Gorini, M. Tardocchi, A. Combo, N. Cruz, J. Sousa, S. Popovichev and JET-EFDA contributors, Nucl. Instrum. Methods A 591, 417 (2008). doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2008.03.010