Mike MacDonald

Mike MacDonald is a Research Scientist in the Physics Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His research includes designing experimental platforms to make equation of state and x-ray opacity measurements of high-energy-density plasmas. His recent work focuses on developing advanced data analysis methods using Bayesian statistics and machine learning to improve uncertainty quantification and guide future experiments. Mike earned his BSE in Engineering Physics from Case Western Reserve University and both his MSE in Electrical Engineering and his PhD in Applied Physics from the University of Michigan.

Featured Publications:

1. M. J. MacDonald, C. A. Di Stefano, T. Döppner, L. B. Fletcher, K. A. Flippo, D. Kalantar, E. C. Merritt, S. J. Ali, P. M. Celliers, R. Heredia, S. Vonhof, G. W. Collins, J. A. Gaffney, S. H. Glenzer, D. O. Gericke, D. Kraus, A. M. Saunders, R. Zacharias, and R. W. Falcone. Development of the Colliding Planar Shocks platform to study warm dense matter at the National Ignition Facility. Phys. Plasmas 30, 062701 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0146624
2. M. J. MacDonald, D. A. Liedahl, G. V. Brown, D. Aberg, D. T. Cliche, M. E. Foord, P. E. Grabowski, R. F. Heeter, D. J. Hoarty, R. A. London, M. E. Martin, J. Nilsen, M. V. Patel, H. A. Scott, R. Shepherd, H. D. Whitley, and K. Widmann. Quantifying electron temperature distributions from time-integrated x-ray emission spectra. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 93, 093517 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0101571
3. M. J. MacDonald, A. M. Saunders, B. Bachmann, M. Bethkenhagen, L. Divol, M. D. Doyle, L. B. Fletcher, S. H. Glenzer, D. Kraus, O. L. Landen, H. J. LeFevre, S. R. Klein, P. Neumayer, R. Redmer, M. Schoerner, N. Whiting, R. W. Falcone, and T. Doeppner. Demonstration of a laser-driven, narrow spectral bandwidth x-ray source for collective x-ray scattering experiments. Phys. Plasmas 28, 032708 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0030958
4. M. J. MacDonald, K. Widmann, P. Beiersdorfer, N. Hell, D. Hoarty, E. W. Magee, C. Shah, R. Shepherd, and G. V. Brown. Absolute throughput calibration of multiple spherical crystals for the Orion High-REsolution X-ray spectrometer (OHREX). Rev. Sci. Instrum. 92, 023509 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0043683
5. M. J. MacDonald, E. E. McBride, E. Galtier, M. Gauthier, E. Granados, D. Kraus, A. Krygier, A. L. Levitan, A. J. MacKinnon, I. Nam, W. Schumaker, P. Sun, T. B. van Driel, J. Vorberger, Z. Xing, R. P. Drake, S. H. Glenzer, and L. B. Fletcher. Using simultaneous x-ray diffraction and velocity interferometry to determine material strength in shock-compressed diamond. Appl. Phys. Lett. 116, 234104 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0013085
6. M. J. MacDonald, B. Kozioziemski, A. G. MacPhee, M. B. Schneider, J. Ayers, D. B. Thorn. Absolute calibration of the continuum x-ray spectrometer (ConSpec) at the National Ignition Facility. J. Instrum. 14, P12009 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/14/12/P12009
7. M. J. MacDonald, A. M. Saunders, R. W. Falcone, W. Theobald, O. L. Landen, and T. Doeppner. Developing a long-duration Zn K-alpha source for x-ray scattering experiments. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 89, 10F109 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5039365
8. M. J. MacDonald, P. A. Keiter, D. S. Montgomery, H. A. Scott, M. M. Biener, J. R. Fein, K. B. Fournier, E. J. Gamboa, G. E. Kemp, S. R. Klein, C. C. Kuranz, H. J. LeFevre, M. J.-E. Manuel, W. C. Wan, and R. P. Drake. Spatially resolved density and ionization measurements of shocked foams using x-ray fluorescence. J. Appl. Phys. 120, 125901 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4963113
9. M. J. MacDonald, T. Gorkhover, B. Bachmann, M. Bucher, S. Carron, R. N. Coffee, R. P. Drake, K. R. Ferguson, L. B. Fletcher, E. J. Gamboa, S. H. Glenzer, S. Goede, S. P. Hau-Riege, D. Kraus, J. Krzywinski, A. L. Levitan, K.-H. Meiwes-Broer, C. P. O’Grady, T. Osipov, T. Pardini, C. Peltz, S. Skruszewicz, M. Swiggers, C. Bostedt, T. Fennel, and T. Doeppner. Measurement of high-dynamic range x-ray Thomson scattering spectra for the characterization of nano-plasmas at LCLS. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 11E709 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4960502