Supervisor
Research Project
Title: Advancing Cavity QED: Materials and Algorithms
PI: Dario POLETTI (SUTD)
Co-PIs: WU Lin (SUTD), Dax KOH (IHPC), KWEK Leong Chuan (CQT,NIE,NTU), Ricky ANG (SUTD), WU Chunfeng (SUTD)
Biography
Gregory K. Ngirmang designs, performs, and analyses large scale computer simulations of high intensity (> 1018 W/cm2) laser-plasmas involving lasers so intense the electrons in these plasmas execute relativistic motion within a quarter laser cycle. These intense lasers readily ionise matter creating highly non-thermal and non-equilibrium plasmas within picoseconds. Due to the nature of these plasmas, I primarily use Particle-in-Cell codes that allow treatment of the full electromagnetic fields for the most intense part of the interaction as well as Magneto-Hydrodynamic Codes for ramp-up of these interactions. These simulations utilise hundreds of teraflops per run and require the processing of hundreds of terabytes of simulation data.
His research has focused on modeling experiments that seek to leverage these laser-plasma systems as next generation electron and ion accelerators, capable of accelerating ions to Megaelectronvolt energies within a micron-scale target at a kilohertz repetition rate. He also models relevant high-density plasma physics phenomena like plasma instabilities. His previous work has been closely tied with an experimental group although he has worked on his own independent theoretical and exploratory simulations.
As a part of his research, he has developed a multi-scale PIC simulation framework that enables running simulations over multiple timescales, from the femtosecond into the picosecond. This required extensive modification the PIC code that was used as well as the development of thousands of lines of Python scripting. For this work and for the analysis of these large sets of data generated, he has extensive experience and mastery of Python and the Scipy family of libraries (numpy, scipy, matplotlib, etc.) as well as usage of High-Performance Computing systems and parallelised scripting.
Education
The Ohio State University, Department of Physics, Columbus OH, USA
Aug 2013 – Dec 2017 (Masters, PhD)
Thesis: Particle-in-Cell Simulations of the Acceleration of Electrons from the Interaction of a Relativistic Laser Reflecting from Solid Density Targets
Advisor: Chris Orban
Research Interests
High performance computing scale Multi-physics simulation of light matter interaction, intense laser-plasma interaction, Particle-in-Cell Simulation.
Awards
- Graduate Enrichment Fellow. 2013-2017
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Fellow. 2019 – 2021
Selected Publications
- Nashad Rahman, Joseph R. Smith, Gregory K. Ngirmang, and Chris Orban, Enam A. Chowdhury, Mel Roquemore. “Particle-in-cell modeling of a potential demonstration experiment for double pulse enhanced target normal shealth acceleration.” Phys. Plasmas28, 073103 (2021).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66615-4.
- Gregory K. Ngirmang, John T. Morrison, Kevin M. George, Joseph R. Smith, Kyle D. Frische, Chris Orban, Enam A. Chowdhury, and Mel Roquemore. “Evidence of radial Weibel instability in relativistic intensity laser-plasma interactions inside a sub-micron thick liquid target.” Sci. Rep.10, 9872 (2020).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66615-4.
- Joseph R. Smith, Chris Orban, John T. Morrison, Kevin M. George, Gregory K. Ngirmang, Enam A. Chowdhury, W. Mel Roquemore. “Optimizing Laser-Plasma Interactions for Ion Acceleration using Particle-in-Cell Simulations and Evolutionary Algorithms.” New J. Phys.22, 103067 (2020).https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/abbfce
- K. M. George, J. T. Morrison, S. Feister, G. K. Ngirmang, J. R. Smith, A. J. Klim, J. Snyder, D. Austin, W. Erbsen, K. D. Frische, J. Nees, C. Orban, E. A. Chowdhury, and W. M.Roquemore. “High-repetition-rate (≥kHz) targets and optics from liquid microjets for high-intensity laser–plasma interactions.” High Power Laser Sci. and Eng. 7, e50 (2019).https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2019.35
- John T. Morrison, Scott Feister, Kyle D. Frische, Drake R. Austin, Gregory K. Ngirmang, Neil R. Murphy, Chris Orban, Enam A. Chowdhury, W. M. Roquemore. “MeV proton acceleration at kHz repetition rate from ultra-intense laser liquid interaction.” New J. Phys.20, 022001 (2018).
- Gregory K. Ngirmang, Chris Orban, Scott Feister, John T. Morrison, Enam A. Chowdhury, W. M. Roquemore. “Particle-in-cell simulations of electron acceleration from relativistic interaction of mid-infrared laser interactions with near solid density matter” Phys. Plasmas24, 103112 (2017).