High-Energy-Density Physics

The raw numbers of high-energy-density physics are amazing: shock waves at hundreds of km/s (approaching a million km per hour), temperatures of millions of degrees, and pressures that exceed 100 million atmospheres. This book introduces the fundamental tools and discoveries of high-energy-density physics. It surveys the production of high-energy-density conditions, the fundamental plasma and hydrodynamic models that can describe them and the problem of scaling from the laboratory to the cosmos. Connections to astrophysics will be streessed throughout. The book is intended to support coursework in high-energy-density physics, to meet the needs of new researchers in this field, and also to serve as a useful reference on the fundamentals.

Professor Drake works primarily in high-energy-density physics and its applications to astrophysics. High-energy-density physics studies the properties and behavior of matter and radiation at pressures of millions of atmospheres (or more) and temperatures above 10,000 degrees (or more). He is internationally recognized as a pioneer in this field. His work emphasizes the dynamic behavior of such systems, which also may be strongly radiative or magnetized. His team produces this kind of behavior in the laboratory, generally by driving a complex target with a high-energy laser. This lets the team directly examine processes that also occur in hot, dynamic astrophysical systems such as supernovae, supernova remnants, and cataclysmic variable stars. The processes they study are also relevant to Inertial Confinement Fusion, where some of his students continue their careers. Professor Drake is also known for work in laser-plasma interactions, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.