Projects (current)

OVERVIEW

For the last years, my research has focused on advanced technologies to improve the power and efficiency of particle accelerators as well as to develop novel diagnostic tools for designing and operating accelerators. Such studies could enhance applications in medicine, high-energy physics and will provide potential benefits for research in material, biological and energy sciences.

During my graduate career at the University of Maryland (2004-2008), my research was focused on new methods to diagnose particle beams and their application to particle accelerators, including multi-physics modeling and experimental studies. Based on tomographic principles, I demonstrated a new method for in situ mapping of the beam phase-space.. The knowledge of the detailed phase space distribution was helpful in understanding and controlling the nonlinear mechanisms that can degrade the quality of particle beams. Tomography contributed in improving substantially the performance of electron guns and the transport of particle beams. My PhD work lead to 5 first author publications in leading scientific journals.

During my post-doc at UCLA (2010-2012), my research focused on advanced accelerator concepts such as beam-driven wakefield acceleration. I demonstrated first evidence of wakefield acceleration of a relativistic electron beam in a dielectric structure. This work was published in Physical Review Letters.

As an early career staff scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (2012-2016), I explored modern concepts through advanced simulations and theory for the generation, manipulation and transport of intense muon beams for high energy physics applications such as muon accelerators and neutrino factories. The generation and transport of intense muon beams encompasses a diverse array of concepts such as beam cooling via ionization, design of high-power targets and operation of rf cavities under strong magnetic fields. Each of these concepts was an active research field wherein I was involved and my relevant work appeared in many prestigious journals.

In my current position at Fermilab (2016-), my research is on technologies that could potentially improve the performance of precision-science experiments such the Muon g-2 and Mu2e experiments at Fermilab. This includes cooling techniques for tailoring the momentum distribution of the beam as well as novel uses of instrumentation and diagnostics for measuring and monitoring beam properties. I am actively involved in commissioning and operation of the Muon Campus which is the key facility for providing beams to both aforementioned experiments. I am member of the g-2 collaboration and the Mu2e collaboration.

I am elected Senior Member of IEEE and a Member of the APS. I am part of SAC, a group of approximately 15 members of the Fermilab scientific staff with a goal to share with the Fermilab director new developments that might have implications for the future scientific program. I am Adjunct Professor with the Department of Physics at Northern Illinois University and a member of the Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development.