Dr. Scott C. Hsu is a plasma and fusion research scientist in the Plasma Physics Group of the Physics Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los Alamos, NM. He earned a Ph.D. in Astrophysical Sciences (Program in Plasma Physics) in 2000 from Princeton University, where he made experimental measurements of ion heating due to magnetic reconnection, which is an ubiquitous process in both laboratory fusion and astrophysical plasmas. For this work, he was a co-recipient of the 2002 American Physical Society (APS) Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research.
After graduate school, Scott was awarded a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fusion Energy Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue research at the California Institute of Technology on an alternative magnetic fusion concept called the spheromak. There, he also became a pioneer in connecting the physics of astrophysical jets to those studied in laboratory plasma experiments.
In 2002, he went to LANL as a Frederick Reines Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow to work on magnetized target fusion (aka magneto-inertial fusion or MIF), which is a higher-density and pulsed alternative fusion approach, and also basic laboratory plasma physics and plasma astrophysics. At LANL, Scott also branched out into research in high-energy-density (HED) physics and inertial confinement fusion (ICF).
Presently, Scott is lead principal investigator for a multi-institutional plasma-jet-driven MIF research project, with primary partner HyperV Technologies Corp., sponsored by the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) under its ALPHA (Accelerating Low-Cost Plasma Heating and Assembly) program. He also conducts experiments and HED research on the OMEGA laser facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester.
Scott is the author or co-author of more than 60 refereed research publications in plasma and fusion science. In 2009, he participated in the DOE Basic Research Needs Workshops for both Magnetic Fusion Energy Science and High Energy Density Laboratory Physics, and in 2016, he was invited to testify on the status of DOE support of innovative fusion energy concept development to the Energy Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Scott was formerly an executive committee member of the APS Topical Group in Plasma Astrophysics, and is presently a member of the Exploratory Plasma Research (EPR) executive committee.
Selected presentations and Congressional testimony of Dr. Scott Hsu
- Plasma Liners and the Potential for a Standoff Magneto-Inertial Fusion Reactor
- 2011 Presentation on PJMIF
- An Overview of Fusion Science – Congressional Energy Subcommittee Hearing; Testimony of Dr, Bernard Bigot, Dr, Stewart Prager, Dr. Scott Hsu
- LANL Plasma Liner Experiment; a first step in demonstrable PJMIF (LANL/HyperV)
- Plasma guns fire into the race for fusion (Dr. Scott Hsu & Dr. Douglas Witherspoon)
- Spherically Imploding Plasma Liners as a Standoff Magneto-Inertial-Fusion Driver ARPA-E Award
Scott Hsu’s Peer-Reviewed Publications (reverse chronological order)