Bo Miao, Research Scientist
Bo received a B.S. in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2013, before coming to the University of Maryland physics department, where he received his PhD in 2020. In Fall 2015, he was the recipient of the department’s Richard and Anna Iskraut Scholarship. While in our group, Bo has worked on laser plasma acceleration, as well as femtosecond pulse spectroscopy and characterization. Bo’s interests outside of physics include piano, cycling and soccer.
Scott Hancock, Postdoctoral Researcher
Scott received his B.S. in International Affairs and Economics from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008. He completed his M.S. in Engineering Physics at Appalachian State University in 2017. He was a recipient of the North Carolina Space Grant Graduate Fellowship in 2016. At the Biophysics and Optical Sciences Facility at Appalachian State University he worked on automation of laser tweezers, Raman spectroscopy systems, and temperature determination of optically trapped particles. Scott also worked for the Center for Analytics, Research and Education at Appalachian State University studying internal and external factors effecting technology transfer performance in universities. Scott received is his PhD from University of Maryland in 2023, with a focus on spaciotemporal optical vortices (STOVs), and decided to continue his work with us as a postdoctoral researcher. Outside of lab, Scott enjoys camping, hiking, biking, and cooking.
Jaron Shrock, Postdoctoral Researcher
Jaron earned a BA in Physics and Mathematics with High Honors from Swarthmore College in 2018. While there, he worked on Taylor state plasmas on the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment, studying equations of state and developing pulsed power acceleration systems. Jaron received his PhD from University of Maryland in 2023, with a focus on multi-GeV laser wakefied acceleration, and has chosen to continue his work with us as a postdoctoral researcher.
Manh Le, Graduate Student
Manh received a BS in Physics from Ohio State University in 2018. His undergraduate research at Ohio State focused on short pulse lasers and ultrafast laser-matter interactions. He also worked with the extreme light lab at AFRL, studying target-normal sheath acceleration using particle-in-cell simulations. Outside of the lab, Manh enjoys learning languages, baking, and Dungeons and Dragons.
Andrew Goffin, Postdoctoral Researcher
Andrew received his B.S. in electrical engineering (2017) from the University of Maryland, College Park, graduating summa cum laude, and joined the graduate program for electrical engineering the following fall. During his undergraduate education, Andrew worked at NIST on the AC Josephson Voltage Standard, characterizing the response of the system and automating experiments. Andrew’s focus in the lab has been on femtosecond filamentation in the air and its applications. Andrew received is his PhD from University of Maryland in 2024, with a focus on air waveguides, and decided to continue his work with us as a postdoctoral researcher. Besides lab work, Andrew enjoys collecting records and going to concerts.
Lucas Railing, Graduate Student
Lucas received his Bachelor’s in physics from Washington and Jefferson College in 2016. His undergraduate research focused on light scattering in biological tissue for applications in photodynamic therapy. After graduating, he worked at Vitro Architectural Glass to improve mechanical durability measurements of window coatings using image processing techniques in Python. He then studied supercontinuum generation in dispersion varying waveguides at the University of Connecticut before receiving his M.S. in 2019. Outside of the lab, Lucas enjoys hiking, biking and swimming.
Stefan Waczynski, Graduate Student
Stefan graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 2020 before starting graduate work in our lab. As an undergrad, he participated in research into the development of time-deterministic muli-threaded CPU architectures at UMD and, at NASA, developed interface-hardware for the testing of CCDs, sCMOS devices, and IR detectors. Stefan is currently working on Terahertz frequency generation, avalanche breakdown, and radiation detection with our mid-IR laser system. Outside of the lab, Stefan enjoys mountaineering and chess.
Ela Rockafellow, Graduate Student
Ela joined our group in 2019 as an undergraduate before continuing as a graduate student. She earned a B.S. in Physics from University of Maryland in 2022, graduating magna cum laude, and received both the Goldwater Scholarship and NSF GRFP Fellowship for her undergraduate work with our mid-infrared lasers, including measuring ionization rates and simulating plasma induced frequency downshifting. As a graduate student, Ela is currently working on self-waveguiding laser wakefield acceleration. Outside of the lab, Ela rides horses competitively and enjoys drawing, painting, and backpacking.
Nishchal Tripathi, Graduate Student
Nishchal received his B.Tech in Engineering Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) in 2022. His undergraduate research work was focused on particle-in-cell simulations of radiation pressure-based ion acceleration. As a graduate student at UMD, Nishchal is working on the Spatio-temporal optical vortices project. Besides learning physics, Nishchal enjoys drawing hyperrealistic artworks and working out.
Gregory Babic, Graduate Student
Greg graduated summa cum laude with a BS in physics and BSE in electrical engineering from Arizona State University in 2022. As an undergraduate, he worked on the construction and commissioning of the Compact X-ray Light Source at Arizona State, focusing on beam diagnostics and accelerator controls. As a graduate student in the group, Greg works on femtosecond filamentation and one of its applications, air waveguiding. Outside of the lab, Greg enjoys reading, watching sports,
and traveling.
Frederica Liu, Graduate Student
Frederica joined our group as an undergraduate in 2022. She earned a B.S. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Maryland in 2023, and decided to continue with our group as a Ph.D student in Electrical Engineering. She is currently conducting research in radiation detection and avalanche breakdown with our CO2 laser system under the guidance of Stefan and Anthony. Aside from her professional life, Frederica likes to make it known to absolutely everyone that she has two adorable chinchillas named Mercury and Europa, who can be seen in her picture. Frederica’s hobbies include but are not limited to: cooking, jigsaw puzzles, cross-stitching, painting and sleeping. Sleeping can only be considered as a hobby when you are a graduate student.
Jack Felice, Graduate Student
Jack graduated summa cum laude from the Ohio State University in 2024, earning his BS with Honors Research Distinction in Physics. While there, his research focused on applying machine learning methods to optimize laser-driven ion acceleration, earning an undergraduate research scholarship for his work. Currently, Jack is working on the laser wakefield acceleration project. Outside of the lab, Jack’s hobbies include reading, baking, playing video games, and watching football.
Ari Sloss, Graduate Student
Ari graduated with a B.A. and departmental honors in Physics and Astronomy from Northwestern University in 2023. His undergraduate research focused on ray tracing, diagnostics, and commissioning of the Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) WIMP dark matter detector. As a UMD graduate student, Ari now works on Multi-GeV laser wakefield acceleration using plasma waveguides. Outside of the lab, he enjoys photography, cooking, reading, crochet, and D&D.
Howard Milchberg, Professor
Howard Milchberg is Distinguished Professor of Physics and ECE at the University of Maryland, and affiliated with the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, where his labs are located. His research in high intensity laser physics spans the fields of plasma and high energy density physics, advanced particle accelerators and light sources, atomic physics, nonlinear optics, and structured light. He received a B. Eng. from McMaster University and a Ph.D. from Princeton University (1985), after which he became a postdoctoral member of staff at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, and, following that, a faculty member at Maryland (1988). Milchberg is a fellow of the APS and Optica. He is the recipient of the APS John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research (2005) and the APS Arthur Schawlow Prize in Laser Science (2024). Three of his PhD students have received the APS Marshall Rosenbluth Dissertation Award in Plasma Physics and one a finalist for the APS Division of Laser Science Dissertation Award. Outside of the lab, Milchberg is at loose ends.
Undergraduate Students
Former Group Members
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Research Scientists Jared Wahlstrand Postdoctoral Researchers Anthony Zingale Sina Zahedpour Daniel Woodbury Fatholah Salehi Nihal Jhajj Andrew Goers Yu-Hsin Chen Stuart J. McNaught Yuelin Li Enrique Parra Vinod Kumarappan |
Graduate Students Ilia Larkin Linus Feder Daniel Woodbury Bo Miao Fatholah Salehi Anastasia Korolov Eric Rosenthal Sina Zahedpour Nihal Jhajj George Hine Andrew Goers Jennifer Elle Sung Jun Yoon Yu-Hsiang Cheng Arman Fallahkhair |
Brian Layer
Yu-Hsin Chen* Sanjay Varma Andrew York Hua Sheng Ki Yong Kim* Ilya Alexeev Enrique Parra Jingyun Fan Sergei P. Nikitin Thomas R. Clark, Jr.* Charles G. Durfee, III *Recipients of the American Physical Society Doctoral Dissertation Award in Plasma Physics |