University of California San Diego (UCSD) graduate students Sophie Parsons and Ross Turner are collaborating with researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as part of MSEE’s Research Area 4 – Focus Area 2. Parsons and Turner, along with principal investigators Harry Radousky, Farhat Beg, and Javier Garay, are exploring the use of high-power lasers like the Optical Science Laser and LIGHT (Light Induced compression for Grain scale with High Throughput) to simulate the effects of x-ray blow-off and thermo-mechanical shock.