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HPC, Simulation, and Data Science

Genesis Mission graphic

LLNL selected to lead 10 projects under DOE’s Genesis Mission

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have been selected to lead 10 Phase I projects under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Genesis Mission, applying AI to challenges spanning high-performance computing (HPC), fusion energy, Earth systems science, materials discovery, biology, quantum technologies and fundamental physics. LLNL…

Attendees at the UC Science at Scale Summit in Santa Fe, New Mexico

“AI Science at Scale” summit showcases advances in AI-enabled research and innovation

Recently, the University of California (UC), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) convened researchers and leaders from across the UC system in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the first annual AI Science at Scale summit. The summit was planned in recognition of AI’s growing role in scientific discovery and the Department of…

Battery diagram

With machine learning, LLNL researchers embrace the atomic-scale complexity of batteries

For grid-scale energy storage and national energy resilience, the U.S. needs better batteries. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are tackling that challenge in many ways, but one approach is making a significant impact: physics-informed machine learning. In two recent publications, LLNL researchers examined how integrating molecular dynamics…

LLNL researchers studied viruses in grassland soil before and after rapid rewetting. Most remained inactive, with only 22 percent of viruses replicating. (Graphic: Dan Herchek/LLNL)

Isotope probing shows soil is packed with dormant viruses lying in wait

A single gram of soil contains between 10 million and 1 billion viruses. Most of those viruses do not infect plants, animals or people — but they do target bacteria and other microbes. Because of their influence on microbial communities, viruses can affect nutrient cycling and soil health. Understanding how they behave is therefore crucial for supporting agriculture, food…

Experiments at the National Ignition Facility used direct laser-driven compression of iron to pressure-temperature conditions relevant to Earth’s inner core, with x-ray radiography and VISAR diagnostics. Credit: Brain Chavez/LLNL and Universidad de Mendoza.

Measuring iron in motion at earth-core conditions

It was a journey to the center of the Earth, if only for the briefest of moments. But rather than tunneling thousands of miles from the Earth’s surface, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and several universities used the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to recreate those extreme temperature and pressure conditions of the Earth’s inner core…

Participants and instructors work through a hands-on activity at the 2025 Real-World Quantum Computing workshop.

Registration open for Real-World Quantum Computing workshop at LLNL

Registration is now open for the 2026 Real-World Quantum Computing workshop, jointly hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and San Jose State University (SJSU). The two-day workshop is designed for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in engineering, physics or related fields. Interns are encouraged to apply. Applications will be accepted on a…

With specialized beamsplitters and precision freeform optics, scientists have generated a novel high-intensity laser that rotates like a spring. (Graphic: Brendan Thompson/LLNL)

Researchers create first-of-a-kind laser spring with LLNL’s highest-precision optics to date

When a high-intensity laser interacts with plasma, the charged particles typically oscillate back and forth like waves on the ocean. But what if the laser itself could twist like a whirlpool? Researchers have now demonstrated a rotating, spring-shaped laser pulse, opening up new possibilities for fusion energy, particle acceleration, astrophysics and beyond. In new…

Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the NNSA Livermore Field Office and project management teams cut the ribbon marking the completion of the Digital Infrastructure Capability Expansion facility on June 9. The event celebrated a major milestone in a decade-long effort to modernize one of the Lab’s most critical infrastructure systems. Photo: Glenn Silva/LLNL

NNSA, LLNL officials celebrate completion of critical Lab digital infrastructure upgrade

Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) celebrated the completion of the Digital Infrastructure Capability Expansion (DICE) facility on June 9, marking a major milestone in a decade-long effort to modernize one of the Lab’s most critical infrastructure systems. The 13,000-square-foot facility,…

Aires Tide brings together expertise across design, manufacturing and flight testing in a single cross-enterprise effort

LLNL helps advance AI-driven design and simulation for NNSA Aires Tide collaboration

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is contributing AI-enabled payload optimization and advanced modeling and simulation expertise to Aires Tide, a collaborative National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) demonstration exploring new ways to design flight test vehicles. Developed in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National…

Target chamber at the OMEGA laser facility at the University of Rochester, New York (Credit: OMEGA Laser Facility)

Laser experiments push helium to record shock pressures

Deep inside gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, hydrogen and helium coexist under pressures millions of times greater than Earth’s atmosphere. At those conditions, helium may separate from hydrogen and influence a planet’s internal heat flow, structure and magnetic field. Understanding these processes and how these materials behave under extreme conditions is essential to…

In an inertial confinement experiment on the National Ignition Facility, the lasers converge at tiny entrance holes at the top and bottom of the hohlraum. The intersection of the lasers enables crossed-beam energy transfer, an important factor in maintaining symmetry of implosions.

Research sheds new light on laser polarization effects in NIF experiments

Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the top or bottom of a 2-centimeter gold canister known as a hohlraum. As they enter, the beams intersect in plasma and transfer power, a process known as…

Neuromorphic ionic devices have the potential to mimic the energy efficient computing found in the human brain. (Image: J. Cataldo/LLNL)

Bridging the gap between neuromorphic ionic computing and more efficient AI

The human brain is the ultimate supercomputer. It uses a highly-branched and interconnected network of neurons and synapses to achieve massive computational power with extreme efficiency. In the age of AI, the brain, a paradigm of efficient neuromorphic computing, is providing inspiration for scientists. Ionic computing — which uses ions to compute instead of the electrons…

A complex system of cooling towers, chillers, pumps, heat exchangers, sensors and more than 2,000 feet of pipes all work together to remove heat from the liquid-cooled exascale supercomputer El Capitan. Graphic: Dan Herchek.

Meet the machines that matter: How El Capitan keeps its cool

LLNL tackles the nation’s toughest security challenges through bold, multidisciplinary science powered by advanced facilities and instruments. In this four-part series, meet the machines that work behind the scenes at the Laboratory to drive discovery, push boundaries and enable excellence. From inspecting optics and trapping ions to cooling supercomputers and detecting…

FODI at work inspecting an optic between experiments at the National Ignition Facility. Image by Daniel Herchek/LLNL

Meet the machines that matter: the Optics Inspector

LLNL tackles the nation’s toughest security challenges through bold, multidisciplinary science powered by advanced facilities and instruments. In this new series, meet the machines that work behind the scenes at the Laboratory to drive discovery, push boundaries and enable excellence. From inspecting optics and trapping ions to cooling supercomputers and detecting…

Big Ideas Lab genesis mission graphic

Big Ideas Lab explores how the Genesis Mission aims to accelerate scientific discovery

Scientific discovery has always moved through a familiar cycle: question, hypothesis, experiment and a result. In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) explores how the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission aims to accelerate that process by uniting AI, high-performance computing (HPC), experiments and the…

On May 7, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Director Kim Budil, fourth from left, joined a public-private panel on AI for science, where she highlighted LLNL capabilities and AI focus areas, including the National Ignition Facility, El Capitan, high-fidelity modeling and simulation and advanced materials and manufacturing. (Photo: Jeremy Thomas)

LLNL showcases AI-enabled science, national security and energy innovation at AI+ Expo

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leaders, scientists and engineers joined national voices at the Special Competitive Studies Project’s (SCSP) AI+ Expo May 7-9 in Washington, D.C., highlighting how AI is reshaping science, security and energy innovation. The public Expo brought together government, industry, academic and Department of Energy (DOE) national…

LLNL’s advanced optics system for Ocula, featuring the Lab’s state-of-the-art monolithic telescope, will capture high-resolution ultraviolet and visible images of the lunar surface onboard Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft in lunar orbit. (Photographer: Gary McLeod)

LLNL optics system set to fly to the moon with Firefly Aerospace for Ocula imaging service

A team of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently delivered a high-resolution optics system to Firefly Aerospace in support of Firefly’s Ocula commercial lunar imaging service. The payload is scheduled to fly onboard Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft in lunar orbit as part of Blue Ghost Mission 2, targeted to launch no earlier than late 2026. The…

At LLNL’s STEM with Phones summer workshop, Daniel Kim participated in a demonstration on how a smartphone can be used for scientific research and data analysis. (Photo: Garry McLeod)

AI expands what research projects students can accomplish at LLNL’s STEM with Phones workshop

Forget spreadsheets. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) STEM with Phones student workshop, students are using smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct advanced scientific analysis. Led by LLNL’s David Rakestraw, participants in the program discover how to turn a tool already in their pocket — a smartphone — into an instrument for…

LLNL scientists Nicholas Watkins and Sankar Raju Narayanasamy run a high-throughput screening system to test hundreds of enzymes for their ability to break down cellulose. (Photos: Blaise Douros/LLNL)

Screening enzymes to break down plant waste and produce valuable biofuels

Locked away inside the walls of plant cells lies a valuable source of energy: sugar. But to access that sugar — which could provide a domestic source of bioenergy that strengthens U.S. energy security — researchers must first break down cellulose, the structural component of plant cell walls. A team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has designed two high…

The Big Ideas Lab podcast, with a nighttime satellite photo of the U.S.

Big Ideas Lab podcast spotlights how Skyfall defends the power grid from cyberattacks

A blackout spread across more than a hundred cities in Ukraine after malware infected the nation’s power grid. This sophisticated breach was the first of its kind, speaking the language of the industrial control systems to carry out a remote operation on physical infrastructure. The incident led U.S. Department of Energy national security experts to ask: what would happen…