Executive Summary
At the extremes of temperature and pressure found in stars, at the centers of giant planets, and associated with nuclear reactions, materials exhibit properties not observed in our everyday environment—nonmetals become metals, crystals take on surprisingly complex structures, and mass can be converted into energy. These are the conditions of high energy density (HED) science, a rapidly evolving research frontier with societal impact ranging from security to sustainability.
Significant advances in the past decades have increased our ability to create HED environments in the laboratory, enabling the discovery of novel behaviors and deepening theoretical knowledge of matter, with essential applications for technology. HED science is now scientifically poised to address several “Grand Challenges,” including the following:
- How can nuclear fusion be controlled and harnessed for society’s energy, security, and technology needs?
- What are the quantum states of matter in the HED regime that lead to new classes of materials for energy transport, storage, and quantum information science?
- How can we understand matter and processes at extreme HED conditions over a vast range of distance and time scales?
- How can the conditions of extreme astrophysical phenomena evident from observations or predicted by theory be reproduced and studied in the laboratory to increase our understanding of the cosmos?
Congress requested that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) engage the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to produce an unclassified, publicly available assessment of recent advances and the current status of research in the field of HED physics. Chapter 1 describes the approach of the Committee on the Assessment of High Energy Density Science to address this request to produce a report that assesses fundamental HED science.
Continued progress in HED science depends not only on exceptional facilities, but also on the best minds bringing fresh insight from diverse perspectives to bear on these promising challenges. While HED science has unique characteristics, including those due to its proximity to research bearing on energy and on nuclear weapons, it has been the beneficiary of a world-class system of higher education, a research environment that emphasizes integrity, and a welcoming approach to the world’s best researchers.
The new opportunities offered by HED science require urgent attention if the United States is to continue in a leadership role. The competitive economy emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic requires novel approaches to training, recruiting, and retaining scientists, engineers, and technicians, including innovative approaches to university curricula, increased outreach, and improvements to workplace culture.
International collaboration is growing in importance; significant global investments in HED science research facilities have already led to a loss of U.S. preeminence in some areas—high-intensity lasers, for example. As the global competition for talent increases in a world of rising international tension, the United States requires a renewed focus on attracting and retaining international talent to maintain a leadership role.
These needs lead the committee to the following key conclusion:
Key Conclusion: An overarching challenge facing the NNSA is retention and recruitment of its expert workforce. The rapidly expanding influence of the private sector, developments around the world, and challenges to workplace climate put at risk the approaches and laboratories in HED science research that have served the nation well since World War II.
Regardless, the committee is optimistic. HED science is making striking advances. Exciting challenges and discoveries attract talented young researchers to the field. Strategic planning for next-generation HED science experimental facilities and computational capabilities are essential for these discoveries, which leverage the breakthroughs being made today. Compelling fundamental science questions, as well as national needs in technology, position HED science as a critical investment with significant promise for society and for our understanding of the universe.
The following recommendations address these observations.
Leading Recommendation: To strengthen its global leadership in high energy density (HED) science and address future national needs, the NNSA should exploit and enhance the capabilities of its flagship HED facilities (e.g., the National Ignition Facility, Z Pulsed Power Facility, and Omega Laser Facility) by establishing plans over the next 5 years for (1) extending, upgrading, or replacing those facilities; (2) increasing the promotion of forefront technology development, including in high-intensity lasers; (3) enhancing academic capabilities and mid-scale facilities; and (4) broadening remote access to its major experimental and computing facilities.
Leading Recommendation: To enhance career pathways for high energy density science research at NNSA facilities, the NNSA should (1) broaden its current programs for achieving excellence through diversity, equity, and inclusion while improving workplace climate and (2) develop a strategic plan for balancing security and proliferation concerns with openness and accessibility, such as for collaborators internationally, and with academia and the private sector.
Additional recommendations from this study are summarized at the end of Chapter 1, and all recommendations appear as a list in Appendix D.
