Abbas Nikroo

NIF Deputy Director for Physics Integration

Abbas Nikroo is NIF deputy director for physics integration. He is responsible for coordinating and integrating high-level physics program ideas and needs with facility capabilities including both inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and ignition directions as well as those at the High Energy Density Science (HEDS) Center.

Before taking on this role in March 2022, Nikroo managed LLNL’s consolidated HED and ICF target fabrication effort from 2015 to 2022, where he was responsible for all aspects of target fabrication and production, including target science and technology development, engineering design, and target assembly and production. He also set strategic directions to support HED and ICF program target needs, including the development of advanced target capabilities through science and technology funding provided by LLNL. He also worked with other national laboratories and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to help set national priorities and collaborations.

Nikroo has nearly 30 years of experience in target fabrication and with the U.S. national laboratories. He is recognized as a leader of the U.S. target fabrication community across the NNSA HED complex. Before coming to LLNL, Nikroo led target development for NIF in the late 1990s and early 2000s, was deputy for NIF Integrated Target Systems from 2006 to 2012 during the National Ignition Campaign, and was a member of the ICF Executives from 2009 to 2015. He led the target fabrication effort at General Atomics from 2007 to 2015. He has received several national awards in target fabrication and fusion engineering.

Nikroo received his B.S. in physics and a B.A. in applied mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.