Abbas Nikroo
Target Fabrication Program Manager
National Ignition Facility
Abbas Nikroo, NIF Target Fabrication program manager, has extensive background in condensed matter physics and target fabrication science and technology, as well as years of experience ensuring high volume/high quality target production for NIF and the nation’s other major high energy density (HED) research facilities and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) laboratories.
Dr. Nikroo manages the Laboratory's consolidated HED and inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target fabrication efforts and is responsible for all aspects of target fabrication and production including target technology development, engineering design, development, and production, and target fabrication science and technology. The Target Fabrication Team produces approximately 1,000 precision targets per year for NIF, the OMEGA Laser Facility at the University of Rochester, and the Z Facility at Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Nikroo works closely with stakeholders across the Laboratory to ensure delivery of programmatic deliverables and alignment with program priorities.
He also is responsible for integrating the NNSA-funded LLNL target fabrication efforts at General Atomics (GA) and Schafer Corporation, partners in the Laboratory’s target fabrication effort. He is responsible for setting strategic direction of the LLNL-related target fabrication program, supporting ongoing and future HED programs in NIF and the Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate, and the development of advanced target capabilities through science and technology funding provided by the Laboratory.
Dr. Nikroo has more than 20 years of experience working with the U.S. national laboratories and is recognized across the NNSA HED complex as a leader of the U.S. target fabrication community. He led the target fabrication effort at GA for six years after almost 14 years as a target fabrication scientist and manager. He was the deputy for NIF Integrated Target Systems from 2006 to 2012 during the National Ignition Campaign and has been a member of the ICF Executives since 2009.
Dr. Nikroo received his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1990, and his B.S. in physics as well as a B.A. in applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkley, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 1984. He received the Fusion Power Associates Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award in 2003 in recognition of his outstanding technical contributions to the technology of inertial fusion energy and his exceptional leadership in the fusion field. In 2012 he received the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences award for his many exemplary technical contributions and leadership initiatives in the field of ICF target fabrication techniques.
