Matthew Thibodeau: Big Dreams and Big Science

As a youngster, Matthew Thibodeau’s passion was Big Science projects like NIF and ITER, the magnetic fusion project now under construction in France—the largest fusion facilities of their kind in the world. So last spring when Thibodeau began his first scientific internship at NIF, the 20-year-old—hardly believing his luck—dove deeply into his work.

One of 47 NIF & Photon Science Summer Scholars for 2017, Thibodeau worked one-on-one with a mentor, LLNL physicist Hui Chen, in developing a first-of-its kind automated measurement system for the gated laser entrance hole (G-LEH) diagnostic. G-LEH is an ultrafast camera that captures x-ray images from inside the NIF hohlraum in billionths of a second (see "Taking X-ray Snapshots of Hohlraum Dynamics"). Thibodeau wrote software that extracts data from G-LEH images in their raw form and automates the basic image analysis, a time-saving enhancement that transforms hours and even weeks of analysis into the simple push of a computer key.

"The project has been challenging but doable," said Thibodeau, a rising junior at Rice University in Houston where he majors in math and physics. "What was gratifying, I think, is it was decently meaningful as well."

Chen, however, had a different metric on Thibodeau’s project. "It was a remarkable achievement," she said. "Matthew’s work contributed greatly to the data analysis of one of the newer NIF diagnostics, which saved a lot of time for NIF users and will continue to contribute."

Chen said the work would be submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics this fall, one of the most prestigious platforms in the plasma physics field. The advantage of automating the imaging-results process will allow faster analysis for scientists as they measure experimental results, leading to greater efficiency for the overall NIF mission, according to Chen.

To automate the analysis process for G-LEH results, Thibodeau applied the computer programming language Python, an open-source code popular both for its image-processing capability and its inspirational naming for the irreverent Monty Python comedy troupe. He picked it up in his high school robotics club back in his hometown of Duck, North Carolina. In addition to the software coding and computer analysis he performed for his internship project, he said, "There’s also some fun math that I got to do."

Chen was the responsible scientist on the multi-lab project that developed the G-LEH fast camera, which is capable of capturing two images per shot on its 1,024×448-pixel photo detector array with integration times as short as two nanoseconds per frame. The camera takes multiple photos in a short amount of time collected over the whole shot, imaging a swath on the hohlraum wall in a series that is time-gated like a standard single-lens-reflex camera set on a sequencing automatic motor drive setting.

The capsule size during an implosion indicates how much energy is being delivered to the capsule, Thibodeau explains. "Where the NIF laser beams are pointed, we can map them to the hohlraum wall, and we can get an idea how symmetric the implosion was."

Beyond his lifelong passion for science, Thibodeau continues to develop his love of music; he’s played piano since early childhood, finding music to be a great stress reducer.

Among the favorite aspects of his Livermore Lab experience, he said, was meeting people from around the world and exploring Northern California. One of his new challenges was buying a hybrid bike and getting out on the road, even riding it across the Golden Gate Bridge—an adventure, considering its sometimes-fierce winds. "It was a little intense, but I didn’t go into the road or the water, so it was fine," he shrugged.

Thibodeau plans to take his new bike back to Rice, the university where President John F. Kennedy helped ignite the last century’s fascination with Big Science with his iconic moon-landing speech about the importance of tackling challenges, "not because they are easy, but because they are hard." It’s a speech Thibodeau knows well.

His internship also helped him resolve some life decisions, including pursuing advanced degrees. "I didn’t want to do something because that was expected," he said. "Being around like-minded science-oriented people who were in all stages of their careers and their lives, and from all over the world, it was just the greatest experience."