Four Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have been recognized as senior members of leading professional societies in optics and photonics, honoring their technical accomplishments, professional experience and service to the field.
Ted Laurence, Tammy Ma and Sam Schrauth have been named senior members of Optica, while Oscar Herrera has been elected a senior member of SPIE.
Senior membership in both organizations recognizes sustained professional achievement and contributions to the optics and photonics community. Optica senior members have more than 10 years of significant professional experience and accomplishments or service in their fields, while SPIE senior members are recognized for their technical accomplishments, professional experience and contributions to the community.
Oscar Herrera
Oscar Herrera, group lead for the Lasers & Metrology Process Engineering Group within the National Ignition Facility's (NIF) Optics, Materials Science and Technology program, is among 79 new SPIE senior members recognized this year.
Herrera joined LLNL in 2018. His work centers on laser and metrology support for NIF optics, helping ensure components installed in the facility meet requirements for reliable operation. He has strengthened measurement processes for large NIF optics and improved process controls and analysis tools used to document optical performance.
Herrera also contributed to a Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project that developed a technique for 3D-printing optical-quality glass. The work earned an R&D 100 award in 2022, with Herrera helping validate the team's results through metrology.
Beyond the Laboratory, Herrera has built a record of service to the optics and photonics community, with an emphasis on strengthening career pathways and expanding access to applied optics. His outreach and mentoring focus on providing practical career guidance and encouraging students to pursue further education, including graduate study.
"Being named an SPIE senior member is especially meaningful because it recognizes sustained work over time, both technical contributions and service to the optics and photonics community," Herrera said. "I'm grateful for the recognition, and I see it as encouragement to keep contributing and mentoring others in the field."
Ted Laurence
Physicist Ted Laurence's career has spanned biological science, laser optics and quantum imaging, connected by the use of optical science and technology to study complex systems.
His early research focused on single-molecule fluorescence biophysics, including work on protein folding and protein-nucleic acid interactions. He later expanded into laser and materials science at LLNL, where he helped investigate laser-induced damage in fused-silica optics used at NIF.
Using time-resolved photoluminescence, Laurence helped show that surface features, particularly fractures, were especially susceptible to damage. That understanding helped guide improved optics-processing techniques that supported higher-energy NIF operations.
More recently, his research has included the use of entangled photons for fluorescence-lifetime measurements, quantum ghost imaging and three-dimensional microscopy.
"Throughout my scientific career, the focus of my research has been on the use of optical science and technology to understand materials science and biology," Laurence said. "I am very honored to be named a senior member of this society and hope to continue contributing to Optica in the future."
Tammy Ma
Tammy Ma, deputy principal associate director for science and technology for NIF & Photon Science, has built a career around high-energy-density science, inertial confinement fusion and efforts to advance inertial fusion energy.
Ma has held a range of scientific and leadership roles involving NIF, high-intensity laser research and fusion. She was a member of the NIF team that achieved fusion ignition in December 2022 and previously served as the founding director of the Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology, established to accelerate public-private partnerships and drive science and technology innovation needed to enable the development of fusion energy.
In her current role, Ma helps shape the long-term science and technology vision and strategy for NIF & Photon Science. She also serves on the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science Advisory Committee and previously served on the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, where she helped develop long-range planning for U.S. fusion research and chaired the 2022 Inertial Fusion Energy Basic Research Needs study.
"One of the things I value most about this field is how collaborative it is," Ma said. "We have an enormous opportunity now to help develop the technologies, supply chains and markets to advance fusion energy and HED science - and it is exciting time as the optics and photonics community pulls together to meet the moment."
Sam Schrauth
Laser physicist Sam Schrauth's recognition reflects a career focused on modeling the performance of large-scale laser systems.
Schrauth joined LLNL in late 2014 as a postdoctoral researcher in NIF & Photon Science and became a staff scientist in 2017. He later assumed responsibility for calibration of the NIF laser model, work that helps ensure delivery of the pulse shape and energy requested by experimentalists.
Early in his career at the Lab, he contributed new capabilities to LLNL's Virtual Beam Line modeling code. That work transitioned into being the first Laser Physics Lead for VBL++, the next-generation successor to Virtual Beam Line. His modeling and calibration work has supported NIF operations and experiments.
Schrauth has also developed expertise in flashlamp pumping and amplifier modeling and uses that experience to support the design of future laser systems and potential NIF upgrades.
"I am proud to be honored in such a way and thankful to the innumerable people who have had a positive impact on my career," Schrauth said. "I've benefited greatly from the experience and guidance of colleagues and mentors, and I hope to continue growing while helping support the development of others in the field."
Together, the four researchers' work spans laser modeling, optical materials and metrology, quantum science and fusion energy, illustrating the breadth of optics and photonics expertise supporting LLNL missions and advancing the broader field.
