Dr. Barrios is a staff scientist in the Physics Division working on ICF
target physics at the National Ignition Facility. She is interested in diagnosing plasma
conditions, plasma flow, and mix in ICF targets using x-ray spectroscopy. She now leads an
experimental campaign to map the electron temperature in various locations inside a NIF hohlraum,
to better understand hohlraum physics and uncover short comings in our radiation hydrodynamics models.
She received her PhD. from University of Rochester in 2010, planning and running experiments at the Laboratory
for Laser Energetics’ Omega laser. There she studied shock physics, shock-timing for DT implosions, and
material behavior at high pressures. In her thesis she studied the equation-of-state and material response of
polymers at pressures above 1 Mbar. This was relevant to study chemistry at high pressures, and also important
for ICF implosions as polymers are often used as the ablator material for capsules, setting initial velocity and
compressibility of the implosion. She received B.A. degrees in physics and philosophy from Gettysburg College in 2006.
While at Gettysburg she was actively involved in observational astronomy working on the development of automated crowded
field photometry for the search of variable star systems, and light curve measurements of asteroids and eclipsing binary star
systems.