Contact information: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 7000 East Avenue, L-413 Livermore, CA 94550 email: hamel2@llnl.gov phone: 925-423-8048 fax: 925-422-6594

Education:

• Ph.D., Physics, University of Montreal, 2003
• M.S., Astrophysics, University of Montreal, 1998
• B.S., Physics, University of Montreal, 1995

Research:

My research interests include using large-scale parallel Monte-Carlo, classical and quantum molecular dynamics computations and deep learning algorithms to address issues in planetary science, in inertial confinement fusion and in projects centered on the structural, optical and transport properties of nanostructures and molecular crystals.

In the popular press:

• Bizarre form of hot ice seen on Earth. National Geographic
• Black, Hot Ice May Be Nature’s Most Common Form of Water. Quanta Magazine
• Superionic ice observed at extreme pressure and temperature. Physics Today
• New Form of Water, Both Liquid and Solid, Is ‘Really Strange’. NY Times
• Superionic water. Wikipedia

Image credit: @iammoteh for Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/black-hot-superionic-ice-may-be-natures-most-common-form-of-water-20190508

Recent publications:

• Damian C. Swift, Thomas Lockard, Richard G. Kraus, Lorin X. Benedict, Philip A. Sterne, Mandy Bethkenhagen, Sebastien Hamel, and Bard I. Bennett, Atom-in-jellium equations of state in the high-energy-density regime. Phys. Rev. E 99, 063210 (2019)
• A. Fernandez-Pañella, M. Millot, D. E. Fratanduono, M. P. Desjarlais, S. Hamel, M. C. Marshall, D. J. Erskine, P. A. Sterne, S. Haan, T. R. Boehly, G. W. Collins, J. H. Eggert, and P. M. Celliers, Shock Compression of Liquid Deuterium up to 1 TPa. Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 255702 (2019)
• Marius Millot, Federica Coppari, J. Ryan Rygg, J, Antonio Correa Barrios, Sebastien Hamel, Damian C. Swift & Jon H. Eggert, Nanosecond X-ray diffraction of shock-compressed superionic water ice. Nature 569, pages 251-255 (2019)
• Philip C. Myint, Eric L. Shi, Sebastien Hamel, Hyunchae Cynn, Zsolt Jenei, Magnus J. Lipp, William J. Evans, and Minta C. Akin, Two-phase equation of state for lithium fluoride. J. Chem. Phys. 150, 074506 (2019)
• Marius Millot, Sebastien Hamel, J. Ryan Rygg, Peter M. Celliers, Gilbert W. Collins, Federica Coppari, Dayne E. Fratanduono, Raymond Jeanloz, Damian C. Swift & Jon H. Eggert, Experimental evidence for superionic water ice using shock compression. Nature Physics 14, pages 297–302 (2018)
• Philip C Myint, Alexander A Chernov, Babak Sadigh, Lorin X Benedict, Burl M Hall, Sebastien Hamel, Jonathan L Belof, Nanosecond freezing of water at high pressures: nucleation and growth near the metastability limit. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 155701 (2018)
• X Andrade, S Hamel, AA Correa, Negative differential conductivity in liquid aluminum from real-time quantum simulations. The European Physical Journal B 91 (10), 229 (2018)
• T Döppner, DC Swift, AL Kritcher, B Bachmann, GW Collins, DA Chapman, J Hawreliak, D Kraus, J Nilsen, S Rothman, LX Benedict, E Dewald, DE Fratanduono, JA Gaffney, SH Glenzer, S Hamel, OL Landen, HJ Lee, S LePape, T Ma, MJ MacDonald, AG MacPhee, D Milathianaki, M Millot, P Neumayer, PA Sterne, R Tommasini, RW Falcone, Absolute Equation-of-State Measurement for Polystyrene from 25 to 60 Mbar Using a Spherically Converging Shock Wave. Physical review letters 121 (2), 025001 (2018)
• M Millot, PM Celliers, PA Sterne, LX Benedict, AA Correa, S Hamel, SJ Ali, KL Baker, LF Berzak Hopkins, J Biener, GW Collins, F Coppari, L Divol, A Fernandez-Panella, DE Fratanduono, SW Haan, S Le Pape, NB Meezan, AS Moore, JD Moody, JE Ralph, JS Ross, JR Rygg, C Thomas, DP Turnbull, C Wild, JH Eggert, Measuring the shock impedance mismatch between high-density carbon and deuterium at the National Ignition Facility. Physical Review B 97 (14), 144108 (2018)
• A Shamp, E Zurek, T Ogitsu, DE Fratanduono, S Hamel, Properties of B4C in the shocked state for pressures up to 1.5 TPa. Physical Review B 95 (18), 184111 (2017)
• M. Bethkenhagen, E. R. Meyer, S. Hamel, N. Nettelmann, M. French, L. Scheibe, C. Ticknor, L. A. Collins, J. D. Kress, J. J. Fortney, and R. Redmer, Planetary Ices and the Linear Mixing Approximation. The Astrophysical Journal Vol. 848, page 67 (2017)
• LA Zepeda-Ruiz, B Sadigh, AA Chernov, T Haxhimali, A Samanta, T Oppelstrup, S Hamel, LX Benedict, JL Belof, Extraction of effective solid-liquid interfacial free energies for full 3D solid crystallites from equilibrium MD simulations. The Journal of Chemical Physics 147 (19), 194704 (2017)
• DE Fratanduono, PM Celliers, DG Braun, PA Sterne, S Hamel, A Shamp, E Zurek, KJ Wu, AE Lazicki, M Millot, GW Collins, Equation of state, adiabatic sound speed, and Grüneisen coefficient of boron carbide along the principal Hugoniot to 700 GPa. Physical Review B 94 (18), 184107 (2016)
• N. Nettelmann, K. Wang, J.J. Fortney, S. Hamel, S. Yellamilli, M. Bethkenhagen, R. Redmer, Uranus evolution models with simple thermal boundary layers. Icarus Vol. 275, pages 107-116 (2016)
• Mandy Bethkenhagen, Daniel Cebulla, Ronald Redmer, and Sebastien Hamel,
  Superionic Phases of the 1:1 Water–Ammonia Mixture. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 119 (42), 10582-10588 (2015)
• Stephanie Brygoo, Marius Millot, Paul Loubeyre, Amy E Lazicki, Sebastien Hamel, Tingting Qi, Peter M Celliers, Federica Coppari, Jon H Eggert, Dayne E Fratanduono, Damien G Hicks, J Ryan Rygg, Raymond F Smith, Damian C Swift, Gilbert W Collins, Raymond Jeanloz, Analysis of laser shock experiments on precompressed samples using a quartz reference and application to warm dense hydrogen and helium. Journal of Applied Physics 118 (19), 195901 (2015)
• Tingting Qi, Marius Millot, Richard G Kraus, Seth Root, Sebastien Hamel, Optical and transport properties of dense liquid silica. Physics of Plasmas 22 (6), 062706 (2015)
• SG Srinivasan, N Goldman, I Tamblyn, S Hamel, M Gaus, A density functional tight binding model with an extended basis set and three-body repulsion for hydrogen under extreme thermodynamic conditions. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 118 (29), 5520-5528 (2014)
• Lorin X Benedict, Kevin P Driver, Sebastien Hamel, Burkhard Militzer, Tingting Qi, Alfredo A Correa, A Saul, Eric Schwegler, Multiphase equation of state for carbon addressing high pressures and temperatures. Physical Review B 89 (22), 224109 (2014)
• Ping Y, Coppari F, Hicks DG, Yaakobi B, Fratanduono DE, Hamel S, Eggert JH, Rygg JR, Smith RF, Swift DC, Braun DG, Boehly TR, Collins GW, Solid iron compressed up to 560 GPa. Phys Rev Lett. 111 065501 (2013)
• MA Morales, S Hamel, K Caspersen, E Schwegler, Hydrogen-helium demixing from first principles: From diamond anvil cells to planetary interiors. Physical Review B 87 (17), 174105 (2013)
• Nir Goldman, Sriram Goverapet Srinivasan, Sebastien Hamel, Laurence E Fried, Michael Gaus, Marcus Elstner, Determination of a density functional tight binding model with an extended basis set and three-body repulsion for carbon under extreme pressures and temperatures. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 117 (15), 7885-7894 (2013)
• S. Hamel, L. X. Benedict, P. M. Celliers, M. A. Barrios, T. R. Boehly, G. W. Collins, T. Döppner, J. H. Eggert, D. R. Farley, D. G. Hicks, J. L. Kline, A. Lazicki, S. LePape, A. J. Mackinnon, J. D. Moody, H. F. Robey, E. Schwegler, and P. A. Sterne, Equation of state of CH1.36: First-principles molecular dynamics simulations and shock-and-release wave speed measurements. Phys. Rev. B 86, 094113 (2012)
• D. C. Swift, J. H. Eggert, D. G. Hicks, S. Hamel, K. Caspersen, E. Schwegler, G. W. Collins, N. Nettelmann  and G. J. Ackland  Mass-Radius Relationships for Exoplanets. Astro. Phys. J. 744, 59 (2012)
• R. G. Kraus, S. T. Stewart, D. C. Swift, C. A. Bolme, R. F. Smith, S. Hamel, B. D. Hammel, D. K. Spaulding, D. G. Hicks, J. H. Eggert, G. W. Collins,  Shock vaporization of silica and the thermodynamics of planetary impact events. J. Geophys. Research – Planets 117, E09009 (2012)
• M. French; S. Hamel and R. Redmer,  Dynamical Screening and Ionic Conductivity in Water from Ab Initio Simulations. Phys. Rev. Lett., 107, 185901 (2011)
• B. Boates, S. Hamel, E. Schwegler, and S. A. Bonev,  Structural and optical properties of liquid CO2 for pressures up to 1 TPa. J. Chem. Phys. 134, 064504 (2011)
• R. Chau, S. Hamel, and W. J. Nellis,  Chemical Processes in the Deep Interior of Uranus. Nature Communications, 2, (2011)
• S. Hamel, Miguel Morales and Eric Schwegler,  Signature of helium segregation in hydrogen-helium mixtures. Phys. Rev. B 84, 165110 (2011)
• Zaitseva, N.; Glenn, A.; Carman, L.; Hatarik, R.; Hamel, S.; Faust, M.; Schabes, B.; Cherepy, N.; Payne, S.,  Pulse Shape Discrimination in Impure and Mixed Single-Crystal Organic Scintillators. Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on , vol.58, no.6, 3411 (2011)
• N. Zaitseva, L. Carman, A. Glenn, J. Newby, M. Faust, S. Hamel, N. Cherepy, S. Payne, Application of solution techniques for rapid growth of organic crystals. J. Crystal Growth 314 (2011) 163;
• Morales, MA; Schwegler, E; Ceperley, D; Pierleoni, C; Hamel, S; Caspersen, K., Phase separation in hydrogen-helium mixtures at Mbar pressures. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 106, 1324-1329, (2009)
• Natalia P. Zaitseva, Jason Newby, Sebastien Hamel, Leslie Carman, Michelle Faust, Vincenzo Lordi, Nerine J. Cherepy, Wolfgang Stoeffl and Stephen A. Payne, Neutron detection with single crystal organic scintillators. Proc. SPIE 7449, Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XI, 744911 (2009)
• CD Grant, JC Crowhurst, S Hamel, AJ Williamson, N Zaitseva, Anomalous Photoluminescence in CdSe Quantum‐Dot Solids at High Pressure Due to Nonuniform Stress. Small 4 (6), 788-794 (2008)
• Natalia Zaitseva, Sebastien Hamel, Zu Rong Dai, Cheng Saw, Andrew Williamson, Giulia Galli, Effect of nitrogen on the stability of silicon nanocrystals produced by decomposition of alkyl silanes. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112 (10), 3585-3590 (2008)
• S Hamel, AJ Williamson, HF Wilson, F Gygi, G Galli, E Ratner, D Wack, First-principles calculations of the dielectric properties of silicon nanostructures. Applied Physics Letters 92 (4), 043115 (2008)