Dr. Alexey Arefiev

Biography

Alexey Arefiev is a Professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering, UC San Diego, where he joined the faculty in 2017. He received his B.Sc. in Physics from Novosibirsk State University in Russia in 1998, followed by a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. His research interests are centered on computational theoretical plasma physics, focusing on high-intensity laser-plasma interactions, high energy density physics, and kinetic plasma phenomena. Arefiev's work primarily investigates light-matter interactions at extreme light intensities, highlighting the importance of relativistic quantum effects. His ongoing research employs high-performance computing to study relativistic laser-plasma interactions and resultant collective phenomena, which are increasingly relevant to society due to rapid advancements in experimental and computational capabilities. He was awarded the Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award in 2003 by the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society for his work on plasma propulsion. Moreover, Arefiev has served as the co-executive secretary of the Joint Institute for Fusion Theory since 2011, contributing to the programs of the US-Japan Fusion Research Collaboration.

Research Interests