Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory



prosnitz1@llnl.gov (925) 422-6141

Photo of Dr. Donald Prosnitz

Dr. Donald Prosnitz is an Associate Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a Senior Principal Researcher (adjunct) at RAND Corporation, and a visiting scholar at the physics department of the University of California at Berkeley. His current activities at CGSR focus on the interplay between high-performance computing and policy formulation. He is also actively involved in research on free-electron lasers and a range of studies at RAND concentrating on the utilization of technology to solve national and homeland security issues; current studies focus on law enforcement and electronic surveillance.

Prosnitz was previously the Deputy Associate Director (Programs) for Nonproliferation, Homeland and International Security at LLNL. Prior to joining the Laboratory in 1979, he spent two years as an assistant professor at Yale University. Over the next three decades, he conducted research at LLNL on lasers, particle accelerators, high-power microwaves, free-electron lasers, and remote sensing and managed the design, construction, and operation of numerous research facilities. In 1990, he was awarded the U.S. Particle Accelerator Award for Achievement in Accelerator Physics and Technology.

In 1999, Prosnitz was named the first Chief Science and Technology Advisor for the U.S. Department of Justice by Attorney General Janet Reno. He was responsible for coordinating technology policy and technology projects among the Justice Department's component agencies and with state and local law enforcement entities.

In 2002, he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is a former chair of the American Physical Society Forum on Physics and Society and a past member of the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology. He continues to serve on multiple NAS committees, which have examined all aspects of weapons of mass destruction and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's approach to risk assessment.

Prosnitz earned a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.S. in physics from Yale University. He is a licensed amateur radio operator and an active member of his community's CERT (Community Emergency Response Team).

Selected Publications

"Determining Core Capabilities in Chemical and Biological Defense Science and Technology," The National Academies Press (2012), with Miriam E. John et al.

"A Next Generation Light Source Facility at LBNL," Proceedings of the 2011 Particle Accelerator Conference (2011), with J. N. Corlett et al.

"Studies of a Linac Driver for a High Repetition Rate X-Ray FEL," Proceedings of the 2011 Particle Accelerator Conference (2011), with M. Venturini et al.

"Governing Geoengineering Research: A Political and Technical Vulnerability Analysis of Potential Near-Term Options," Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2011. http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR846, with Robert J. Lempert.

"Review of the Department of Homeland Security's Approach to Risk Analysis," The National Academies Press (2010), with John F. Ahearne et al.

"Enforcing Immigration Law at the State and Local Levels: A Public Policy Dilemma," Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010. http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP273. with Jessica Saunders and Nelson Lim.

"Scientific Assessment of High-Power Free-Electron Laser Technology," The National Academies Press (2009), with Thomas C. Katsouleas et al.

"Countering a Bioterrorism Campaign in the New Century," RAND Corporation, (2008), with Gary Cecchine.

"Whose Responsibility?" Professional Ethics Report, Vol. XX, No. 4 (2007).

"Terrorism and the Chemical Infrastructure – Protecting People and Reducing Vulnerabilities," The National Academies Press (2006), with Linda Capuano et al.

"WMD Sensors – Search and Seizure," Science 310, 978 (2005).

"Department of Justice Role in Countering WMD," Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense, Richard F. Pilch and Raymond A. Zilinskas, eds. (Wiley, May 2005).

"Technical and Policy Issues of Counterterrorism – A Primer for Physicists," Physics Today 56 (9), 39-44 (2003), with Jay Davis.

"Physics, Homeland Security and the Justice System," APS News 11 (4), 8 (2002).

"Short Wavelength FELs using the SLAC linac," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A347 (1-3), 199-204 (1994), with H. Winick et al.

"Emission from Ferroelectric Cathodes," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A340 (1), 90-95 (1994), with S. E. Sampayan, G. J. Caparoso, and C. L. Holmes.

"The SLAC Soft X-Ray High-Power FEL," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A341 (1-3), 326-330 (1994), with C. Pellegrini et al.

"Deep Space Imaging with a mm-Wave Free Electron Laser," Proceedings of the 1993 Space Surveillance Workshop, Lincoln Laboratory (1993), pp. 81-88, with E. T. Scharlemann et al.

"Amplification of a Bi-Phase, Shift-Key Modulated Signal by a mm-Wave FEL," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A318 (1-3), 691-696 (1992), with E. T. Scharlemann and M. K. Sheaffer.

"Free Electron Lasers," Handbook of Laser Science and Technology Supplement 1: Lasers, Marvin J. Weber, ed. (CRC Press, 1991), p. 515.

"Results of the Paladin Experiment," Free-Electrons Lasers II, Yves Petroff, ed., Proc. SPIE (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 1989) p. 97, with J. T. Weir et al.

"High-Gain Free-Electron Lasers," Proceedings of the Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics, Baltimore, MD (1989), p. 44.

"Free-Electron Laser Results from the Advanced Test Accelerator," Proceedings of the 1988 Linear Accelerator Conference, Newport News, VA, (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, 1988), p. 281, with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"High-Gain 10.6-Micron Free-Electron Laser Amplifier," Proceedings of the Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Annual Meeting Conference, Santa Clara, CA, (IEEE, 1988), p. 349, with J. L. Miller et al.

"Physics of Free-Electron Lasers and Applications to Electron Cyclotron Heating," Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 30 (11), 1523 (1988).

"Induction Linac-Driven Free-Electron Lasers: Status and Future Prospects," Free-Electron Lasers, Critical Reviews of Optical Science and Technology, Brian E. Newnam, ed., SPIE Vol. 738, (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 1988), p. 142.

"Development of a Laced Electromagnetic Wiggler," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 24 (2), 1094 (1988), with T. C. Christensen et al.

"Electromagnetic Wiggler Technology Development at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 24 (2), 986 (1988), with G. A. Deis et al.

"An Introduction to the Physics of High-Gain Free-Electron Lasers," Proceedings of the Free-Electron Laser Seminar, Beijing, China (1988), p. 198, with T. J. Orzechowski and E. T. Scharlemann.

"Experimental Results of a High-Gain Microwave FEL Operating at 140 GHz," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, A272, 15 (1988), with A. L. Throop et al.

"A Long Electromagnetic Wiggler for the Paladin Free-Electron Laser Experiments," IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 24 (2), 1090 (1988), with G. A. Deis et al.

"Induction Linac-Based FELs," Proceedings of the 1987 IEEE Particle Accelerator, Washington, D.C., (IEEE, 1987), p. 178, with R. J. Briggs et al.

"Fabrication and 35-GHz Testing of Key Two-Beam Accelerator Components," Proceedings of the 1987 IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference: Accelerator Engineering and Technology, Washington, D.C., (IEEE, 1987), p. 80, with D. B. Hopkins et al.

"High-Gain and High-Extraction Efficiency from a Free-Electron Laser Amplifier Operating in the Millimeter Wave Regime," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics, A250, 144 (1986), with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"High-Efficiency Extraction of Microwave Radiation from a Tapered-Wiggler Free-Electron Laser," Phys. Rev. Lett. 57 (17), 2172 (1986), with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"High-Power 35-GHz Testing of a Free-Electron Laser and Two-Beam Accelerator Structures," High Intensity Laser Processes, John Al. Alcock, ed., Proc. SPIE 664, 61 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 1986), with D. B. Hopkins et al.

"Electron-Beam Guiding and Phase-Mix Damping by a Laser-Ionized Channel," Phys. Rev. Lett. 54 (7), 685 (1985), with W. E. Martin et al.

"Microwave Radiation from a High-Gain Free-Electron Laser Amplifier," Phys. Rev. Lett. 54 (9), 889 (1985), with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"Enhancing the Performance of a High-Gain Free-Electron Laser Operating at Millimeter Wavelengths," Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. (Netherlands) A239 (1), 47 (1985), with W. A. Barletta et al.

"High-Gain Free-Electron Lasers Using Induction Linear Accelerators," IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics QE21 (7), 831(1985), with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"Status of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Free-Electron Laser (FEL)," Free-Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Charles A. Brau et al., eds., Proc. SPIE 453, 59 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 1984), with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"High Intensity Free-Electron Lasers for Inertial Confinement Fusion," Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena, Vol. 6, p. 193, H. Hora and G. H. Miley, eds., (Plenum Publishing Corp., New York, NY, 1984).

"The Free-Electron Laser ICF Driver," Trans. Amer. Nucl. Soc. 46, 188 (1984), with R. Haas.

"Synchrotron-Betatron Resonances in Free-Electron Lasers," Phys. Rev. A 30 (5), 2472 (1984), with W. M. Fawley and E. T. Scharlemann.

"Microwave Amplification Using a Variable Parameter Wiggler Free-Electron Laser," Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Infrared and Millimeter Waves, Takarazuka, Osaka, Japan (1984), with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"Radially Resolved Simulation of a High-Gain Free-Electron Laser Amplifier," Free-Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Charles A. Brau et al., eds. Proc. SPIE 453, 212 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 1984), with W. M. Fawley et al.

"Millimeter High Power Sources for High Gradient Accelerators," IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. NS30 (4), 2754 (1983).

"Review of Free-Electron Laser Theory and Experiments," Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on High Power Particle Beams, San Francisco, CA, (1983), p. 18.

"High-Gain Free-Electron Laser at ETA," Proceedings of the Second National Conference on High Power Microwave Technology, Adelphi, MD, (1983), p. 16, with T. J. Orzechowski et al.

"Simulation of a High-Gain Tapered-Wiggler Free-Electron Laser," Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on High Power Particle Beams, San Francisco, CA, (1983), p. 6, with W. M. Fawley and E. T. Scharlemann.

"A Tutorial Summary of the Theory of Variable Wiggler Free-Electron Lasers, as Well as a Summary of Some Proposed Experiments," Free-Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Proc. of ONR Workshop on Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Physics of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 7, p. 175, S. Jacobs et al. eds. (Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1982), with A. Szoke and V. K. Neil.

"One-Dimensional Computer Simulation of the Variable Wiggler Free-Electron Laser," Free-Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Proc. of ONR Workshop on Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Physics of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 7, p. 571, S. Jacobs et al., eds. (Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1982), with A. Szoke and V. K. Neil.

"Two-Dimensional Numerical Model of the Tapered Wiggler Free-Electron Laser," Free-Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Physics of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 9, p. 1047, S. Jacobs et al., eds. (Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1982), with R. Haas et al.

"Millimeter-Wave Generation by a Single-Pass, Compton-Regime, Variable-Parameter Free-Electron Laser," Free-Electron Generators of Coherent Radiation, Physics of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 9, p. 651, S. Jacobs et al., eds. (Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1982), with A. M. Sessler.

"Free-Electron Lasers-Infrared and Visible Lasers," Handbook of Laser Science and Technologies, Vol. 1, p. 425, Marvin J. Weber, ed. (CRC Press, 1982).

"High-Gain, Free-Electron Laser Amplifiers: Design Considerations and Simulation," Phys. Rev. A24 (3), 1436 (1981), with A. Szoke and V. K. Neil.

"Free-Electron Laser as a Fusion Driver," Symposium on High-Power Lasers and Applications, Charles C. Tang, ed., Proc. SPIE 270, 102 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 1981), with L. Schlitt.

"Theoretical Investigation of a 10-Micron Free-Electron Laser Amplifier Using a 50-MeV Multi-kA Electron Beam," Fourth International Topical Conference on High-Power Electron and Ion-Beam Research and Technology, Palaiseau, France (1981), p. 8, with V. K. Neil.

"Sulfur 1S0 - 1D2 Laser by OCS Photodissociation," Appl. Phys. Lett. 34 (9), 571 (1979), with H. T. Powell and B. R. Schleicher.

"Stimulated Emission at 9.75 Microns Following Two-Photon Excitation of Methyl Fluoride," Appl. Phys. Lett. 32 (4), 221 (1978), with R. R. Jacobs et al.

"Multiphoton Transactions Induced by a Dichromatic Laser Field," Phys. Rev. A16 (3), 1165 (1977), with D. W. Wildman and E. V. George.

"Laser Induced Optical Satellite Line Profiles in a Helium Plasma," Phys. Rev. A13 (2), 891 (1976), with D. Wildman and E. V. George.

"Laser Generation from 6 to 35 Microns Following Two-Photon Excitation of Ammonia," Appl. Phys. Lett. 29 (11), 710 (1976), with R. R. Jacobs et al.

"Emission Profiles of Laser-Induced Optical Satellite Lines in a Helium Plasma," Phys. Rev. Lett. 32 (23), 1281 (1974), with E. V. George.

"Tonks-Dattner Resonances in an Ion Laser," Quarterly Progress Report, Research Laboratory of Electronics, 103, 99 (1971), with E. V. George.