Kelsey Stallard

Experience

1. Lcls Intern

   SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

   Jun 2025 — Present · Palo Alto, CA, US

   A wide range of fundamental physical processes involve charge dynamics and energy transport, which can occur on ultrafast (femtosecond, or 10-15 seconds) timescales. In order to resolve such processes in time, we require instruments and techniques that provide access to femtosecond (fs) timescales. Unlike infrared or visible photons, deep ultraviolet (DUV) photons have the unique ability to drive electronic transitions in the majority of atomic and molecular systems. This ability to drive electronic motion makes them essential for understanding ultrafast phenomena in physics, chemistry, and materials science. My efforts went towards the generation and characterization of DUV laser pulses using four wave mixing in rare gas-filled hollow capillary fibers. We started with a Yb-based laser system that produces ~300 fs pulses at 1030 nm, as well as spectrally broadened and post-compressed ~50 fs pulses. These pulses are then used to drive four wave mixing in a hollow capillary fiber, generating the fifth harmonic at 206 nm. In parallel, I worked on developing accurate nonlinear optical simulations that guide the experimental efforts and provide predictive capability on the optimal parameters we use in the laboratory setting.

Education

• Monte Vista High School

  High School Diploma

  2019 — 2023

• University of California, Davis

  Physics

  2023 — 2027