Federica Coppari handles the pressure

There are several ways here on Earth to create the pressures and temperatures required to probe material behavior at extreme conditions, like those found in the interiors of stars and planets, for example. Federica Coppari, a research scientist in the Physics Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), specializes in studying materials at the most extreme conditions, though she stumbled upon this research area by chance.

It was a high school science teacher who unknowingly steered Coppari onto the path of research in the physics field. “I had a very good science teacher who got me into asking questions and appreciating the power of the scientific method as a way of finding the answers,” she said. “Doing physics was the natural path to getting to the answers I was looking for.” She grew up in Italy and lived there through her undergraduate and early graduate school days, obtaining both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at the University of Camerino. 

The university was close to Coppari’s hometown, and soon she felt the pull for a change of scenery. During her master’s program, her advisor had collaborators at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, and he offered her the opportunity to do an internship at their lab if she was interested. “I jumped on the opportunity,” she said. “I didn't even ask what the project was about; I just wanted to see something new.”

The project turned out to be in a diamond anvil cell (DAC) lab, where researchers used two diamonds to squeeze materials to high pressures. Coppari loved doing high-pressure work and found it fascinating to squeeze materials to the extremes and watch their atomic structures change in real time—so much so that she moved to Paris to pursue a Ph.D. in the same field. In 2010, she obtained her doctorate and came to California as a postdoctoral researcher at LLNL.

At LLNL, Coppari shifted from studying high-pressure physics with the DAC to using lasers including LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester. She worked on developing new techniques — most notably, ramp compression and x-ray diagnostics — to map the response of materials at extreme densities and pressures. As a staff scientist, she now runs some of her experiments on NIF. “Because we are trying to reach extremely high pressures that cannot be obtained with smaller scale lasers, we need the energy and pulse-shaping capabilities that currently are available only at NIF,” Coppari said. 

Coppari is most fascinated by the planetary science applications of her work—doing experiments to learn about conditions and structures existing inside of planets like Earth, others in our Solar System and beyond. “Most of my DAC experiments were at relatively low pressure, and therefore I would have to extrapolate the results to higher pressures to be relevant to planetary conditions,” said Coppari. “But with lasers, we can actually have that small planet in the lab for a few nanoseconds and probe it with ultra-fast diagnostics and say something about how it truly looks.”

Other high-pressure physics applications of her research include understanding material properties for inertial confinement fusion and stockpile stewardship — programmatic work relevant to Lawrence Livermore’s core mission. 

LLNL high-pressure physics researchers are also looking to address broad questions regarding the properties of condensed matter at extreme pressure and temperature conditions. Examples include the recent discovery of superionic ice — the exotic phase of water that might exist in the interior of some planets, in which the oxygens form a solid lattice and the hydrogens show a liquid-like diffusive behavior — and exploration of new materials. The discovery of high-pressure electrides, or materials where the electrons are localized in interstitial regions rather than being around the nuclei, is an example of complexity arising at extreme conditions, challenging the intuition that matter should become simpler at high pressure.

Still other applications for her work may not have even been thought of yet. “It is fascinating to think that doing research for the sake of research and not necessarily with a specific application in mind still gives way to applications,” Coppari said. “I find it important to look for basic material properties, even if we don't have a specific use in mind afterwards. And if we find new materials, applications will follow depending on their properties.”

Beyond her research, Coppari also works with the High Energy Density Science (HEDS) Center to engage the community. She organized the first summer school in high energy density science for undergraduate students in 2025 to expose them to the field, which is so broad that it lacks a global curriculum covered in high school or college. “The idea was to give the students a flavor for what HEDS is and what a scientific career in HEDS might look like,” she said. “It was so gratifying to see the transfer of passion from scientists to students, who were really sensitive and appreciative of that passion for scientific exploration.”

She connects with the community outside of science, too, playing beach volleyball with other Laboratory employees and competing in local tournaments. Her other outdoor passions include hiking, cycling and gardening, and she also enjoys time indoors spent cooking, reading, mixing cocktails and on her new knitting hobby. Not surprisingly, the experimental aspect of cooking is part of what draws her in as she pursues better results. “I like the trial-and-error side,” Coppari said. “I’ll try something new in a recipe, see how that works, and then I take notes to improve the following time. It’s a lot like being a scientist.”

—Lilly Ackerman