This research investigates magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process that drives space weather and can disrupt satellites, GPS, and power grids. Using UCLA's Large Plasma Device, the study recreates reconnection events thousands of times in the laboratory to uncover missing physics and improve predictions of solar storms and space-weather hazards.

This talk explains how precise timekeeping underpins technologies like GPS and how atomic clocks achieve extreme accuracy using atomic oscillations. The research explores a new “active atomic clock” where atoms generate their own light, enabling even greater precision. Improved clocks could advance navigation, physics research, and our understanding of the universe.