“Gravity crystals” aren’t just consumable items in Fortnite anymore. A scientist has figured out how to use cheap household materials to create gravity crystals to study the exotic interiors of distant dead stars right here on Earth. This new concept was developed by Alexander Bataller, assistant professor in NC State’s Department of Nuclear Engineering. Bataller recently presented his work at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Bataller received his B.S. in engineering-physics from the University of Arizona in 2007, followed by his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2014. Following his graduate studies, Bataller was the laboratory director of the Putterman research group at UCLA from 2014-15. Prior to his joining the NC State faculty, Bataller was a postdoctoral fellow at NC State in the Department of Physics from 2015-17 and a research assistant professor from 2017-19.

Bataller’s research is focused on utilizing ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy for materials characterization with a particular emphasis on dense plasma. His current research interest is to develop ultrafast spectroscopic tools to measure the dynamic properties of plasmas, triboelectrification, nuclear materials, and molten salts for next-generation nuclear reactors. He was an award recipient of the Julian Schwinger Foundation in 2019 for the proposal “Investigating Contact Electrification via Operando Ultrafast Non-Resonant Spectroscopy” and was selected as a DARPA Rising emerging leader in science and technology in 2015.

Details on gravity crystals available here.