A
dozen scientists gather each afternoon on Albuquerque’s Kirtland Air Force
Base, in Sandia National Laboratories, awaiting the bright flash and
unmistakable floor jolt that accompanies the daily lightning bolt known as a Z
shot. WVU physics professor Mark Koepke, his postdoc, and his students take
advantage of approximately twenty Z shots per year to feed their passion for
studying the physical principles that govern extreme astrophysical environments
through the laboratory study of high-energy-density physics.