YINJIAN ZHAO

(Dated: April 15, 2018)

yinjianz@usc.edu  yinjianz@mail.com  yinjianzhao.weebly.com

EDUCATION
University of Southern California (USC) Los Angeles, USA
Viterbi School of Engineering 2014 – 2018

◦ Ph.D. candidate in Astronautical Engineering.

◦ M.S. in Astronautical Engineering.

Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) Harbin, China

School of Energy Science and Engineering 2010 – 2014

◦ B.S. in Nuclear Engineering.

SKILLS
Computational

◦ Plasma simulations: The Particle-in-Cell and Particle-Particle methods; Monte Carlo collision models.
◦ Parallel computing: MPI, OpenMP, and CUDA.
◦ Programming languages: Fortran and C.
◦ Software: Matlab, SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Tecplot, Gnuplot, Latex, Adobe Flash, Vim, FEMM, etc.

Experimental

◦ Electric propulsion device design; magnetic field configuration design; thermal dissipation analyses and device
design; plasma measurements and diagnoses, etc.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Department of Astronautical Engineering, USC Los Angeles, USA
Ph.D. Student 2014 – 2018

◦ Development of a binary collision Monte Carlo model to simulate electron-ion temperature relaxation in
inertial confinement fusion.
◦ Investigation on species entropies in the kinetic range of collisionless plasma turbulence using electromagnetic
Particle-in-Cell simulations.
◦ Study of relativistic binary collisions of radiating charges with radiation reaction by solving the Landau-
Lifshitz equation and Liénard-Wiechert potentials.
◦ Particle-Particle simulations of macro-particle effects on plasma relaxation.
◦ Three-dimensional Particle-Particle simulations of the dependence of relaxation time on plasma parameter.
◦ Investigation of effective impact parameters in electron-ion temperature relaxation via Particle-Particle sim-
ulations.
◦ Electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell simulations on the radiation emitted from ion beam neutralization.
◦ Particle-Particle simulations on ion beam neutralization with separated electron and ion sources.
◦ Simulations on electromagnetic wave propagation and wave-material interactions in solar wind plasmas with
Perfectly Matched Layer boundary conditions.
Institute of Advanced Power, HIT Harbin, China
B.S. Student 2011 – 2014
◦ Design of the first and the second HIT’s Cusped Field Thrusters.
◦ Investigation of the influence of the magnetic field strength and the alterable magnet length in a Cusped
Field Thruster using Particle-in-Cell simulations.
◦ Attending the 8th Chinese Electric Propulsion Conference.
◦ Design of a Stationary Plasma Thruster with magnetic shieldings.

WORKING EXPERIENCE
University of Southern California Los Angeles, USA
Teaching Assistant
◦ Physics for the Life Sciences (PHYS-135B). Springs, 2016 – 2018
◦ Introduction to Mathematics for Business and Economics (MATH-117). Fall 2017
◦ General Biology: Cell Biology and Physiology (BISC-220). Spring 2015, Fall 2016
◦ General Biology: Organismal Biology and Evolution (BISC-120). Fall 2015

Department of Astronautical Engineering, USC Los Angeles, USA

Research Assistant June – July, 2015
◦ Simulations on ion beam neutralization using electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell method with Perfectly Matched
Layer absorbing boundary conditions.

PUBLICATIONS

[1] Yinjian Zhao, “Three-dimensional Particle-Particle simulations: Dependence of relaxation time on plasma
parameter”, Physics of Plasmas, 2018 (under review).
[2] Yinjian Zhao, Joseph Wang, Hideyuki Usui, “Simulations of ion thruster beam neutralization using a
Particle-Particle model”, Journal of Propulsion and Power, 2018 (under review).
[3] Yinjian Zhao, “A binary collision Monte Carlo model for electron-ion temperature relaxation”, Physics of
Plasmas, Volume 25, Issue 3, 032707, 2018. [DOI: 10.1063/1.5025581]
[4] Yinjian Zhao, “Investigation of effective impact parameters in electron-ion temperature relaxation via
Particle-Particle Coulombic molecular dynamics”, Physics Letters A, Volume 381, Issue 35, Pages 2944-
2948, 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physleta.2017.05.066]
[5] Hui Liu, Guoshun Sun, Yinjian Zhao, Pengbo Chen, Chengyu Ma, Daren Yu, “Plume control of a cusped
field thruster”, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Volume 43, Issue 1, Pages 127-129, 2015. [DOI:
10.1109/TPS.2014.2360015]
[6] Chengyu Ma, Hui Liu, Yanlin Hu, Daren Yu, Pengbo Chen, Guoshun Sun, Yinjian Zhao, “Experimental
study on a variable magnet length cusped field thruster”, Vacuum, Volume 115, Pages 101-107, 2015. [DOI:
10.1016/j.vacuum.2015.02.007]
[7] Hui Liu, Pengbo Chen, Yinjian Zhao, Daren Yu, “Particle-in-cell simulations for different magnetic mirror
effects on the plasma distribution in a cusped field thruster”, Chinese Physics B, Volume 24, Number 8,
085202, 2015. [DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/24/8/085202]
[8] Chengyu Ma, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, Guoshun Sun, Pengbo Chen, Yinjian Zhao, “Experimental study of
hollow anode position effect on multistage cusped field thruster”, The 34rd International Electric Propulsion
Conference, IEPC-2015-407, 2015. [URL]
 [9] Yinjian Zhao, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, Peng Hu, Huan Wu, “Particle-in-cell simulations for the effect of
magnetic field strength on a cusped field thruster”, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Volume 47,
Number 4, 045201, 2014. [DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/47/4/045201]

[10] Hui Liu, Huan Wu, Yinjian Zhao, Daren Yu, Chengyu Ma, Di Wang, Haoyu Wei, “Study of the electric
field formation in a multi-cusped magnetic field”, Physics of Plasmas, Volume 21, Issue 9, 090706, 2014.
[DOI: 10.1063/1.4896250]

[11] Hui Liu, Chengyu Ma, Hongbo Su, Pengbo Chen, Guoshun Sun, Yinjian Zhao, “A modular multi-cusped
field plasma thruster”, Chinese Patent, CN103835906A, 2014 (in Chinese). [URL]

[12] Chengyu Ma, Hui Liu, Guoshun Sun, Pengbo Chen, Yinjian Zhao, Daren Yu, “An assembling device for
multiple magnet rings”, Chinese Patent, CN103836031A, 2014 (in Chinese). [URL]

[13] Hui Liu, Guoshun Sun, Chengyu Ma, Pengbo Chen, Yinjian Zhao, Daren Yu, “A segmented ceramic dis-
charge channel for multi-cusped field plasma thrusters”, Chinese Patent, CN103775297A, 2014 (in Chinese).
[URL]

[14] Hui Liu, Pengbo Chen, Daren Yu, Chengyu Ma, Guoshun Sun, Yinjian Zhao, “A radiating dissipation
device for multi-cusped field plasma thrusters”, Chinese Patent, CN103790794A, 2014 (in Chinese). [URL]

[15] Yinjian Zhao, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, Chengyu Ma, “Particle-in-cell simulations for a variable magnetic length
cusped-field thruster”, The 33rd International Electric Propulsion Conference, IEPC-2013-171, 2013. [URL]

[16] Chengyu Ma, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, Yinjian Zhao, Pengbo Chen, Guoshun Sun, “Experiment research on
a variable magnet length cusped field thruster”, The 33rd International Electric Propulsion Conference,
IEPC-2013-209, 2013. [URL]

[17] Pengbo Chen, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, Chengyu Ma, Guoshun Sun, Yinjian Zhao, “Design and experiments
of a cusped-field thruster”, The 9th Chinese Electric Propulsion Conference, Lanzhou, China, 2013 (in
Chinese).

[18] Chengyu Ma, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, Pengbo Chen, Guoshun Sun, Yinjian Zhao, “Experimental observation
and analysis of the oscillation of a cusped-field thruster”, The 9th Chinese Electric Propulsion Conference,
Lanzhou, China, 2013 (in Chinese).

[19] Yinjian Zhao, Yanan Zhang, Hui Liu, Chengyu Ma, Pengbo Chen, Guoshun Sun, Daren Yu, “Method for
controlling cusped magnetic field thruster plume divergent angle”, Chinese Patent, CN103327721A, 2013.
[URL]

[20] Chengyu Ma, Hui Liu, Yinjian Zhao, Pengbo Chen, Guoshun Sun, Daren Yu, “Magnetic field configuration
adjustable multistage cusped magnetic plasma thruster”, Chinese Patent, CN103410694A, 2013. [URL]

[21] Yinjian Zhao, Hui Liu, Daren Yu, “Comparison and analysis of the concepts of SPT and HEMPT through
Particle-in-Cell simulations”, The 8th Chinese Electric Propulsion Conference, Beijing, China, 2012 (in
Chinese).