LaserNetUS. Final report

Technical Report · Sun Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1713070· OSTI ID:1713070

Krushelnick, Karl ^[1]

---

1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); University of Michigan

In this proposal we have formed a consortium in response to a request from the DoE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences to establish a national network of Petawatt-class laser systems to act as domestic user facilities that can enable a broad range of frontier scientific research. This new entity is called LaserNet US. The network formed here is directly responsive to recommendations made in a recently released National Academy of Sciences Report with regard to US strategy for high intensity laser research, “Opportunities in Intense Ultrafast Lasers: Reaching for the Brightest Light”. As detailed in this report, the research in this area has the potential to transform science in a number of research fields and to open up new areas of fundamental research. High field science was initiated in the US in the 1990’s, and subsequently Europe and Asia have embraced this research field, investing more than a billion dollars in this area over the past several years. Our network includes five academic and two national lab-based high intensity laser facilities. These facilities are distributed geographically throughout the US and the network provides access to complementary facilities which have unique world-class laser and experimental capabilities. LaserNet US will make these existing Petawatt-class laser facilities available to users from around the country who until now have not had regular access to such machines. Consequently, the network, which will develop over time, will also become a key element in driving forward national research in high field and high energy density plasma science. In particular, the University of Michigan provides access to the Hercules laser facility and the T-cubed laser facility for collaborative experiments as part of the first year operation. In the second year - to begin in summer 2019 - the experiments will be chosen via proposal submission and review by an outside panel formed by DOE.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
• DOE Contract Number: SC0019255
• OSTI ID: 1713070
• Report Number(s): DOE-UMich--SC0019255
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
laser plasma interactions