NSF ZEUS Multi-Petawatt Laser Facility: Operations

密歇根大学Gérard Mourou超快光学科学中心将运营一个新的激光用户设施，名为NSF相当于ZettaWatt的超短脉冲激光系统(Zeus)设施。NSF Zeus设施将运行美国最强大的激光，并将为科学研究提供独特的和世界领先的能力。NSF Zeus设施将有一个公开和透明的设施准入审查程序，每年至少有30周专门用于外部用户实验。该设施将通过培训美国各地大学的学生和博士后研究人员，产生当地和全国的经济和社会影响，具体的外联工作侧重于增加Zeus用户社区的人口多样性。该设施还将促进激光技术领域的创新，有可能形成新的高科技公司。新的NSF Zeus用户设施将包括一个多光束3拍瓦(PW)激光系统，该系统将有三个辐射屏蔽的实验靶区，以适应用户不同的实验配置。Zeus激光系统将有三种工作模式，要么用于实验，使用单3PW光束线，双光束2.5PW/500太瓦(TW)，要么在更高的重复频率下高达300TW。用于产生物质的高能量密度状态的持续时间为75 J的纳秒冲击波驱动器光束线也将可用。宙斯在全功率下的重复频率将是每分钟一次，但在功率高达300TW的情况下，也将在5赫兹时具有更高的重复频率模式。这种额外的操作模式将能够获取大量数据，这对X射线(高达50keV)和中子(高达20 MeV)成像应用尤为重要。这些由宙斯产生的X射线和中子爆发将具有超短脉冲持续时间，还可以用于探测皮秒或飞秒时间分辨率的动态事件。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at the University of Michigan will operate a new laser user facility to be called NSF Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System (ZEUS) facility. The NSF ZEUS facility will operate the most powerful laser in the US and will provide unique and world-leading capabilities for scientific research. The NSF ZEUS facility will have an open and transparent review process for facility access with at least 30 weeks per year dedicated to external user experiments. The facility will have local and national economic and societal impact through training of students and post-doctoral researchers at universities throughout the US, with specific outreach efforts focused on increasing demographic diversity of the ZEUS user community. The facility will also foster innovation in the field of laser technology, potentially enabling formation of new high tech companies.The new NSF ZEUS user facility will include a multi-beam 3 PetaWatt (PW) laser system that will have three radiation-shielded experimental target areas to accommodate differing experimental configurations for users. The ZEUS laser system will have three modes of operation, either for experiments using a single 3 PW beamline, dual beam 2.5 PW/500 TeraWatt (TW) or up to 300 TW at higher repetition rate. A nanosecond-duration 75 J shock driver beamline for generating high-energy-density states of matter will also be available. The repetition rate of ZEUS at full power will be one shot per minute but will also have a higher repetition rate mode at 5 Hz for powers up to 300 TW. This additional operational mode will enable a significant amount of data to be taken, which is particularly important for x-ray (up to 50 keV) and neutron (up to 20 MeV) imaging applications. These bursts of x-rays and neutrons produced by ZEUS will have ultra-short pulse duration and can also be used for probing dynamic events at picosecond or femtosecond temporal resolution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.