Research Infrastructure: Midscale RI-1 (M1:DP): OMEGA-EP-Pumped Optical Parametric Amplifier Line (EP-OPAL) Facility Design

该奖项支持罗切斯特大学新的世界领先的高功率激光用户设施的设计。该设施的设计项目被称为EP-OPAL，设想两个新的强大激光器将位于该大学的激光能量学实验室（UR/LLE）。 EP-OPAL将采用UR/LLE开发的技术，用于产生2018年诺贝尔物理学奖认可的非常强大的超短激光脉冲。EP-OPAL旨在超越峰值激光功率的现有技术水平，以实现和研究极端的物理条件，例如代表研究宇宙物质的科学前沿的电磁场，温度和压力。 一旦完成，EP-OPAL将成为世界上功率最高的激光系统。这两束激光结合在一起，将提供与从太阳入射到地球表面的总功率大致相同的总功率，但聚焦到比人类头发的横截面更小的区域。设计工作将吸引美国工业界开发关键的激光光学器件，并将包括对新一代激光设施设计者和建造者的实践培训。EP-OPAL设施设计奖支持使用光学参量啁啾脉冲放大的两个25拍瓦激光器的设计，以及相关的实验和诊断系统。设计将以最紧迫的科学问题为指导，这些问题可以在四个前沿研究领域使用这种激光系统来回答：粒子加速和先进光源，高场物理学和量子电动力学，实验室天体物理学和行星物理学以及激光驱动核物理学。具体而言，该项目的主要目标是：（1）设计EP-OPAL设施，包括激光器、实验系统和诊断，以解决一系列引人注目的科学问题;（2）设计发射周期为几分钟的高能激光放大器并制作原型;（3）设计大型光学生产和表征系统并制作原型。EP-OPAL设施被设想为学习环境和各种科学网络的中心，为基础研究和创新以及医疗，工业和国家安全应用提供机会。 EP-OPAL设施设计工作将与布法罗大学、加州大学欧文分校、圣母大学、俄亥俄州州立大学、马里兰州大学学院公园分校、密歇根大学安阿伯分校、该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

This award supports the design of a new, world-leading, high power laser user facility at the University of Rochester. This design project for the facility to be called EP-OPAL envisions two new powerful lasers to be located at the university's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (UR/LLE). EP-OPAL will employ a technique developed at UR/LLE for the generation of very powerful, ultrashort laser pulses that was recognized by the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. EP-OPAL aims to push beyond the current state of the art in peak laser power to achieve and study extreme physical conditions, such as ultrahigh electromagnetic fields, temperatures, and pressures that represent the frontier of science in studying matter in the Universe. Once completed, EP-OPAL will be the highest-power laser system in the world. The two laser beams combined will deliver approximately the same total power as incident on the Earth’s surface from the Sun, but focused into an area smaller than the cross-section of a human hair. The design effort will engage the U.S. industry to develop critical laser optics and will include hands-on training of a new generation of laser facility designers and builders.The EP-OPAL facility design award supports design of two 25-petawatt lasers using optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification, as well as associated experimental and diagnostics systems. The design will be guided by the most pressing scientific questions that can be answered using such a laser system in four areas of frontier research: Particle Acceleration and Advanced Light Sources, High-Field Physics and Quantum Electrodynamics, Laboratory Astrophysics and Planetary Physics, and Laser-Driven Nuclear Physics. Specifically, the main aims of the project are: (1) design the EP-OPAL facility, including lasers, experimental systems and diagnostics, to address a wide array of compelling science; (2) design and prototype high-energy laser amplifiers with shot-cycle times of a few minutes; (3) design and prototype large-optics production and characterization systems. The EP-OPAL facility is envisioned to serve as a learning environment and a hub for diverse scientific networks, offering opportunities for fundamental research and innovation as well as medical, industrial and national security applications. The EP-OPAL facility design effort will engage collaborators at the University of Buffalo, the University of California - Irvine, the University of Notre Dame, the Ohio State University, the University of Maryland - College Park, the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, and an industrial partner Plymouth Grating Laboratory.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.