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

该奖项支持在罗切斯特大学设计一个新的、世界领先的高功率激光用户设施。该设施的设计项目被称为EP-OPAL，设想在该大学的激光能量学实验室（UR/LLE）安装两台新的强大激光器。EP-OPAL将采用在UR/LLE开发的一种技术，用于产生非常强大的超短激光脉冲，该技术获得了2018年诺贝尔物理学奖的认可。EP-OPAL旨在超越当前激光峰值功率的技术水平，以实现和研究极端物理条件，如超高电磁场、温度和压力，这些都是研究宇宙物质的科学前沿。一旦完成，EP-OPAL将成为世界上功率最高的激光系统。两束激光结合在一起将产生大约相同的总功率从太阳入射到地球表面，但集中在一个面积小于人类头发的横截面。设计工作将使美国工业界参与开发关键的激光光学，并将包括对新一代激光设备设计师和建造者的动手培训。EP-OPAL设备设计奖支持使用光学参数啁啾脉冲放大的两个25千瓦激光器的设计，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样的激光系统来回答：粒子加速和先进光源，高场物理和量子电动力学，实验室天体物理和行星物理，以及激光驱动核物理。具体来说，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)设计并制作了短周期几分钟的高能激光放大器；(3)设计和原型大型光学生产和表征系统。EP-OPAL设施被设想为一个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、俄亥俄州立大学、马里兰大学学院公园分校、密歇根大学安娜堡分校和工业合作伙伴普利茅斯光栅实验室合作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.