In a major breakthrough in the fields of nanophotonics and ultrafast optics, a Sandia National Laboratories research team has demonstrated the ability to dynamically steer light pulses from conventional, so-called incoherent light sources.

A new way to create high-energy ions could speed up their applications in treating cancer and probing the fundamental nature of matter.

Ice-cold electron beams simulated in research at the University of Strathclyde could pave the way to reducing X-ray free-electron lasers (X-FELs) to a fraction of their current size.

High-power lasers now create record-high numbers of electron-positron pairs, opening exciting opportunities to study extreme astrophysical processes, such as black holes and gamma-ray bursts.

A novel method for controlling combined-beam laser pulses could pave the way for smaller, more capable particle accelerators and colliders.

This paper reports on the experimental results obtained on OMEGA EP, where the direct measurement of accelerated nonthermal electrons from magnetically driven reconnection at low β (ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure ~ 0.05) were measured.

As laser technology has developed over the past couple of decades, interest in laser-driven ion acceleration has increased. One promising mechanism of laser-driven ion acceleration is Radiation Pressure Acceleration (RPA).

HiLase's researchers Yoann Levy, Jaroslav Huynh, Martin Cimrman and Martin Smrž together with other researchers from Centre for Plasma Physics (UK), ELI and Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering at CTU have recently published a paper in the journal of Applied Sciences (MDPI). The topic of the paper is TOF Analysis of Ions Accelerated at High Repetition Rate from Laser-Induced Plasma.

Extremely intense light pulses generated by free-electron lasers (FELs) are versatile tools in research. Particularly in the X-ray range, they can be deployed to analyze the details of atomic structures of a wide variety of materials and to follow fundamental ultrafast processes with great precision. Until now, FELs such as the European XFEL in Germany are based on conventional electron accelerators, which make them long and expensive. An international team led by Synchrotron SOLEIL, France, and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany, has now achieved a breakthrough on the way to an affordable alternative solution: they were able to demonstrate seeded FEL lasing in the ultraviolet regime based on a still young technology – laser-plasma acceleration. In the future, this might allow to build more compact systems, which would considerably expand the possible applications of FELs. The research collaboration presents their results in the journal Nature Photonics (DOI: 10.1038/s41566-022-01104-w).

Joint theoretical and experimental x-ray spectroscopy research on how radiation is generated and transported in dense plasmas, led by Suxing Hu and Philip Nilson, provides new insight into the behavior of atoms at extreme conditions.

A patent was awarded for "All-Optical, Optically Addressable Liquid Crystal-Based Light Valve Employing Photoswitchable Alignment Layer for High-Power and/or Large Aperture Laser Applications," based on research conducted in LLE's Optical Materials Technology (OMT) Group by Senior Research Engineer and Principal Investigator Kenneth L. Marshall and OMT Group Leader Stavros G. Demos.

The HiLASE Centre would like to invite you to participate in the annual LIDT Challenge. In this competition, we are going to test the samples of your anti-reflective coated windows. As a reward, you will gain qualified knowledge of the respective damage thresholds of your components.

At the HiLASE Centre, we offer our superb research infrastructure to other users, completely free of charge. In order to apply for the beamtime in our facility, you only need to send us your proposal via the electronic HiLASE Open Access Proposal Management System. The right time to apply is just now: the call for proposals is open from 1st March to 15th May 2023.

The 49th European Conference on Plasma Physics will be held in Bordeaux from the 3rd July to the 7th July in 2023 (Conference site: Bordeaux Congress Centre, Av. Jean Gabriel Domergue, 33300 Bordeaux). This annual conference covers the wide field of plasma physics including magnetic confinement fusion, beam plasma and inertial fusion, low temperature plasmas, and basic, space and astrophysical plasmas.

The 8th edition of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) summer school will take place August 29th to September 1st, 2023 in ELI Beamlines facility, Czech Republic.

After successful recommissioning in autumn 2022, the Greifswald nuclear fusion experiment has surpassed an important target. In 2023, an energy turnover of 1 gigajoule was targeted. Now the researchers have even achieved 1.3 gigajoules and a new record for discharge time on Wendelstein 7-X: the hot plasma could be maintained for eight minutes.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is pleased to announce the 2nd Joint ELI Call for Users.

The 18th International Conference on X-Ray Laser will be held at Shanghai from Jul. 17 to 21. On ICXRL latest results on state-of-the-art X-ray Free-Electron Lasers (XFEL) as well as tabletop systems are presented.

Zhi Liao's path from laser scientist to his new role as workforce manager for NIF&PS has come full circle—and is rooted in his early days at LLNL.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has seated Marc-André De Looz, a senior engineer and project manager at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), to a four-year term on its Fusion Technology Standing Committee. De Looz's election maintains a strong PPPL voice on the committee,…