2010 Science with High Power Lasers and Pulsed Power Workshop

 

Updated October 12, 2010

Workshop Details

A workshop to discuss ideas for broad-interest, exciting fundamental science experiments that can be performed using the pulsed power and laser facilities at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the University of Texas (UTX).  A user meeting, in which current and prospective users can present their research, and hear plans for user access, planned experiments, facility capabilities, and facility schedules.  Of particular note is the intent to provide up to 15% of the shot time on the Z facility for fundamental science.

The workshop is being held under the auspices of the Institute for High Energy Density Science, joint between UTX and SNL.

 

Objective

  1. To discuss the status of the fundamental science research projects currently being undertaken on the facilities.  This partly follows from the inaugural workshop, “Science with High-Power Lasers and Pulsed Power”, July 28-30, 2009 in Santa Fe, in which a number of particular research areas and projects were highlighted.
  2. To propose additional fundamental research worthy of pursuit
  3. To facilitate a user meeting, and present to users the various facility operational plans, capabilities and support infrastructure,
  4. To obtain user recommendations for improvements.
  5. Provide an opportunity for existing and new working groups to develop experimental plans and proposals e.g. in the areas of white dwarf photospheres (ongoing), the equation of state of iron and implications for the earth’s core, brown dwarfs, black hole, collisionless shocks

 

Location and Dates

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 4, Thursday, August 5, and Friday, August 6 (a half day) at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa.  In addition, there will be a reception on the evening of Tuesday, August 3 (travel day).  

 

Registration

Please complete the registration form and return it to Maria Aguirre by Friday, June 25, 2010.   There is no registration fee for the workshop.  

 

Lodging Information

Eldorado Hotel & Spa
Reservation Deadline (for discounted rate):  July 16, 2010
Guest room rates: $109 single/double for August 3rd-6th
Group Code:1539
For reservations click Eldorado Hotel & Spa or call (800) 955 4455.

 

Meeting Format

Day 1 (Wednesday August 4, 2010) will consist of:

  1. Opening remarks and status report following the inaugural workshop (July  2009), see http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~iheds/workshop.html
  2. Session 1.  Presentations concerning ideas and plans for future fundamental science research. This will include proposals developed at the first workshop but not yet initiated, as well as new ideas.  Areas of interest include astrophysics, planetary physics, fusion science, and particles and beams
  3. Session 2.  Presentations from users (academic and laboratory) on their fundamental research results.  

Day 2 (Thursday August 5, 2010) will consist of:

  1. Continuation from Day 1: Session 2. Presentations from users on their research results.
  2. Session 3. For each facility: planning for users (infrastructure), facility experimental plans, facility capabilities (including diagnostics), …
  3. Working groups.   The afternoon will be devoted to working group meetings.  Four rooms are available. Currently the areas of interest include radiation astrophysics, planetary cores and material science, and magnetized high energy density science.

 

Day 3 (Friday August 6, 2010) will be a half-day,
  1. Session 4. A round-table discussion in which
    a.   working groups can report any progress, and
    b.   past, current and prospective users can coordinate planning, and discuss and present their concerns and ideas for improving their research and experiences

 

Organization

The areas to be covered by the workshop, and the area organizers, are shown in the table:

Area Organizer (affiliation)
New research opportunities Alan Wooton (UTX), Don Winget (UTX)
Current user research reports For Z: John Porter (SNL); for Z lasers: Briggs Atherton (SNL); for Texas facilities: Aaron Bernstein (UTX)
User facility status; planning, capabilities For Z: Gordon Leifeste (SNL); for Z lasers: Briggs Atherton (SNL); for Texas facilities: Gilliss Dyer (UTX)
User round table discussion Alan Wootton (UTX), Ray Leeper (SNL), Roger Bengtson (UTX)

 

Workshop Contacts

Scientific and Technical
Dr. Alan Wootton
wootton1@comcast.net
 (865) 806 1709

Administrative
Maria Aguirre
maria.aguirre@mail.utexas.edu
(512) 471 3274

Cari Gerlock
cagerlo@sandia.gov
(505) 844 1864