EP-Opal is a new facility dedicated to the study of ultrahigh-intensity laser-matter interactions. Its potential benefits extend beyond the current scientific community. High-intensity lasers enable a large and important body of pioneering science – from plasma science to particle acceleration, laboratory astrophysics to laser-driven nuclear physics – that has resulted in scientific, medical, commercial, and industrial applications.

The Omega Laser Facility at LLE houses two powerful lasers – Omega and Omega EP – that are used by scientists from around the world. EP-Opal – which stands for Omega EP-coupled Optical Parametric Amplifier Lines – will be designed to add two of the most powerful lasers in the world and to harness the capabilities of the high-energy Omega EP laser.

A successful EP-Opal design would enable the highest-power laser system in the world, according to principal investigator Jonathan Zuegel, a distinguished scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) and a professor of optics at Rochester.

The new design award builds on ongoing efforts at Rochester for educational outreach and workforce development and diversification, including the Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures (CMAP) and a recent National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines Development Award to establish an innovation and economic hub built around the science, technology and engineering of lasers and laser applications research.