I.FAST Workshop on “LASER DRIVERS FOR PLASMA ACCELERATORS”

I.FAST Workshop on

“LASER DRIVERS FOR PLASMA ACCELERATORS”
April 20-23, 2022

Ècole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, Paris (FR)

Jointly organized by CNR, CNRS, Amplitude and THALES

IFAST (ifast-project.eu), funded through the EU’s Horizon Europe 2020 Research & Innovation Programme is pursuing innovation in all accelerator technology through a comprehensive science programme and a large network of leading institutions. The IFAST project features a workpackage on Novel Particle Accelerators Concepts and Technologies (led by R. Assmann) including coordinated action towards the development of LASER DRIVERS and innovative TARGETS for plasma accelerators to drive the development of novel accelerators with specifications driven by user application and meeting industry standards.

Motivation. The Workshop follows technical meetings of the LASer drivers for PLasma Acceleration (LASPLA) task of the iFAST project held recently and providing a unique platform for discussion in this rapidly evolving area of research and development. Here we acknowledge that USER applications require systems operating at the sub-PW level but at very high repetition rates (kHz and beyond). 

This workshop will contribute to the main objectives in this area, including:

Establish a roadmap to foster delivery of advanced industrial laser drivers with high-repetition rate and higher efficiency;

Highlight laser requirements for user plasma-based accelerators and other key high power, high intensity laser applications:

Promote a coordination activity with networking and training of main laser labs and industry, focused on laser-driver R&D.

The Workshop will be chaired by Nobel Laureate Gerard MOUROU and co-chaired by Leonida A. GIZZI and Francois MATHIEU and will be jointly organised by CNR, CNRS, Amplitude and Thales.

Participation is foreseen by representatives from key laser and laser-plasma research Institutions and leading industries in the field.

Scope. The workshop will deliver an overview on novel architectures, concepts and materials for ultra-short pulse laser amplification that are likely to become energy efficient drivers for the first generation of user laser-plasma accelerators like the EuPRAXIA Research Infrastructure that was recently included in the Roadmap 2021 of the European Strategy Forum of Research Infrastructures EuPRAXIA – Home (eupraxia-project.eu). The workshop will also deliver recent advances in other areas of high average power laser development including operation at XFEL installations and future Inertial Fusion Energy test laser facilities.

Invited speakers will report on the latest progress at their respective laboratories and companies in all relevant areas including:
• high average power PW-scale lasers • high performance diode lasers • broadband amplifiers • advanced gain media • compressor design • efficiency and lifetime • stability and control • new industrial products 
and much more.

Amphithéâtre Becquerel de l’École polytechnique.

Venue. The Workshop will take place at the Amphithéâtre Becquerel de l’École polytechnique. Participation will be in presence and will be limited due to COVID19 restrictions.

For pre-registration please send an email to ifastws2022@gmail.com providing your Name, Affiliation and Email address by March 27th, 2022 at the latest.