Omega Laser Facility Users Group
Background
The OMEGA Laser Facility is a user facility featuring both high-energy and high-intensity lasers and capable of a wide variety of scientific experiments.
It is located at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics of the
University of Rochester. At present 30% of the facility
use time is devoted to fundamental science experiments, with the remainder going to inertial confinement fusion research.
As a national users facility, LLE is a member of the National User Facility Organization,
whose overall goal is to promote science edcuation and outreach throughout the Nation.
Membership
Membership is open to anyone who uses OMEGA, aspires to use OMEGA, or aspires to collaborate with a group or consortium that uses OMEGA.
To join, either email R. D. Petrasso and request membership, or attend one of the annual OLUG User Workshops.
There are no dues. Exclusions: employees of LLE significantly involved with the operation of or LLE scientific program at OMEGA are not eligible for membership.
The OMEGA Users comprise 304 academics and researchers from 32 Universities, and from 23 national laboratories and centers. 15 different countries are represented.
The largest component of the membership derives from the universities.
List of Current Members
Purpose
To facilitate communication and exchanges among the users of OMEGA, from the users as a group to the facility, and from the users to the broader scientific community.
To organize an annual 2.5 day workshop, which is held at the end of April. There are two major goals of the Users workshop: First, to define improvements to the capabilities and
operation of the facility that would advance research opportunities for a broad cross-section of the Users; this takes the form of Findings and Recommendations that the
Users generate and then present to the facility management. This is an iterative process that transpires between the Users and the management, and it has proved to be very successful.
A second major goal of the workshop is to provide an opportunity for young researchers—students, postdocs, recent Ph.D.'s—to present their research in a very interactive yet informal setting.
In this regard, great effort is taken to obtain funding for student/postdoc travel to the workshop, something which has been generously funded by NNSA.
In addition, the Users also meet annually at the Division of Plasma Physics meeting, typically Tuesday evening, in order to reassess our Findings and Recommendations,
and to discuss with management progress towards their implementation.
Current Findings and Recommendations
The 13 Findings and Recommendations of the OMEGA 2011 Users Workshop
(Reports and presentations can be found
here).
Tammy Ma, Chair, LLNL
Findings and Recommendations of the Student/Postdoc Panel
Louise Willingale, Chair, University of Michigan
Bringing OMEGA EP Performance up to Full Specification, and 4ω Probe Utilization
Mingsheng Wei, Chair, General Atomics
Long-Pulse Operations of OMEGA EP
Carolyn Kuranz, Chair, University of Michigan
Independent Operations of the Three Legs of OMEGA 60
Dustin Froula, Chair, LLE
Work to Develop a Simulation Capability for the OMEGA External Users
Peter Norreys, Chair, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Dual Foci for the OMEGA 60 Facility
Dennis McNabb (LLNL) and Johan Frenje (MIT), Chairs
Developing Implosion Capabilities at OMEGA with Arbitrary Fuel Mixtures of Tritium for Advancing Plasma Nuclear Science
Alex Zylstra, Chair, MIT
An Ultra-low Charged Particle Spectrometer for Studying Nucleo-Synthesis Reactions in OMEGA Implosions
Nareg Sinenian (MIT) and Jim Cobble (LANL), Chairs
Utilization of Thomson Parabola on OMEGA for Characterizing Implosion Ion-Loss Channels and for Studying Nucleo-Synthesis Reactions in OMEGA Implosions
Hans Herrmann, Chair, LANL
Gamma-Ray Spectrometry for Plasma Nuclear Science and Implosion Physics
Maria Gatu-Johnson, Chair, MIT
A Low-Energy Neutron Spectrometer for Plasma Nuclear Science and Implosion Physics
Gennady Fiskel, Chair, LLE
Developing Magnetic Inertial Fusion Platforms for Basic Science and Implosion Physics
Hye-sook Park, Chair, LLNL
Cu-Kα Crystal Imaging on OMEGA-EP for HED Physics
Executive Committee
- Richard Petrasso, Committee Chair, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Hui Chen, Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory
- James Cobble, Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Paul Drake, University of Michigan
- James Knauer, LLE, University of Rochester (designated)
- Mark Koepke, West Virginia University
- Tammy Ma, Student-Postdoc Chair, Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory
- Roberto Mancini, University of Nevada, Reno
- Peter Norreys, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Duties of the Initiating Executive Committee
The Executive Committee, nominated and elected by the User Group, will define all aspects of the Users Group bylaws, policies, and procedures.
The committee will elect a chair, who must be from the academic and/or small business community.
Organization of this process
At the request of LLE, Dr. Richard Petrasso of MIT and Professor Paul Drake of the University of Michigan developed the initial plan.
Subsequently it was amended and approved at the OMEGA EP User Workshop.
