Laboratory Basic Science (LBS) Program

The Omega Laser Facility is maintained and operated by LLE for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The NNSA-supported and merit-based LBS Program, established in 2008, provides access to the Omega Laser Facility for basic research in high-energy-density (HED) science led by researchers from participating laboratories in the NNSA Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Program (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Naval Research Laboratory, and LLE) and the DOE Office of Science laboratories including Ames Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

LBS projects are selected through an annual call for proposal and review process administered by LLE. Proposals are reviewed and ranked according to their scientific merit, executability, and broad impact by an independent proposal review panel (PRP) consisting of 10 to 15 subject matter experts from universities, industry, and government laboratories. [Note: The facility and experimental support team at LLE conducts experimental feasibility and executability assessment, which is provided to the PRP.]

Principal investigators (PI’s) of the LBS projects must comply with PI requirements as described in the Omega Laser Facility Organization and Regulation Manual (LFORM) Instruction 3000, and are required to submit a summary report of the experiments at end of each fiscal year.

Research findings from the LBS experiments are expected to be broadly disseminated, including journal publications. LBS users must acknowledge the Omega Laser Facility and the LBS Program in presentations and publications using the template: “The experiment was conducted at the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics with the beam time through the Laboratory Basic Science Program supported by DOE/NNSA.”

Point of Contact: Dr. Mingsheng Wei