The 17th Omega Laser Facility Users Group (OLUG) Workshop, held April 28–30, 2026 at LLE, brought together approximately 150 participants from 32 institutions, including 70 students and postdocs. The annual workshop provided opportunities for researchers to share results, foster collaboration, and engage with the facility and the federal sponsoring agencies — and for early-career researchers to present their work and build connections within the HED science community.
Innovation and Connection
This annual workshop is where users and facility management engage in dialogue, and where students and young researchers find both an audience for their work and a network to support their careers.
Over the course of 2.5 days, participants explored a wide range of topics, including:
- Federal Agency Updates: Program perspectives and updates from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
- Invited Science Sessions: Highlights on the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) /Machine Learning (ML) applications in HED science, materials at extremes, and fusion.
- Invited Student Talk Sessions: Four senior graduate students presented their thesis research conducted at the Omega Laser Facility.
- Findings & Recommendations (F&Rs): Omega users presented 31 F&Rs across three dedicated sessions, offering direct input on desired improvements and future directions for the Omega Laser Facility.
- New Facility and Diagnostic Capabilities: The latest advancements in diagnostics and capabilities at the Omega Laser Facility.
- Poster Sessions: 71 posters over three sessions showcased innovative research, with a strong showing from students and postdocs.
- Young Researcher Forum: Students and postdocs discussed F&Rs specific to early-career researchers and engaged with scientists from national laboratories, industry, and academia on career and training opportunities in HED science.
The facility team also supported pre- and post-workshop activities during the OLUG week, including facility tours, introductions to the Omega Laser Facility for new users, and Omega PI training sessions.
Celebrating Excellence
The workshop recognized outstanding poster contributions with eight Best Poster Awards, honoring graduate students, undergraduates, and postdoctoral researchers. Congratulations to this year’s winners: Skyler Dannhoff, Matthew Cufari, Brandan Buschmann, Andrew Lanzrath, Nyaradzo Mararanje, Gregory Baker, Marin Fontaine, and Nick Schwartz.
Thank You to Our Organizers and Sponsors
This workshop was organized by the OLUG Executive Committee in collaboration with LLE. Special thanks to the NNSA’s Academic Programs for providing travel grants to students and postdocs, and to our corporate sponsors — Xcimer Energy, General Atomics, Luxel, and Prism Computational Sciences, Inc. — whose support makes events like this possible.
We look forward to seeing the community again next year.