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NSF OPAL

OPAL logo.

A Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (RI-1) Design Award

NSF OPAL will be the highest-power laser system in the world.

Funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation will support the design of two 25-petawatt lasers using optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification, as well as associated experimental and diagnostics systems. The design will be guided by the most pressing scientific questions that can be answered using such a laser system in four areas of frontier research:

  1. Particle Acceleration and Advanced Light Sources
  2. High-Field Physics and Quantum Electrodynamics
  3. Laboratory Astrophysics and Planetary Physics
  4. Laser-Driven Nuclear Physics

Learn more about the science and meet the project team.

NSF OPAL

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation Mid-scale Research Infrastructure Program under Award No. PHY-2329970

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