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NSF OPAL
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Events

Upcoming and past NSF OPAL meetings and events.

Upcoming Events

Multi-Petawatt Diagnostic Community Workshop

May 21-22, 2026

The Multi-Petawatt Diagnostic Community Workshop will bring together scientists, engineers, and facility leaders engaged in the development and application of diagnostics for next-generation multi-petawatt (MPW) laser systems.

The workshop will provide a forum to:

  • Identify emerging diagnostic technologies and critical technical gaps.
  • Discuss strategies for scaling diagnostics to the MPW regime.
  • Foster cross-facility coordination and community-building.
  • Develop a roadmap for advancing diagnostic readiness for upcoming facilities.

This workshop is designed to strengthen collaboration across the high-intensity laser community and to guide future research directions and investments in diagnostic capabilities.

View workshop details

Physics in Intense Fields 2026 (PIF26)

July 20-24, 2026

This conference will bring together researchers from theory, experiment, and simulation to explore strong-field QED, high-intensity laser physics, and related fields.

View conference details

Past Events

Community Update

February 24, 2026 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST

The NSF OPAL team shared recent progress on laser system development, experimental capabilities, and community engagement. Highlights included advances in laser performance and diagnostics informed by a joint workshop with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, updates on the target chamber and new flexible platen interface, and preparations for the upcoming Multi‑Petawatt Diagnostic Community Workshop in May. The team also noted strong growth in OPAL’s visibility across media channels and continued momentum in the community letter‑of‑support campaign.

View slides

2026 Joint NSF-AFOSR Next-Generation Optical Materials and Components for High-Power Lasers

January 12-15, 2026, BY INVITATION ONLY

Goals of the workshop

  • Address critical limitations in material damage thresholds currently hindering high-power lasers
  • Focusing on topical areas:
    • Modeling
    • Physics-based fabrication
    • Gratings for pulse compression and beam combining
    • Diagnostics and lifetime prediction
  •  Will solicit whitepapers for up to four “seedling” R&D efforts
  • Held in January in Arlington, VA

View workshop details

NSF OPAL Conceptual Design Review

April 22–23, 2025

The NSF OPAL RI-1 award supports the design of a new, world-leading, high-power laser user facility at the University of Rochester.

Two new 25-petawatt lasers will push beyond the current state of the art in peak laser power to achieve and study extreme physical conditions, such as ultrahigh electromagnetic fields, temperatures, and pressures that represent the frontier of science in studying matter in the Universe.

NSF OPAL aims to support four areas of frontier research identified by the Multi-Petawatt Physics Prioritization (MP3) workshop.

NSF OPAL Diagnostic Systems Community Update

January 16, 2025

This 3-hour session will provide an update on key aspects of the NSF OPAL diagnostic systems design.

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NSF OPAL: Laser System Design and Critical Technologies

November 8, 2024

Given by NSF OPAL Lead Laser Scientist Jake Bromage, this talk will present an overview of the proposed laser architecture and cutting-edge technologies of the NSF OPAL system. Key achievements and future prospects of the MTW-OPAL facility, which has been crucial to prototyping many of the technologies necessary for the future NSF OPAL construction project, will also be highlighted.

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View talk

NSF OPAL Conceptual Design Update

October 31, 2024

An update for the scientific community on key aspects of the NSF OPAL design.

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NSF OPAL Project Requirements Review

February 5, 2024

A review of the top-level NSF OPAL requirements for the scientific community.

View slides