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NSF OPAL

Events

Upcoming and past NSF OPAL meetings and events.

Upcoming Events

Community Design Update

September 3, 2025, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern

During this event, the Project Team will provide an update to the community about the status of the facility design following the Conceptual Design Review (CDR) held in April. To download project details and get up to speed for this event, feel free to review these documents. The ‘T02 – Zuegel NSF OPAL CDR Project Overview‘ provides a good summary of the project.

Community Update Agenda:

  1. Introduction – 5 minutes
  2. Laser Updates – 15 minutes
  3. Target Area Updates – 40 minutes

The NSF OPAL team will be available for 30 minutes following the event for Q&A and further discussions.

Past Events

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.

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