29-30 September 2014, Laserlab User Meeting, Prague, Czech Republic

Annual User Meetings bring together the Laserlab Users and facilitate and foster their exchanges with the infrastructures. They are a unique opportunity for the Access providers to present to the User community recent upgrades, new experimental set-up or diagnostics, and for the Users to present their scientific results.

Research Frontiers for LASERLAB-EUROPE

More than 20 users of the Laserlab-Europe facilities met with the User Representatives and Access Board members at the 2014 User Meeting hosted by the Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) and the Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS).
The meeting, co-chaired by Oldrich Renner (Prague Institute of Physics, IoP) and Jiri Ullschmied (IPP), was opened by Petr Krenek, director of the IPP, and Karel Jungwirth, director of the PALS facility, who welcomed the participants and briefly recapitulated laser research and plasma physics activities in Prague.
The first scientific session, chaired by Oldrich Renner, was dedicated to two keynote presentations: Bedrich Rus from ELI Beamlines, Prague, reported on the status and perspectives of the Extreme Light Infrastructure, and Petra Köster from Instituto Nazionale di Ottica, Pisa, surveyed achievements in investigation of laser-target coupling in the intensity regime relevant to shock ignition.
The second session, chaired by István Földes from Wigner Research Centre in Budapest, offered four talks dedicated to the laser and instrumentation development, whereas six contributions presented within the third session, chaired by Karel Rohlena from IoP Prague, dealt with ultraintense laser-induced phenomena. The last two sessions, chaired by Sandro de Silvestri from Politecnico di Milano and Karel Jungwirth, comprised nine reports on advanced laser applications in materials research.
The second day of the meeting was opened by a traditional round-table discussion chaired by Jouko Korppi-Tommola from University of Jyväskylä, Finnland. The introduction to this session was provided by Didier Normand from CEA Iramis, Saclay, France, who provided information on Laserlab-Europe, its access programme and future, in particular a proposal for the continuation of Laserlab-Europe in Horizon2020. His survey was complemented by statistics and outcomes of the previous Laserlab-Europe access activities compiled by Sylvie Jacquemot from LULI, École Polytechnique, France. The ensuing discussion among the users of individual facilities, User Representatives and Access Board members included, inter alia, users' requirements and suggestions for the Laserlab-Europe access programme, extension of the accessible laser systems and their parameters, organization of training schools, Laserlab-Europe publicity and gender issues.
Laserlab-Europe's Access Board meeting following the round-table discussion judged positively the activities of users. At the same time, the AB members approved the budget policy for the final period of the current access scheme and in particular, conditions for additional experiments.
The meeting was completed by a visit of two new laser laboratories being built in Dolni Brezany close to the Prague border. The participants were informed on current research in the recently opened HILASE Research Centre and went through the shell of the ELI-Beamline buildings, thus getting an impression of their final function.
Participants enjoyed a working dinner in a Golem restaurant with its informal atmosphere, which provided a great occasion for discussions and relaxed exchange of ideas among users present.
To conclude, it was our pleasure to organize the 2014 Laserlab-Europe User Meeting!
Oldrich Renner, Jiri Ullschmied

Programme >>

Abstracts >>

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Venue: Institute of Plasma Physics ASCR, Za Slovankou 3, Prague 8

Local Organizing Committee

General information:  Jiri Ullschmied

Scientific programme: Oldrich Renner

Accommodation and logistics: Alena Hanzlova