The University of Michigan has been awarded $18.5 million by the National Science Foundation to establish it as a federally funded international user facility for its development of the 3 petawatt ZEUS (Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System) laser.
The name refers to the interaction of a PetaWatt laser pulse colliding with a GeV energy electron beam that can be generated by one of its two beamlines. This geometry provides the equivalent of a “Zettawatt” power laser interaction (1021 Watts) in the rest frame of the electron beam.
“We are really looking forward to the exciting experiments that this new facility will make possible,” said Karl Krushelnick, director of the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, where ZEUS’s construction is almost finished.
ZEUS will primarily be used to study extreme plasmas, a state of matter in which electrons break free of their atoms, forming what amounts to charged gases. ZEUS is expected to begin its first experiments in early 2022.
“Extreme plasma made with ‘table-top’ laser technology offers a lower-cost alternative for fundamental research in physics compared to large scale particle accelerators, which cost billions to build,” said Franko Bayer, project manager of the construction of ZEUS. “We are very excited since this support enables the U.S plasma science community, and us at U-M, to make long-term research plans.”
