Discovery science at Trident Laser Facility

Several important discoveries and first observations have been made at the Trident Laser Facility, a unique three-beam neodymium-glass laser system for experiments requiring high-energy laser-light pulses.

The Los Alamos user facility provides a combination of capabilities for high-energy-density physics not found elsewhere in the world.

These discoveries include

• Laser-accelerated MeV mono-energetic ions,
• Nonlinear kinetic plasma waves,
• The transition between kinetic and fluid nonlinear behavior for plasma waves, and
• Other fundamental laser-matter interaction processes.

Trident has achieved world records in many aspects of laser-accelerated ion research, including

• Proton and ion energies,
• Beam emittance,
• Conversion efficiency, and
• Other important parameters.

Trident's one-of-a-kind long-pulse capabilities have enabled state-of-the-art innovations in laser-launched flyer-plates and other unique loading techniques for material dynamics research.

Experiments at Trident have resulted in more than 300 publications, including numerous papers in high-impact journals such as Physical Review Letters and Nature.