Development of the University of Maryland High-Energy Plasma Laboratory

The High-Energy Plasma Laboratory at the University of Maryland is a new user facility under development for studies of plasma and high-energy-density physics. It will feature a frequency-doubled Nd:glass laser capable of delivering 35 J in 1.5 ns at 526 nm, at a repetition rate of one shot per minute and with an arbitrary temporal waveform. It will cooperate with a new 100-TW Ti:Sapphire laser in the neighboring Laboratory for Intense Laser-Matter Interactions for combined short- and long-pulse experiments such as radiography. We describe the status of the facility, plans for the initial diagnostic suite, and scoping studies of the first experiments. The diagnostics will include proton and electron radiography for electromagnetic field measurements, optical probing of plasma density via interferometry and angular filter refractometry, and kinetic measurements via Thomson scattering. Initial experiments will study magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration, magnetic field generation by the Biermann battery and Weibel instabilities, and the Nernst effect and extended magnetohydrodynamics in laser-heated magnetized gas jets.