STFC - Science & Technology Facilities Council


STFC is one of the UK’s seven publicly funded Research Councils, supporting Particle Physics and Astronomy, enabling access to international facilities such as CERN, and operating large scale science facilities such as the ISIS spallation source and Central Laser facility (CLF). STFC has an annual budget of over £400M, and employs over 1600 people, principally within its Daresbury and Rutherford-Appleton National Laboratories. Preparation for future FEL facilities is a significant theme of STFC research; STFC produced the design for NLS, a 4th generation superconducting FEL facility for the UK, is actively engaged in FEL projects such as the Swiss-FEL, and is leading the design of the CLARA FEL Test Facility at Daresbury Laboratory. STFC’s Central Laser Facility houses some of the most intense lasers in the world, including the Vulcan laser that held the Guinnes World Record for the highest intensity laser in the world until a few years ago. Since its inception, CLF has been at the forefront of plasma based accelerator research, having led some of the seminal works in the field in its facilities. CLF’s latest high power laser, Gemini, is the first high-repetition rate dual-beam Petawatt laser, ideally suited for applications of intense lasers, including plasma accelerators. CLF pioneers intense laser technology, including the diode pumping technology for high repetition rate lasers and its commercial wing, CALTA has already won several contracts to sell diode pumping technology to European infrastructures like ELI and  Hamburg XFEL.


Contacts:

ASTeC - Jim Clarke

CLF - Rajeev Pattathil


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