Cameron Geddes, division director of the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), recently coordinated and chaired the 66th annual meeting of the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Plasma Physics (DPP), which was held in Atlanta, Georgia, from October 7-11, 2024. The APS is a non-profit membership organization that advances physics through journals, scientific meetings, education and outreach, advocacy, and international activities. It represents more than 50,000 members across academia and industry in the U.S. and worldwide.
Geddes, who leads a wide range of plasma and related activities and collaborations, from accelerator physics to fusion and high-energy-density science to low-temperature plasmas and quantum information science, as well as supporting technologies such as superconducting magnets, exascale simulations, lasers, and beam diagnostics, is the DPP chair-elect and coordinated the program, rooms, and events at the meeting.
The DPP meeting “hosts the largest meeting in plasma science spanning the plasma-based advanced accelerator community, the fusion community, and the broad plasma science community,” he says, adding that “it covers a broad spectrum of plasma physics, including magnetic fusion, in which high-field magnets are becoming increasingly prominent, and inertial fusion, in which mid-scale lasers like our BELLA Center are developing fundamental science to support high gain through LaserNetUS.”
He noted that “Exascale plasma simulations, exemplified by the Beam, Plasma, and Accelerator Simulation Toolkit (BLAST), an open-source suite of several interoperable accelerator simulation codes managed by Berkeley Lab, are critical. The meeting also covered basic plasma physics, space, and astrophysical plasmas.” The plasma physics of advanced wakefield acceleration, as developed at the Lab’s BELLA Center, is also an important part of the meeting.
The DPP meeting featured invited talks from Berkeley Lab researchers, including BELLA Research Scientist Sam Barber, who presented “Reliable operation of a laser-plasma accelerator driven free electron laser.”
“One of the long envisaged ‘killer apps’ for plasma-based accelerators is the compact free electron laser, which could revolutionize the future of x-ray science and applications,” says Barber. “At the DPP meeting, I presented milestone results towards this goal, and in doing so, the BELLA Center established itself among an elite group of international research centers leading these efforts.”
Hongmei Tang, a BELLA Postdoctoral Student, delivered a talk on “Laser and Plasma Parameter Optimization for Direct Laser Acceleration of Electron Beams.” The presentation covered direct laser acceleration, a technique for generating superponderomotive electrons with energy up to hundreds of MeV through the interaction of high-intensity picosecond laser pulses with under-dense plasma.
Other notable invited talks included Felicie Albert from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s “Review: LaserNetUS: The First Five Years of Scientific Discovery” and Alexander Thomas from the University of Michigan’s “Review: Plasma Physics in Strong Laser Fields.”
The meeting also saw the election of BELLA Staff Scientist Stepan Bulanov as an APS Fellow. (While not part of the DPP meeting, the Lab’s Advanced Light Source Senior Scientist David Shapiro was also elected as an APS Fellow.)
The next APS meeting in the field, which will take place in Los Angeles, California, from March 16 to 21, 2025, will include future colliders based on proton, muon, and plasma wakefield accelerator technologies, all forms of accelerator R&D and user facility networks such as LaserNetUS and BeamNetUS.
Soren Prestemon, currently Chair-Elect of the APS Division of Physics of Beams (DPB), will transition to DPB Chair in January and participate in meeting sessions. He is ATAP’s deputy division director for technology and heads ATAP’s Superconducting Magnet Program.
“The upcoming APS March and April meetings will showcase the breadth and depth of physics in the U.S. and globally,” says Prestemon, adding that the two meetings, which will be held jointly in Los Angeles, as the APS Global Physics Summit 2025, will “offer an exciting, broad program where ATAP scientists can both explore opportunities and present their research.”
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