Wednesday 17 September 2008, 10 am Speaker: David Neely (RAL, Laser Department) Title: High power lasers - a bright future Abstract: The Central Laser Facility (CLF) has been at the forefront of providing access to internationally leading state of the art laser systems for UK researchers since the 1980’s. Initial lasers delivered nano second pulses capable of heating matter to KeV temperatures. In the early 1990’s a new technology was introduced called “Chirped Pulse Amplification” which enabled much higher laser powers to be delivered. Through a series of upgrades at the CLF, pulses of PW powers can now be delivered capable of heating matter to multi MeV temperatures. This has enabled a broad range of plasma physics studies to be undertaken from ultra compact accelerators to relativistic interaction physics. The potential for lasers to drive ultra bright radiation sources will be reviewed and the prospects for the HiPER project which will deliver laser driven Fusion will be considered.