
PHELIX and Plasmaphysics Program Advisory Committee (PPAC)
The PHELIX and Plasmaphysics Program Advisory Committee (PPAC) is an international program advisory committee of GSI/FAIR. It gives advice to the Directorate on selecting experiment proposals that are submitted by individual users or user groups in the field of plasma physics with ions and lasers, currently for the FAIR-Phase 0 program. Following periodic calls for proposals, the PPAC meets approx. once every year; it evaluates the experiment proposals on the basis of scientific merit and technical feasibility and with regard to the GSI/FAIR strategy, and makes recommendations on the amount of beam time to be allotted by the Scientific Director.
Open 'Call for Proposals'
The 'Call for Proposals' for experiments with the high-energy/high-power laser PHELIX between autumn 2024 and summer 2025, is open until November 07, 2023.
Experiments at our laser facility Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Heavy Ion EXperiments (PHELIX) cover a variety of research fields, e.g. atomic physics, plasma physics, extreme matter physics, laser-particle acceleration. In the present call, experiments with the laser are accepted and a total of approx. 170 shifts of PHELIX beamtime can be offered corresponding to roughly 8 to 9 experiments. This call does not include experiments with ions!
Note:
- It is advisable to start proposal submission early and discuss it before final submission with your Link Scientist.
- All participants of a proposal need to be registered in GATE and added as 'Co-Proposers' to the proposal.
- Experiments granted before 2021 have to be submitted in an updated version and will be re-evaluated by the PPAC.
For more information on submission of PHELIX proposals via GATE please see below (Application Procedure) and here: Information for PHELIX users.
For information on beamtime planning and scheduling at PHELIX see: Beamtime Planning at PHELIX.
Current laser and experiment parameters are given under www.gsi.de/PHELIX-parameters.
The 'Call' for beamtime proposals is open until November 07, 2023.
For details on the application procedure see 'Application Procedure'.
Should questions on technical feasibility, safety issues etc. arise after the submission, our staff will contact the spokesperson (proposer) by E-mail to clarify these points before the advisory committee meeting. In their meeting on February 5-6, 2024, the PHELIX and Plasma Physics Program Advisory Committee (PPAC) will discuss the received proposals with a clear focus on scientific excellence and strategic issues. Should questions arise in those discussion the proposal’s spokesperson will be asked to response within days. Accordingly, the PPAC will formulate their evaluation and recommend granting beamtime to the proposed experiments to the directorate. Experiments granted(1) in this round will run in the above-mentioned period. Granted shifts will expire after this period.
(1) Beamtime is granted at no charge within the framework of the Helmholtz Association: “Rahmenrichtlinie über die Nutzung von Forschungsanlagen der Helmholtz-Zentren durch Dritte” (1.3.2000), §II. 1.2. GSI/FAIR need to report to funding agencies on user operation and user communities in form of statistical data.
Processes of user beamtime are managed in the platform GATE: “General Access Tool to the Experimental Infrastructures of GSI”. Here, registered users can see for example all their proposals and experiments - unsubmitted, active and finished ones – and see information on their open tasks, on which they are informed also by Email.
Weblink to GATE: https://gate.gsi.de
Note: All All participants of a proposal need to register in GATE and mark in their settings that they agree appearing in other users’ search results, and need to be included in the proposal as so-called Co-Proposers in GATE. Information on all participants of a proposal is urgently needed for statistics given to our funding agencies as justification for running our facilities.
Proposal Submission:
Editing a proposal can be interrupted at any time and continued later. Please follow the instructions in the system and in the short GATE manual carefully. The proposal text to be uploaded is to be structured as explained under: www.gsi.de/proposal-structure. Should you encounter any problems, please contact GATE-Help(at)gsi.de.
We urgently ask you to consult your Link Scientist (to be chosen in GATE in form “Technical requirements”) on your entries in the forms and on details of your planned experiment well before submitting the application (e.g. one month before deadline): After submission, correcting your request is not possible. Please consider that close to submission deadline the Link Scientists might not be available!
Please note that GSI does not cover the consumables and investments necessary for running an experiment.
For additional or updated information please consult this webpage and its sub-page Info PHELIX. Further details on the process from application until running the experiment are given here: www.gsi.de/PHELIX/beamtime.
Applicants eligible to the European funding program 'Laserlab-Europe' are encouraged to submit a funding application additionally to Laserlab-Europe to obtain financial support. Indicating during proposal submission your interest in this funding serves as internal information only and does not replace a dedicated funding application at Laserlab-Europe. Note that Laserlab offers financial support for researchers from Europe, and for users from non-EU countries to some extent.
PHELIX can provide access for laser experiments in the PHELIX hall, and alternatively at the Z6 target station at UNILAC and at HHT at SIS18. For information on current laser and experimental parameters please refer to www.gsi.de/PHELIX-parameters or contact the respective person responsible for the target station of interest:
- petawatt target area (PTA): V. Bagnoud, P. Neumayer
- x-ray laboratory: V. Bagnoud, P. Neumayer
- Z6 target area: A. Blazevic, D. Schumacher
- HHT target area: P. Neumayer
Further contacts:
Details on the laser and laser diagnostics: Vincent Bagnoud
Access and support through Laserlab-Europe: Diana Lang
PPAC Scientific Secretary: Karin Füssel
GATE platform
Since 2021 we are using the General Access Tool to the Experimental facilities of GSI/FAIR (GATE) as platform for proposal and user managment.
Registration to GATE under: https://gate.gsi.de
GATE Short Manual for Users: here
Registration in GATE is possible independant of an open 'Call' at any time and registered users will be informed on new 'Calls'. So it is advisable for interested users to register any time.
All (!) participants of a proposal and experimentalists coming on-site for the experiment need to be registered in GATE (and allow being visible for other users' searches in GATE).
For more information on submission of PHELIX proposals via GATE please see: Information for PHELIX users.
For information on beamtime planning and scheduling at PHELIX see: Beamtime Planning at PHELIX.
Members of the PPAC
- Dr. Sophia Chen
ELI-NP, Romania
- Dr. Thomas Schenkel
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA
- Prof. Dr. Kurt Schoenberg (for the HED@FAIR Collaboration)
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA
- Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schramm (Chair)
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf,Germany
- Prof. Dr. Luca Volpe
Polytechnic University of Madrid & Centro de Láseres Pulsados (CLPU) Salamanca, Spain
PPAC Scientific Secretary
Dr. Karin Füssel
GSI, Darmstadt
Phone: +49-6159-71 1441
Fax: +49-6159-71 2991
contact by E-Mail to: PPAC-Secretary(at)gsi.de
Next PPAC Meeting
Date of the next PPAC Meeting: February 05 - 06, 2024
Previous PPAC-Meetings
PPAC17 on September 12-13, 2022: documents of the meeting (for PPAC members only)
PPAC16 on December 6-7, 2021
PPAC15 on October 5-6, 2020
PPAC14 on July 25-26, 2019
PPAC13 on October 11-12, 2018
PHELIX Committee 12 on August 14-15, 2017
PHELIX Committee 11 on July 21-22, 2016
PHELIX Committee 10 on September 28, 2015
PHELIX Committee 09 on December 4-5, 2014
PHELIX Committee 08 on March 13-14, 2014
PHELIX Committee 07 on January 9-10, 2013
PPAC06 on November 17/18, 2011
PPAC05 on November 8/9, 2010
PPAC04 on September 29/30, 2009
PPAC03 (via E-mail circulation), Winter 2008/09
PPAC Roadmap Meeting, December 13, 2006
PPAC02 on April 3/4, 2006
PPAC01 on September 22-24, 2004
User Services
Information for Users on services and beam time, as well as instructions how to register to the Users Mailinglist for receiving information like opening of "Calls for Proposals" can be found on the Users' Webpages.
Central point of contact for associated guests and users on campus is the Welcome Office.
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