Workshop 'Infrastructures for lasers', Le Barp (Bordeaux), 24-25 May 2012
The workshop, being one of the Laserlab-Europe workshops on “Scientific and Technological Exchanges” took place in Le Barp, south of Bordeaux, on May 24th and 25th, 2012. The workshop was held in the university building of Institut Lasers et Plasmas which offers ideal conditions in terms of meeting rooms, and especially proximity of the Laser MegaJoule facility. The workshop was organized by CELIA, with significant assistance by CEA/CESTA.
The aim of the workshop was to bring together experts in all practical and essential aspects of the infrastructures that surround a laser, from the initial steps of architectural design, civil engineering, up to the final steps of command/control over a laser system. In contrast to many other workshops, laser technology was not the topic; however, as was rapidly clear from the discussions, the surrounding elements are as crucial as the laser itself to make a successful facility. In the general context where several new laser facilities are to be constructed and commissioned in Europe, a workshop allowing for exchange of know-how between facilities, of which some have long been in operation, appeared as a potentially interesting step.
The workshop was organized in four sessions. The first one, on the 24th early afternoon, consisted of a visit of the LMJ facility, under the expert guidance of Dr François Jéquier, from CEA/CESTA. This was a highly unusual visit, in the sense that the workshop participants actually did not see any of the laser halls; but they entered much more unusual places, especially on the lowest level, that includes all the air conditioning, cleanliness, and power stations. Management of air flows, in nuclearized or non-nuclearized environments, was explained. Dr Jéquier also gave a general overview of the building structure, showing for instance how it is built on a zone with water in the underground, and how building stability and water levels and flows are controlled permanently .
The third and fourth sessions, on May 25th, addressed successively several key topics. On the question of building design, and vibration control and characterization, Michel Luttmann, François Jequier, and Pierre-Yves Combes explained the alignment specifications of the LMJ, their impact of specifications on building vibrations and drifts, the design of the building to meet these specifications, the equipment as a source of vibrations and the means of mitigation, and finally the actual results on LIL and LMJ. Steve Blake then presented an overview of the vibration issues at RAL, with their characterization, and most interestingly a series of practical suggestions and recipes on how to mitigate the vibrations.
The issue of cleanliness was extensively reviewed by Isabelle Tovena-Pecault, who introduced the subject, and made clear how to specify the level of cleanliness to impose on the various parts of the infrastructures, depending on the targeted process. Pascal Monot presented the state of preparation of the Appolon/CILEX program, emphasizing air control issues together with vibrations and radioprotection within a former accelerator facility.
Two reviews on control/command gave insights into the complexity of control of extremely complex systems. Jean Fleury presented the LMJ control/command, and the various levels of decisions, and how to organize it. Vincent Bagnoud presented the developments of the Control/Command system at GSI, and made a general offer to share the developments made in Darmstadt.
The issue of electromagnetic pulses was presented by Paul Holligan, with a description of proposed technical solutions; he also addressed safety issues, and the interlocks in a complex laboratory. Finally, Mrs Elizabeth Boeri, from the University of Bordeaux, made a general presentation of the need for professional trainings on all these laser infrastructure issues, giving as an example the courses provided by the vocational training platform PYLA.
In total, the workshop gathered 23 attendees, from Great Britain (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, 3 participants), Hungary (ELI-ALPS, 2 participants), Romania (ELI-NP, 2 participants), Spain (CLPU, 4 participants), Lithuania (VULRC, 1 participant), Germany (GSI, 1 participant) and France (LULI, 1 participant, CEA-SLIC, 1 participant, CEA-CESTA, 6 participants, CELIA, 2 participants).
In the concluding discussions, all participants pointed out the breadth and the importance of the subjects addressed in this workshop, unfortunately not often considered in most technical workshops, but however crucial for the life of a laser infrastructure. Many hints and advices were given, and the importance of continued networking relations and direct exchanges between the participants was emphasized. The possibility to use the developments performed in one of the Laserlab infrastructures, such as command/control programs, is certainly a benefit for all project leaders of new infrastructures. Pooling of past work and experience is at the core of the networking program of Laserlab-Europe, and it was brilliantly illustrated in this last Scientific and Technological Exchanges Workshop of Laserlab-Europe II.
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