• ALPHA-X
  (Advanced Laser Plasma High-Energy Accelerators towards X-rays)
  Mostly dedicated towards the production of high energy electron bunches (via laser wakefield acceleration) and short wavelength radiation pulses.
  This project began life with a Research Councils U. K. (RCUK) Basic Technology grant in 2002 and is currently in phase four with four year funding from the EPSRC (since April 2016).
  
  
• A-SAIL
  (Advanced Strategies for Accelerating Ions with Lasers)
  This project began in May 2013 with an EPSRC programme grant to further develop a higher energy laser ion sources adn understand their radiobiological effects.
  

• Laserlab-Europe
  Funded by the European Union through the Seventh Framework Programme, this multinational project began in May 2009. Its fourth phase commenced in December 2015.
  
  
• ELI
  (Extreme Light Infrastructure)
  This massive EU funded enterprise comprises three centres for intense laser development and application. The group is closely connected to all three facilities: ELI-Beamlines in Czech Rep, ELI-ALPS in Hungary and ELI-NP in Romania.
  
  
• EuPRAXIA
  (European Plasma Research Accelerator with Excellence In Applications)
  This Horizon 2020 funded programme began in November 2015.
  
  
• IZEST
  (International Center for Zetta-Exawatt Science and Technology)
  This project aims to drive next generation ultra-high intensity laser to open up new frontiers in physics. It is led by Ecole Polytechnique, University of Paris-Saclay.

  
  
  

Postgraduate Research Student Training

• CDT-NGA
  (Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Accelerators)
  An EPSRC-funded CDT across 4 partner universities, at the University of Strathclyde, Queens University Belfast, the University of Surrey and the University of Huddersfield.
  
  
  

On-going research areas

• Theory
  
  
• Raman Scattering and Chirped Pulse Amplification in Plasma
  This looks at the resonant interaction between counterpropagating laser pulses in a plasma with the view to developing a new kind of chirped pulse amplifier.
  
  
• Femtosecond Laser Mass Spectrometry
  
  
• Terahertz Generation
  
  
• X-ray Generation

 

Completed projects

• EuCARD-2
  (Enhanced European Coordination for Accelerator Research & Development)
  This FP7 part-funded programme began in May 2013, following on from previous projects CARE (FP6) and EuCARD (FP7).
  
  
• S-D LDA
  (Strathclyde – Dresden Laser Driven Applications)
  Funded by SUPA 1, a new programme of work was established in 2007 at the Forschungszentrum – Dresden (FZD) Rossendorf coupling a 150 TW laser to a 40 MeV linac.
  
  
• EuroLEAP
  (European Laser Electron controlled Acceleration in Plasmas to GeV energy range)
  Funded by the European Union through the Sixth Framework Programme, this multinational project ran from September 2006 for 3 years. The TOPS laboratory and ALPHA-X Beam Line are integral elements of this project.
  
  
• LIBRA
  (Laser Induced Beams of Radiation and their Applications)
  This project began in November 2007 under the RCUK Basic Technology programme and aims to develop a new generation of laser ion sources.
  
  
• Electron Transport in Dense Plasmas
  This is an EPSRC funded project (since October 2007) that is investigating energetic electron generation and transport in hot dense plasma and involves three different U.K. research institutions.