The unique laser installation UFL-2M will be created in Russian Nuclear Center, the country’s major technical research place, located in the town of Sarov, Nizhegorodsky region. Just a few days ago the center’s specialists announced the design stage was over, the active construction phase to follow within the course of the year.
The UFL-2M laser installation, according to the project, has 192 laser channels, covers an area of the size of two football fields, and in its highest point reaches the size of a 10-storey building. It will have the largest pulse energy compared to its Western counterparts – more than two megajoules. The similar installation in the USA, along with the one under construction in France, has a capacity of as much as 1.8 megajoules. “The decision concerning creating the laser device was not easy, our American and French colleagues started work in this direction much earlier, – says Valentin Kostiukov, the Russian Federal Nuclear Center Director. “However this gave Russian physicists an opportunity to design and embody ideas of a more perfect device, leaving behind American and French analogs in many points”. The laser device will be launched in 2017. The center will be of common use, with not only Russian, but also foreign specialists being able to work there. After the first stage is put into operation, some serious experiments will be carried out inside the installation, which, according to Kostyukov, will provide answers to many questions of fundamental science.
Future specialists
A project that serious needs qualified personnel. According to Sergey Garanin, the Director of laser-physical research of the center, today there are about 20 people employed each year by the institution. However with the mightiest laser appearing in Sarov, this amount surely won’t be enough. “We expect to increase this number at least twice. We’ll be looking through the leading universities of the country”, – says Garanin.
Rosatom together with Lobachevsky National Research University of Nizhni Novgorod is already doing the training. The University has the department of quantum radiophysics and laser systems. “The department, among other things, will prepare future personnel for the Sarov Nuclear Center. The joint work with Sarov, first, is about power laser, and second, matter interaction issues“, – said Evgeny Chuprunov, the Rector. The University’s specialized department will accept 20-30 students every year and only in a few years its first graduates will join the scientists not only in Sarov, but all over the world.
