Design of zettawatt-equivalent experiments at ZEUS*

The Zettawatt Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System (ZEUS) at the University of Michigan is a user facility supported by the National Science Foundation. The name ZEUS refers to the collision of a petawatt laser pulse with a GeV energy electron beam, producing the equivalent of a “Zettawatt” power laser interaction (10²¹ Watts) in the rest frame of the electron beam. The facility aims to enable systematic exploration of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SFQED) processes. The laser will be capable of producing synchronized 2.5-PW and 0.5-PW pulses. The ZEUS target area has been designed to enable two collision geometries: one in which the 2.5-PW pulse drives laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) to generate high energy electron beams that collide with the 0.5-PW pulse, and another in which the 0.5-PW pulse drives LWFA and electrons collide with the 2.5-PW pulse focused to ultrahigh intensity. This presentation will describe our on-going preparations for zettawatt-equivalent experiments at ZEUS, including commissioning experiments, diagnostic design, laser-beam stabilization techniques, and simulations of the LWFA process and collision physics.