Fourth User Workshop on High-Power Lasers at the Linac Coherent Light Source

The fourth international user workshop focusing on high-power lasers at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) was held in Menlo Park, CA, USA, on October 3–4, 2016 [1 R. Falcone, S. Glenzer, and S. Hau-Riege, Synchrotron Radiation News 27(2), 56–58 (2014).[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]–3 C. Bolme, S. Glenzer, and A. Fry, Synchrotron Radiation News 29(2), 14–17 (2016).[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]]. The workshop was co-organized by Los Alamos National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), and garnered the attendance of more than 110 scientists. Participants discussed the warm dense matter and high-pressure science that is being conducted using high-power lasers at the LCLS Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) endstation. During the past year, there have been seven journal articles published from research at the MEC instrument [4 L. B. Fletcher et al., Review of Scientific Instruments 87(11), 11E524 (2016).[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]–10 P. Sperling et al., Physical Review Letters 115(11), 115001 (2015).[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]]. The specific topics discussed at this workshop were experimental highlights from the past year, current status and future commissioning of MEC capabilities, and future facility upgrades that will enable the expanded science reach of the facility.