Elisabetta B, Joana M, Jorge V, Marija V, Thomas G, and Luis OS attended the SPIE Conference 2015 in Prague from April 13 to April 16, delivering several invited talks and oral and poster contributions. This year, SPIE covered many of the hot topics in ultra intense laser matter interactions, laser-plasma acceleration, radiation generation and QED effects, with many interesting results being presented.
 

Luis OS, Elisabetta, Joana, and Marija attended the École de Physique des Houches on Turbulence, Magnetic Fields and Self-Organisation in Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas. The school is running from March 23, 2015 to April 3, 2015 in the beautiful Chamonix Valley, an ideal setting for introspection, lively discussions with the 100+ participants, and winter sports! The École de Physique des Houches has a long tradition of hosting schools on some of the most exciting physics topics. More information on the School here.

On March 20, Marija successfully defended her PhD thesis in Physics at IST entitled “Extreme laser-matter interactions: multi-scale PIC modelling from the classical to the QED perspective” with the highest mark. The thesis committee was composed of Victor Malka, Peter Norreys, Jorge Romão, Ricardo Fonseca, Marta Fajardo and Luis OS. Many congratulations to Marija!

 
In the February 16 2015 edition of the i newspaper, Luis OS explains the fourth state of matter in less than 650 characters and in Portuguese (with the standard metaphors). The “full” text is also here with many other science questions raised by the readers of i.

The PRACE project “Shock Acceleration in the Laboratory with Ultraintense Lasers: from astrophysics to ion acceleration for medical applications” has been featured in the website of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, with a description of the key results of the project. This PRACE project has contributed to the goals of the ERC Advanced Grant Accelerates. The article is available here.

Starting January 1st, Luis OS has joined the editorial board of the Journal of Plasma Physics (Cambridge University Press) as Associate Editor. The Journal of Plasma Physics has published some of the fundamental developments of plasma physics. JPP aspires to be the intellectual home of those who think of plasma physics as a fundamental discipline. The journal will particularly focus on publishing research on laboratory plasmas, space physics and plasma astrophysics that takes advantage of the rapid ongoing progress in instrumentation and computing to advance fundamental understanding of multiscale plasma physics. Read the Editorial: The Way Forward for JPP by Bill Dorland and Alex Schekochihin.

Happy Holidays to all our team members and friends! We look forward to another year of great science, friendship, and fun!

This years’ GoLP Day (December 15) was held near the Castelo de São Jorge, in Museu de Artes Decorativas. The programme included the Marshmallow Challenge, case studies on improving several aspects of GoLP’s life, visits to the Museum and the Workshops, and to the Castelo São Jorge, prizes (including official GoLP merchandise!), and lots of interactions and fun. 

On December 5, Joana successfully defended her PhD thesis in Physics entitled “Radiation processes in laser driven laboratory scenarios” at IST with the highest mark. The thesis committee was composed of Bob Bingham, Patric Muggli, Ricardo Fonseca, João M. Dias, Jorge Vieira and Luis OS. Many congratulations to Joana!

The new cluster Accelerates has been featured in the Intel Case Study “University of Lisbon: High-Performance Plasma Physics”. The new HPC cluster features almost 2000 cpu cores and it will be used to support the research of the team in the framework of the ERC Advanced Grant Accelerates. The HPC Cluster Accelerates has already entered the final stages of testing and it will be in production very soon. The Intel Case Study is available here.