The Extreme Photonics Innovation Centre (EPIC) is a partnership between the CLF and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), funded through UKRI’s Fund for International Collaboration (Wave 2).

The project is based in both the UK and India. EPIC secured £4 million UK funding over five years, with £2.5 million to be directly spent in India and the rest in the UK. The funds will cover staff costs and overheads that TIFR incurs in housing the project, along with costs of equipment, travel, and so on.

TIFR contributes in kind by extending the existing, fully serviced laboratory space for the setup and functioning of the Innovation Centre, along with access to its workshops and existing laser systems. The whole project is managed through TIFR’s centre in Hyderabad, but the collaboration also involves academics from other institutions in India (the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Madras, Mumbai and Hyderabad), and will form ties with Indian industries.

EPIC will jointly develop associated technologies for laser-based plasma accelerators in the UK as well as in India. The activities in this project will support the high-repetition rate petawatt lasers such as EPAC, as well as XFELs.

The EPIC project currently comprises five work packages:

  • development of high-repetition rate targetry for laser-driven accelerators operating at 10Hz and above
  • development of high-repetition rate detectors for high energy particles and photons
  • development of control modules for laser-driven accelerators based on the experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) platform
  • design and manufacture of bespoke optomechanics and engineering components for plasma accelerators
  • design of data management solutions

EPIC is a truly collaborative project, which is beneficial to the CLF and TIFR alike. EPIC is proving to be essential for the CLF’s ongoing facility development projects, such as EPAC and Vulcan 20-20. As TIFR is preparing to host a petawatt-class laser at its Hyderabad campus in the next few years, the technologies developed through EPIC will benefit TIFR as well. EPIC is developing a critical mass of skilled people in India in the technologies associated with novel accelerators. As an attracter and retainer of talent from India’s top technological and scientific institutions, it opens a link to a previously untapped skills-base, partially addressing the challenges within STFC of attracting top skills in this area.