Proposals are now invited for funded access (facility overheads, UK travel and accommodation) to the
Octopus and
Ultra facilities of the Central Laser Facility (CLF) in the Research Complex at Harwell, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
The deadline for proposal submissions is 17:00 GMT Thursday 23 January 2025
However, we would like to advise you that the level of operation that the CLF will be able to undertake in late 2025 and early 2026 is unclear at present due to potential funding constraints. This may result in a reduced operating schedule in the second half of next year, and the potential cancellation of the next proposal call in mid/late 2025.
We are doing all we can to maximise operations in the 25/26 year. We will continue to update the community with information on the next 12 months of CLF operations as this becomes clearer.
Access will be scheduled between 1 July and 31 December 2025.
Proposals are invited for the following modes of access:
· Direct (1-4 weeks one-off access withing a 6-month period)
· New Programme (usually 1-4 weeks access within a 6-month period for 2 to 5 years)
· Continuation of Approved Programmes (update on progress and plans for the next 6 months of the programme)
Eligibility for access through this call:
· The main applicant must be a UK academic (postdoctoral researchers are eligible)
· The main applicant must hold a position that lasts for the duration of the scheduling period
It is strongly recommended to contact an appropriate facility staff member ahead of time to help strengthen your application (e.g. obtaining proof of concept data, technical feasibility), see the web pages for Octopus staff and techniques, and Ultra staff and techniques to find an appropriate contact for your proposal.
HiLUX Impact
During 2025, major infrastructure is being installed in the ULTRA facility. HiLUX is an exciting project that will provide the next-generation of time-resolved and non-linear spectroscopy facilities for the user community. Whilst we are not planning to stop operations through this period, we would like to highlight that there may be some impact as follows:
· If there are unexpected equipment failures in our main Ultra operations, we will carefully consider the options of (i) repairing the current operations equipment or (ii) suspending operations to accelerate the HiLUX project.
· As the HiLUX project develops there may be opportunities to move scheduled experiments into the new laboratories. This is likely to be later in the year. We will consult with the individual user groups to discuss the balance between experimental benefits and any delivery risk with the new systems.
Overall, this process will bring major long-term benefits to the user community. Thank you for your patience through this period.
