PHELIX and Plasmaphysics Program Advisory Committee (PPAC)
The PHELIX and Plasmaphysics Program Advisory Committee (PPAC) is an international program advisory committee of GSI/FAIR. It gives advice to the Directorate on selecting experiment proposals that are submitted by individual users or user groups in the field of plasma physics with ions and lasers, currently for the FAIR-Phase 0 program. Proposal evaluations are based on scientific merit and with regard to the GSI/FAIR strategy, and lead to recommendations on the amount of beam time to be allotted by the Scientific Director.
Last 'Call for Proposals at PHELIX' - was closed on April 13, 2026
The GSI/FAIR Scientific Management invited users to submit experiment proposals in the framework of FAIR Phase-0 for the high-energy/high-power laser PHELIX – i.e. laser-only experiments, no laser-ion combinations!
As in the present situation granted experiments with ions cannot run, laser time might be offered already from September 2026 onwards up to end of 2027. Due to the very short time up to Sept. 2026, proposers were asked to indicate in their proposals when they could run the experiment!
Experiments at our laser facility Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Heavy Ion EXperiments (PHELIX) cover a variety of research fields, e.g. atomic physics, plasma physics, extreme matter physics, laser-particle acceleration. In the last call, a total of approx. 170 shifts of PHELIX beamtime were offered corresponding to roughly 8 to 9 experiments.
Submission was open until April 13, 2026. This call did not include experiments with ions!
Note:
- It was advised to start proposal submission early and discuss it before final submission with the Link Scientist.
- All participants of a proposal need to be registered in GATE and added as 'Co-Proposers' to the proposal.
For more information on submission of PHELIX proposals via GATE please see below (Proposal Submission) and here: Information for PHELIX users.
For information on beamtime planning and scheduling at PHELIX see: Beamtime Planning at PHELIX.
Laser and experiment parameters are given under
After Submission:
The Scientific Management asked an external Program Advisory Committee for evaluation of proposals before granting beamtime. Beamtime granted in this round will expire after the period indicated in this ‘Call’.
The last 'Call' for beamtime proposals was open until April 13, 2026.
(For details on the application procedure see 'Application Procedure'.)
Should questions on technical feasibility, safety issues etc. arise after the submission, our staff will contact the spokesperson (proposer) by E-mail to clarify these points before the advisory committee meeting. In their meeting on June 18-19, 2026, the PHELIX and Plasma Physics Program Advisory Committee (PPAC) will discuss the received proposals with a clear focus on scientific excellence. Should questions arise in those discussion the proposal’s spokesperson will be asked to response within days. Accordingly, the PPAC will formulate their evaluation and recommend the Scientific Management to grant beamtime. Experiments granted(1) in this round will run in the above-mentioned period. Granted shifts will expire after this period.
(1) Beamtime is granted at no charge within the framework of the Helmholtz Association: “Rahmenrichtlinie über die Nutzung von Forschungsanlagen der Helmholtz-Zentren durch Dritte” (1.3.2000), §II. 1.2. GSI/FAIR need to report to funding agencies on user operation and user communities in form of statistical data.
Applicants eligible to the European funding program 'Lasers4EU' are encouraged to submit a funding application additionally to 'Lasers4EU' for obtaining financial support. Indicating during proposal submission your interest in this funding serves as internal information only and does not replace a dedicated funding application at Lasers4EU.
Note that Lasers4EU offers financial support for researchers from Europe, and to some extent also for users from non-EU countries.
GSI-Contact on Lasers4EU: Zsuzsanna Slattery-Major
For information on submission of proposals see: Procedure to Apply for Beamtime.
For proposal and user management we use the platform GATE: General Access Tool to the Experimental facilities of GSI/FAIR.
Registration to GATE under: https://gate.gsi.de
GATE Short Manual for Users: here
Registration in GATE is possible independant of an open 'Call' at any time, and registered users will be informed on new 'Calls'. So it is advisable for interested users to register any time.
All (!) users, i.e. participants of a proposal and users coming on-site for the experiment (experimentalists) need to be registered in GATE - and allow being visible for other users' searches in GATE.
A Research Data Management Plan (RDMP) is currently not mandatory, but users are asked to plan ahead of time how to take, manage, process and store their data, and think about its possible later publication. This also helps in formulating a request for host lab resources, e.g. IT support, if required. For more information see this document.
Experiments with granted beamtime (i.e. ranked A) are listed in this table. It contains experiments in the status after granting and before completion/expiry, and gives number of granted shifts.
Experiments in the reserve list have been ranked A- due to large overdraft of beamtime. They might be scheduled if beamtime becomes available.
Data are updated before and after a beamtime block.
For information on submission of PHELIX proposals please see: Information for PHELIX users,
and for planning and scheduling of PHELIX experiments see: Beamtime Planning at PHELIX.
Further information on application and scheduling of beamtime is given under the websites Applying for Beamtime. General information on ion (!) beamtime can be found here.
Members of the PPAC
- Dr. Sophia Chen
ELI-NP, Romania
- Prof. Dr. Antonio Roberto Piriz (for the HED@FAIR Collaboration)
Inst. de Investigaciones Energéticas (INEI), Univ. of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
- Dr. Thomas Schenkel
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA
- Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schramm (Chair)
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany
- Prof. Dr. Luca Volpe
Polytechnic University of Madrid & Centro de Láseres Pulsados (CLPU) Salamanca, Spain
PPAC Scientific Secretary
Dr. Karin Füssel
GSI, Darmstadt
Phone: +49-6159-71 1441
Fax: +49-6159-71 2991
contact by E-Mail to: PPAC-Secretary(at)gsi.de
| Upcoming PPAC meetings: |
| meeting # | date | meeting web page |
| 20 | 18-19 June 2026 |
| Previous PPAC meetings: |
| meeting # | date | meeting web page |
| 19 | 23-24 January 2025 | |
| 18 | 5-6 February 2024 | |
| 17 | 12-13 September 2022 | |
| 16 | 6-7 December 2021 | |
| 15 | 5-6 October 2020 | |
| 14 | 25-26 July 2019 | |
| 13 | 11-12 October 2018 | |
| 12 | 14-15 August 2017 | |
| 11 | 21-22 September 2016 | |
| 10 | 28 September 2015 | |
| 9 | 4-5 December 2014 | |
| 8 | 13-14 March 2014 | |
| 7 | 9-10 January 2013 | |
| 6 | 17-18 November 2011 | |
| 5 | 8-9 November 2010 | |
| 4 | 29-30 September 2009 | |
| 3 | 1 December - 28 February 2008 | |
| 2 | 3-4 April 2006 | |
| 1 | 22-24 September 2004 |