Welcome!

This is the home page of the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based Accelerators (SCAPA)

The SCAPA research centre is a major initiative within the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA). Facilities include state-of-the-art laser laboratories, laser-driven plasma accelerators and radiation sources. Research is focused on the development and application of next generation accelerator technology.

It is home to the Plasma Accelerators for Nuclear Applications and Materials Analysis (PANAMA) Facility, part of the National Nuclear User Facility (NNUF) project funded by the UK Government.

Exterior view of SCAPA on Levels 1 and 2 of the John Anderson Building extension

SCAPA is a source provider: we use high intensity, femtosecond laser pulses as the driver for novel high brightness sources of high energy particle beams (electrons, protons, neutrons and light ions) and radiation pulses (THz, infra-red, X-rays and gamma rays).

By working collaboratively with our partners and clients, we use these beams in a wide variety of industrial, medical and scientific applications. SCAPA is run as a university facility with access fees – those for academic users are set in accordance with UK Government Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) guidelines.

SCAPA is part of the ever expanding global infrastructure of large laser systems. See the International Committee on Ultra-High Intensity Lasers (ICUIL) for a general overview and their world map of laser facilities (pdf).

SCAPA’s world-class 350 TW @ 1 Hz laser system.

SCAPA’s 40 TW @ 5 Hz laser system.