High-Energy-Density Plasma Laboratory Science | DE FOA 0002633

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002633

The Department of Energy is offering grant funding through the Office of Science, specifically as a joint effort between the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Defense Programs (DP) Office of Experimental Sciences. The opportunity supports both new and renewal research awards under the SC-NNSA Joint Program in High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP). Applicants planning to seek funding tied to Fiscal Year 2022 were directed to submit proposals under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), which is focused on advancing fundamental science in high-energy-density (HED) laboratory plasma research.

The HEDLP joint program exists to steward and coordinate core HED laboratory plasma science within DOE, reflecting priorities laid out in the 2007 Interagency Task Force on High Energy Density Physics report. In practical terms, the program is aimed at improving the scientific understanding of how matter behaves under extreme conditions, meaning very high temperatures, densities, and pressures. These are regimes that are difficult to study directly in nature, so the program emphasizes controlled laboratory experiments and associated theory and modeling that can reproduce or approximate those extreme environments. The research supported by this FOA sits at the intersection of plasma physics, fusion-relevant science, and broader high-energy-density physics, with relevance to both fundamental discovery and national research capabilities.

Topic areas highlighted in the announcement span a wide slice of HED science. This includes laboratory astrophysics and planetary science, where experiments and simulations are used to mimic conditions found in stars, supernova shocks, accretion phenomena, or planetary interiors. It also includes studies of the structure and dynamics of matter at the atomic scale under extreme compression or heating, which can involve equation-of-state measurements, phase transitions, and ultrafast evolution of material properties. Another major area is laser-plasma interactions and relativistic optics, which covers how intense laser pulses couple energy into plasmas, generate energetic particles, drive shocks, or create novel radiation sources, including regimes where relativistic effects become important. The FOA also emphasizes magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and magnetized plasmas, focusing on how magnetic fields influence stability, transport, turbulence, reconnection, and large-scale plasma flows in HED conditions. Finally, it calls out plasma atomic physics and radiation transport, which are central to interpreting experiments and modeling HED systems because radiation emission, absorption, and energy flow can dominate the dynamics in these extreme regimes.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity categorized under science and technology and other research and development. The assistance listing is CFDA 81.049, and eligible applicants are listed as unrestricted, meaning there is no special limitation stated in the summary on who may apply (subject to standard federal grant rules in the full FOA). The funding opportunity number is DE-FOA-0002633, it was created on December 8, 2021, and the original closing date was February 7, 2022. The listed award ceiling is $200,000, indicating the maximum anticipated amount per award under the summary information provided. The announcement also notes that awards are intended for both new proposals and renewals, signaling continued support for established HEDLP research efforts alongside new ideas that advance the program's scientific goals.

• The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "High-Energy-Density Plasma Laboratory Science" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-12-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-02-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for DE FOA 0002633

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