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The Menzingen Verification Experiment described in this report was designed to test practical procedures for verifying the absence of nuclear weapons at a storage site. The experiment, which was conducted on 8 March 2023, was organized by UNIDIR in partnership with the Swiss Armed Forces, Spiez Laboratory, Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, and the Open Nuclear Network. The project was supported by the Governments of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland. The experiment modelled an on-site inspection of a nuclear weapons storage site, represented by a former air defence site near Menzingen, Switzerland. In preparation for the experiment, UNIDIR developed a model protocol governing the inspection activities. Together with its partners, it designed procedures to confirm the non-nuclear nature of the inspected items, including radiation measurements with active sources, and arranged for the acquisition of satellite imagery of the site. The scenario developed for the experiment assumed that the inspection was conducted as part of an agreement that requires the parties to remove all nuclear weapons from storage sites associated with military bases that host nuclear-capable delivery systems. The inspection procedures used in the experiment were modelled on those developed for the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty and New START. The Menzingen Verification Experiment demonstrated in practice the viability of the approach to nuclear disarmament based on removing nuclear weapons from their delivery systems. It provided an opportunity to test in practice specific verification procedures and techniques, provided valuable insights into the challenges that can be encountered during an on-site inspection, and identified promising new approaches to verification that can create political space for arms control and disarmament initiatives.

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Relativistic harmonic generation is a waveform-dependent process that can be enhanced by multi-color driving pulses. We experimentally demonstrate higher-efficiency harmonics from a plasma mirror cascade, where an initial plasma mirror produces the multi-color beam.