Offering high-performance Laser Science at the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI)*

The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is a research facility that provides a wide range of scientists with

access to the largest and most diverse set of high-performance laser systems in the world [1]. Lasers are

used to study the fundamentals of interaction between matter and ultra-high-intensity, ultra-fast light

pulses, including plasma physics and relativistic acceleration of electrons and ions, or drive secondary

sources of ultra-short, high-intensity beams of light or particles which are used for imaging, diffraction

and fast spectroscopic studies of materials and biological systems. Such technology is also developed to

explore potential applications in laser-driven compact accelerators that could provide alternatives to

current central facilities for synchrotron radiation and ion/neutron beams on a scale that could be

located more readily in university departments, industrial laboratories or hospitals.

ELI operates as a single multi-site organisation with complementary facilities: (i) the ELI Attosecond Light

Pulse Source (ALPS) facility in Hungary for the exploration of ultra-fast processes with uniquely high time

resolution [2]; (ii) the high-energy ELI Beamlines facility in the Czech Republic, with a particular emphasis

on high peak laser intensity and delivery of secondary sources [3]; and (iii) the Nuclear Physics (NP)

facility in Romania for the combination of ultra-intense lasers with brilliant gamma-ray beams [4].

A particular feature and potential strength of ELI is the complementarity of the facilities, allowing for the

support of a particularly wide range of multidisciplinary science and enabling the co-development of

new, enabling technology – for example in laser optics, diagnostics or targets for the generation of

secondary sources. The three ELI Facilities have been available to user access based on peer-reviewed

excellence through open calls for proposals since 2022 and have attracted scientists across the globe

requesting access (~230 proposals) to approximately 40 different instruments.

An overview of the current instruments offered by ELI, designed to support a wide range of scientific

disciplines and research methodologies, will be given along with highlights of recent user experiments

and planned commissioning and R&D activities..