Speaker
Description
Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) has evolved into an international, interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the emerging field of nuclear photonics. The research activities at ELI-NP are located at the frontier between nuclear physics, particle accelerator physics, high-power laser and plasma physics, and includes the development of new technologies and methods. The field of nuclear photonics has experienced an impressive growth over the last decade with the emergence of several global initiatives to build research infrastructures based on high-power lasers. ELI-NP at the "Horia Hulubei" National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH) offers a worldwide unique research infrastructure that contributes to the advancement of nuclear photonics in areas of fundamental scientific research, as well as to the development of applications with significant societal benefits in industry and medicine.
ELI-NP currently operates the world's most powerful laser system. The system consists of two ultra-short pulse lasers, each of which can deliver pulses of 10 PW peak power and reach levels of laser irradiance of 10$^{23}$ W/cm$^2$. Laser pulses at maximum power can be delivered at a repetition rate of one pulse per minute. To increase the system's flexibility, each laser arm is provided with lower power outputs and higher repetition rates, as follows: 1 PW at 1 Hz repetition rate and 100 TW at 10 Hz repetition rate.
With the successful completion of the commissioning experiments, all the experimental setups implemented at ELI-NP have progressively become operational. Since 2022, the laser system has been operated as a user facility, with beam time awarded based on scientific merit through a competitive process.
Experiments at ELI-NP have yielded key findings that contribute significantly to the development of acceleration schemes for multi-GeV electrons, hundreds of MeV/u protons and ions, and the production of GeV-scale gamma rays.
The availability of particle and photon beams generated using high-power lasers, opens new opportunities for a range of applications that can benefit from the ultra-short pulse duration and high beam brilliance. The potential of laser-based ion acceleration and X-ray beams generation in the development of medical applications for cancer treatment and diagnostics is highly promising.
The gamma beam system will provide quasi-monochromatic gamma beams with energies up to 19.5 MeV and a relative bandwidth of approximately 0.5%. The system is currently being implemented with the objective of being operational by the end of 2026. Some of the experimental setups designed for the gamma beams were used for preparatory experiments performed at the 9 MV TANDEM accelerator of IFIN-HH.
| Contribution category | Experiment |
|---|---|
| Presenter status | Faculty/Staff |