Description
Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) is the pillar of the pan-European ELI project dedicated to nuclear physics driven by extreme electromagnetic fields.
ELI-NP will host two systems that generate extreme light beams with unique features: a system of two high-power ultra-short-pulses lasers with the highest proven power in the world (10 PW each) and a variable energy intense gamma beam system.
ELI-NP is currently in a transition phase from implementation to operation. The 2 x 10 PW high-power laser system was commissioned and the experimental setups are gradually entering in operation and made available to users during 2022 and 2023. The gamma beam system is under implementation and planned to enter in operation at the end of 2025.
The high-power laser system will provide pulses on target with irradiances as high as 10$^{23}$ W/cm$^2$. This opens unprecedented possibilities in nuclear physics, high-energy radiation beam science, nonlinear field theory, and ultra-high-pressure physics. First experiments with the high-power lasers at ELI-NP aim at measuring the magnitude and scaling of the achievable laser intensity via laser-gamma conversion efficiency. New ion acceleration schemes are being investigated with the scope of achieving a better understanding and control of high intensity laser-driven ion beams.
A broad applied physics research program is currently being developed at ELI-NP and addresses topics, such as: production of radiotherapy relevant nuclear beams, radiobiological effects of short-duration particle pulses, high-contrast medical imaging with laser X-ray sources, use of intense, short-duration, mixed radiation pulses to study the behaviour of materials under extreme radiation conditions, a.s.o.