ELI-NP
ELI-NP
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Science & Applications ELI-NP is going to be the most advanced research facility in the world focusing on the study of photonuclear physics and its applications, comprising a very high intensity laser of two 10PW ultra-short pulse lasers and the most brilliant tunable gamma-ray beam. This unique experimental combination will enable ELI-NP to tackle a wide range of research topics in fundamental physics, nuclear physics and astrophysics, and also applied research in materials science, management of nuclear materials and life sciences. ELI-NP has been selected by the most important science committees in Nuclear Physics in Europe - NuPECC - in the Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan in Europe as a major facility. ELI-NP facility will consist of two components: - A very high intensity laser system, with two 10 PW laser arms able to reach intensities of 1023 W/cm2 and electrical fields of 1015 V/m. - A very intense (1013 γ/s), brilliant γ beam, ~ 0.1 % bandwidth, with E γ up to 19.5 MeV, which is obtained by incoherent Compton back scattering of a laser light off a very brilliant, intense, classical electron beam (Ee up to 720 MeV) produced by a warm LINAC. This infrastructure will create a new European laboratory with a broad range of science covering frontier fundamental physics, new nuclear physics and astrophysics as well as applications in nuclear materials, radioactive waste management, material science and life sciences. During the first phase of implementation (2013-2015), there were accomplished: recruitment of specialized staff, the components of the first 10PW laser in the world, the first part of gamma beam system and civil constructions. The main research fields and applications at ELI-NP At ELI-NP, two well-established scientific communities, high-power lasers and nuclear physics, have joined their efforts to build a new interdisciplinary facility and to define its research program. The scientific case for ELI-NP, based on the unique features of the high-power laser and gamma beams, was elaborated by an international collaboration of more than 100 scientists from 30 countries and published as the ELI-NP White Book. The use of the very high intensity laser and the very brilliant, intense γ-beams will achieve major progress in nuclear physics and its associated fields: 1. Investigation of the high-power laser-matter interactions using nuclear physics methods in order to study the possibilities of obtaining high quality proton and heavy ion accelerated beams using lasers. 2. The extremely high intensity of the laser beam will allow the study of fundamental physics phenomena anticipated by theory, such as vacuum birefringence and pair creation in intense electric fields. 3. Investigation of nuclear structure and cross sections of interest for astrophysics using photonuclear reactions. 4. New methods of identification and remote characterisation of nuclear materials will be investigated with application for homeland security (remote automatic scanning of transport containers) and nuclear material management. 5. New ways of producing more efficiently radioisotopes currently used in medicine and the producing of newly proposed ones. 6. Simultaneous use of the high intensity gamma and laser beams will enable fundamental physics studies as pair production in vacuum. Research Activities The scientific and technological ELI-NP development activities are distributed in 5 Research Activities, each of them aiming to realization of a significant part of the new Research Infrastructure. The major systems are: the High-Power Laser System - Research Activity 1 and High-Brilliance Gamma Source - Research Activity 2, both with specifications well beyond existing facilities and offering, through their combination, unique features among all the other world-wide planned facilities. The directions of research to be studied at the new facility, mainly in the field of nuclear physics and related areas, are grouped in three other Research Activities. Strong local teams, continuously growing during implementation phase, will develop state-of-the-art instrumentation for experiments in the emerging field of laser-driven nuclear physics. The five Research Activities (High-Power Laser System, High-Brilliance Gamma Beam, Nuclear Physics with High-Power Lasers, Nuclear Physics and Applications with high-brilliance gamma-beams and Fundamental Physics with combined laser and gamma beams) emerged naturally, as a logical division between the R&D related to the experimental systems and the research pursued employing them, during the debates within the scientific community. More at: http://www.eli-np.ro/research-activities.php Location Situated in Magurele, only 12 km away from downtown Bucharest, the users of the ELI-NP facility benefit from all of the infrastructures and services provided within the metropolitan area. Concentrating 8 research infrastructures of national interest, Magurele has the highest scientific visibility in Romania, with five national R&D institutes (Nuclear, Laser, Plasma & Space sciences, Material physics, Optoelectronics, Seismology), one Faculty of Physics and two engineering companies (optoelectronics & design of nuclear facilities). Click to see the location Construction The ELI-NP facility covers an area of approx. 33,000 m2 of high quality, energy efficient buildings, mostly dedicated to the high-power laser system, gamma-beam production system and instrumentation for experiments. ELI-NP will be an open access facility. The civil construction comprises an office building, a guest house and a canteen. More at: http://www.eli-np.ro/civil-construction/construction_photos.php ELI-NP is overseen by the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH), dedicated to the research and development in Nuclear Physics & Nuclear Engineering and in related areas including Astrophysics and Particle Physic, Field Theory, Mathematical and Computational Physics, Atomic Physics, Life & Environmental Physics. IFIN-HH contributes with almost 10% to the national scientific output. For updated information concerning the ELI-NP events, please see: http://www.eli-np.ro/eli-np-presentations.php http://www.eli-np.ro/scientific_events.php http://www.eli-np.ro/eli-np-exhibitions.php |
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