High power lasers are capable of producing high energy charged particles, γ-rays, and neutrons, with peak fluxes orders of magnitude
higher than currently achievable with conventional RF accelerator technology. In the E1 experimental area of ELI-NP, these
short-duration high fluxes of nuclear particles will be used to study nuclear physics phenomena that are predicted to emerge
in plasma conditions, such as:
The production of exotic heavy neutron-rich nuclei by the onset of sequential reactions in plasma (fission-fusion)
The change of the nuclear-stopping power for high intensity, dense bunches of charged particles in which the ion de-acceleration will be dominated by collective phenomena
The change in nuclear cross sections in high power laser induced hot and dense plasmas which simulate astrophysical conditions
Nuclear excitations and de-excitations in plasma conditions leading to changes in the effective lifetimes of isotopes and potentially of other observables
The extremely high laser intensities achievable at ELI-NP will create ultrahigh electric and magnetic fields in the focal spot and will thus allow to exploration of QED in new regimes. Foreseen short- and long-term
projects are dedicated to:
The study of quantum radiation reaction created by plasma electrons accelerated to GeV energies
The production of electron-positron pairs in huge abundance and highly energetic gamma-rays
emerging from the laser pulse interaction with electrons
High energy gamma-catalyzed production of electron-positron pairs within the laser focus in ultra-high vacuum (long-term goal)
The experimental area E5 is mainly dedicated to material and biological sciences in extreme radiation environments with the main goal of developing industrial,
medical and societal applications. The foreseen studies are relevant for the understanding of:
The degradation of materials used in building the next-generation particle accelerators and fusion or fission reactors
- The interaction of biological systems with a multi-component ion and photon radiation pattern spanning over a wide
range of energies which will be of relevance for improving biological radioprotection in space missions, and potentially for radiotherapy of cancers
X-rays and gamma-rays will play a central role in the ELI-NP science, operation and societal applications. Intense and spatially coherent X- and gamma-ray
secondary sources will be produced in the PW laser interaction with matter. The purpose of the X-ray laboratory is to develop new diagnostic instruments
and methods utilizing this radiation, and open new fundamental and applied research directions. The main R&D directions of this unit are: development of
X and gamma-ray diagnostics for laser-target interaction, biomedical X-ray imaging applications, and fundamental science and experiments for X- and gamma
ray optics.
The main challenge scientists are facing in the measurement of laser-induced nuclear phenomena is that the time scale of the physical events taking place
is too fast to be properly measured with modern-day electronics, limited to the picosecond range. As such, to get a glimpse into the
ultra-short-lived particle and radiation bursts, one needs to develop an entirely new type of active detector that allows the
measurement of the related particle and gamma-ray flashes produced by laser-driven interactions. The Instrumentation Laboratory
is meant to allow the development of such state-of-the-art detectors. The detector list contains, among others, a newly designed
Thomson Parabola to measure proton energies of more than 200 MeV, and a gamma and electron spectrometer for the 5 MeV to 100 MeV range.
A gamma spectrometer dedicated to low-energy gamma radiation of less than 20 MeV is foreseen to be built as well. Besides that,
the laboratory will develop and optimize activation stack diagnostics, standard tools in modern-day high-power laser research.
eli-np.ro