The ELI Beamlines facility will enjoy a unique position in the arena of high-power laser facilities: it will be the first infrastructure of such dimensions fully dedicated to users. Thanks to the tunability of its laser system, the ELI beamline facility will be able to deliver high-quality sources of various kinds adapted to the needs of a large variety of users.

Multi-purpose centre

The infrastructure will be the most multifunctional of all existing and projected laser facilities. It is designed to serve researchers specialised in laser science of course, but also researchers from other fields like material sciences and engineering, medicine, biology, chemistry, astrophysics, etc. These various research activities are expected to deliver significant benefits for the society in the medium and long run.

Groundbreaking discoveries

The exceptional opportunities offered by the facility, especially in very high resolution imaging and in particle acceleration, might well lead to breakthroughs in the field of nanotechnologies, to the development of new drugs and to major improvements in the treatment of cancer tumours (protontherapy in particular). Industrial applications, in aeronautics and the automotive industry for instance, are also expected. Numerous industrial companies have already expressed their interest in the project.

Laser for all

By January 2016 the facility will be open for user experiments. In line with the recommendations of the European Union and the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructures, the ELI beamline facility will enforce an open access policy for researchers, irrespective of their country or institution of origin. The same access policy will prevail in the three facilities of the ELI-ERIC. Widely open to the international user community, it will allocate access time on the basis of open competition and evaluation of the research proposals by international peer-review. This will guarantee the scientific excellence of the facility. Furthermore, significant access will be given to students, technology co-developers and contractual users from the industry.