ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure

22/12/2025

🎁 ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure extends warm Season’s Greetings and best wishes for 2026!

🔬 This year has been full of scientific progress, user achievements, and expanding collaborations across the global ELI community. The 2025 advent-calendar highlights it all:

🌍 The ELI User Community now represents 42 countries worldwide
⚡ 5 PW – The L4 Aton laser delivered a 5-petawatt, 800-joule pulse, among the most intense ever produced
🔭 New capabilities – The HF PW and two additional beamlines are now available for users

What else is in there? Click and find out ➡️ https://bit.ly/3Nb3uRo

✨ Thank you to all users, collaborators, partners, and colleagues for driving ELI’s mission forward. Your contributions make our community extraordinary.

🥂 Here’s to another year of innovation, discovery, and world-class science!

19/12/2025

📢 As the year draws to a close, here’s something to look forward to in 2026: ELI User Meeting 2026

🗓 24–26 June 2026
📍hosted by ELI Beamlines Facility, in Prague and Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic

The annual ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure ELI - Extreme Light Infrastructure User Meeting will once again bring together researchers, facility users, and the broader ultrafast and high-intensity laser community for three days of scientific exchange, collaboration, and inspiration. It is your key platform to exchange ideas, stay informed about trends, and connect with fellow researchers and ELI facility scientists.

More information and programme details will be shared soon on the event page: https://indico.eli-laser.eu/e/um2026

👉 For now: mark your calendars, and stay tuned for updates!

04/12/2025

🎥✨ Three weeks ago, ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure had the honour of welcoming Tamás Sulyok, the President of Hungary for an official visit to the ELI ALPS Laser Research Institute in Szeged, Hungary.

The programme included a tour of ELI's world-class laser infrastructure and a closer look at how high-intensity lasers are enabling breakthroughs across physics, materials science, interdisciplinary research - and everyday life.

We are grateful for the recognition of ELI’s achievements and its role within Hungary, Europe, and the global research ecosystem.

🎥Here is the video capturing the key moments from this memorable day.

03/12/2025

🚀ELI Austrian Partner Day: Expanding a Strong Scientific Partnership

ELI was delighted to meet leading Austrian institutions and industry partners at the Austrian Partner Day - co-organised with TU Wien -, to explore further collaboration in high-power laser science, advanced research, and shared EU-wide opportunities.

💡 The discussions highlighted Austria’s steadily increasing engagement with ELI: Austrian researchers have submitted close to 20 experiment proposals so far - the interest and potential are crystal clear.

Professor Joachim Burgdörfer from TU Wien offered a theoretical perspective on the research potential at ELI and noted: “A significant part of the science driving ELI has roots in Austria. Closer engagement would be a natural step, opening new possibilities for Austrian researchers and reinforcing the contributions our scientific community has made to attosecond physics and strong-field science.”

👉 Read more about the Partner Day: https://www.eli-laser.eu/.../eli-partner-day-engages.../

28/11/2025

✨ ELI Austrian Partner Day ✨

Today, ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure met with key Austrian stakeholders to explore new opportunities in laser technology, laser-enabled research, and tertiary education.

The agenda brought together leaders from:
🔬 Science & Research
🏛️ Research Governance
🤝 Industry Collaboration
⚙️ Applied Laser Technologies

This high-level dialogue highlights the exceptional opportunities ELI offers to Austria’s policymakers, innovators, and academic partners - building on the strong Austrian roots of ELI’s science and strengthening strategic cooperation.

A special thank you to TU Wien for hosting and co-organising!🙏



- Johannes Kepler Universität Linz
Graz
Austria - Die Österreichische Plattform für Lichttechnologien
MedAustron
Botschaft in Österreich / Velvyslanectví ČR v Rakousku
von Ungarn in Wien/ Magyarország Bécsi Nagykövetsége

27/11/2025

25/11/2025

🚀 Strengthening the ELI-Germany Collaboration!

ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure joined German labs, universities & industry partners in Dresden for a two-day workshop hosted by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), focusing on pushing the boundaries of high-intensity laser science.

💡 Germany remains one of ELI’s strongest user communities, and the discussions highlighted big opportunities ahead, especially in:
⚡ Inertial fusion energy
⚡ Plasma acceleration, with special attention to EuPRAXIA

As ELI Director General Allen Weeks noted, the complementary strengths are key to keeping Europe at the forefront of laser-based research.

A productive step toward deeper cooperation, joint experiments & future large-scale initiatives. 🔭🤝

▶️ Read out article about the workshop: https://www.eli-laser.eu/news/eli-advances-strategic-partnership-in-high-intensity-laser-science-with-german-partners/

14/11/2025

📣Presidential visit to ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure!

President Tamás Sulyok’s visit to ELI ALPS Laser Research Institute marked the first visit by a Hungarian head of state to the facility. The visit underscored Hungary’s leadership in advanced research and its commitment to strengthening Europe’s shared scientific capabilities.

🔬 As a world-leading research infrastructure, ELI contributes to Europe’s competitiveness through high-power laser science and technological innovation. The ELI Facility in Hungary specialises in attosecond light pulses to study electron dynamics in atoms, molecules, and materials - opening new possibilities in materials science, energy research, and medical applications.

📚 ELI also serves as a training ground for scientists and engineers, offering hands-on experience with state-of-the-art laser systems and fostering international collaboration across disciplines and generations.

Read more about the visit and ELI’s role in advancing Europe’s scientific excellence👉 https://www.eli-laser.eu/news/hungarian-president-highlights-eli-as-a-flagship-of-european-scientific-excellence/

13/11/2025

✨A truly inspiring day at ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure🇭🇺

It was an honour to welcome President Dr. Tamás Sulyok to the world-class research environment of ELI in Szeged ELI ALPS Laser Research Institute - a place where international collaboration, cutting-edge laser technologies, and the passion of young scientists come together to shape the future of science.

The visit highlighted Hungary’s strong commitment to research excellence and to strengthening Europe’s shared scientific capabilities.

12/11/2025

🚀 Record participation in Call 7!

ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure has received 170 experiment proposals from 680 scientists across 30 countries, marking a new milestone for the growing international research community.

💥 This record response shows how ELI’s integrated laser facilities are enabling increasingly ambitious, interdisciplinary experiments - from high-field physics to applications in energy, health, materials, and environmental science.

💡 Highlights include access to 41 instruments across all ELI sites, strong interest in the newly available High Field Petawatt (HF PW) laser, and expanding use of laser-driven technologies in diverse research areas.

As ELI continues to evolve into a truly global user facility, we’re proud to see more scientists joining forces to push the frontiers of ultrafast and high-intensity laser research.

🔗 Read more: https://bit.ly/4qR23qZ

06/11/2025

➡️ ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure's International Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (ISTAC) convened this week in Dresden!

During the two-day meeting, hosted by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), participants discussed the current status of the ELI Facilities, including laser performance updates, strategic projects and initiatives, and advancements on the EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase and its second pillar at ELI. The agenda also included scientific evaluation processes and key performance indicators supporting ELI’s continued development and user programme.

💡 The ISTAC brings together leading international experts in laser science who provide independent advice on ELI’s scientific and technical strategy. Appointed by the ELI General Assembly, the Committee assesses ELI’s progress, offers guidance on its research objectives, and contributes to shaping the long-term vision of the infrastructure.

ELI thanks all ISTAC members for their valuable insights and their continued contribution to advancing ELI’s scientific mission.

29/10/2025

💥 The three-day EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase General Meeting 2025 has officially begun at ELI!

⚡This meeting is setting the course for the realisation of EuPRAXIA, a pioneering European initiative developing a new generation of plasma-based electron accelerators. Previously, the EuPRAXIA Consortium selected ELI, specifically the ELI Beamlines Facility, as the site for its laser-driven plasma accelerator pillar.

💡 "For ELI - The Extreme Light Infrastructure, this is not only a strategic project but a shared European mission," said ELI Director General Allen Weeks. "As a leader in laser science and technology for applied science, we are proud to contribute our capabilities to advance this transformative field.”

EuPRAXIA’s implementation strengthens Europe’s position at the forefront of accelerator science - fostering collaboration between academia and industry, driving innovation, and supporting cutting-edge research with real-world impact. 🌍

🔗 Learn more about the project: https://www.eupraxia-project.eu/