Three former Soviet-Bloc countries in Eastern Europe have recently been selected to host one of the most ambitious physics experiments devised by the European Union. The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) aims to build the most powerful exawatt-class laser in the world near the Romanian capital, Bucharest, which will enable scientists to perform a wide range of experiments at never-before-reached light intensities. Additionally, the facility will also be dedicated to investigating the laser-matter interactions in the unexplored ultra-relativistic regime, as well as to developing unprecedented, intense, ultra-short particle and radiation sources for fundamental and applied sciences.
The pioneering laser facility has been equally awarded to Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic, it's total worth being estimated to be of around 500 million euros (some $728.5 million). According to preliminary plans, scientific research will be conducted on issues such as nuclear physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and high-energy physics, although research into cancer therapies and other courses of treatment will also take place, Hungary's Prime Minister, Gordon Bajnai, has recently announced.
The construction of the impressive facilities, which will employ some 300 scientists and 600 supporting personnel in the end, is slated to begin no later than 2011, and to conclude by 2015. Each of the three countries has a different ELI “pillar” on its territory: the city of Szeged, in Hungary, will host “Attosecond Science,” Prague, in the Czech republic, will deal with “Beam Physics (Secondary Sources),” while the Romanian capital of Bucharest will operate “Laser-induced Nuclear Physics.” As the end of the ELI Preparatory Phase Project is drawing near, a conference is to be held in Brasov, Romania, between October 16-21, to discuss the status of ELI and its opportunities for the future.
Other countries involved in the ELI Project include France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, with the United States and Japan acting like foreign observers. The laser's pulse peak power and briefness will go beyond the current state-of-the-art by several orders of magnitude. Because of its unique properties, this multidisciplinary facility will provide magnificent, new opportunities to study the fundamental processes unfolded during light-matter interaction.
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