Extreme light infrastructure (ELI beamlines) – Research and technology with new ultra-short pulse intense laser driven sources of energetic photons and charged particles

We are giving an overview on the development of the “Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Beamlines facility”, which will be a high-energy, repetition-rate laser pillar of the ELI project, [1]. It will be an international facility for both academic and applied research, slated to provide user capability from the beginning of 2016. The main purpose of the facility is the generation and applications of laser driven high-brightness X-ray sources and accelerated particles (electrons, protons and ions). The laser system will be delivering pulses with length ranging between 10 and 150 fs and will provide high-energy Petawatt and 10-PW peak powers. The short photon wavelength (20 eV-1 MeV) laser driven sources are either based on direct interaction of the laser beam with a gaseous or solid target or will first accelerate electrons which then will interact with laser produced wigglers or directly injected into undulators. The main planned short pulse laser driven x-ray and charged particles sources and their parameters are presented together with basic requirements on the relevant beam detectors.