Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EuPRAXIA (EuPRAXIA Preparatory Phase Project)
Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2023-10-31
EuPRAXIA-PP will prepare the implementation of the EuPRAXIA RI by developing the legal, financial and organisational frameworks required for a distributed, open-access research infrastructure.
In the long term, EuPRAXIA aims to establish the scientific and technological foundations upon which a new market, and therefore a new industrial leadership for non-RF-based accelerators, could emerge, characterized by a much shorter length and possibly a cost representing only a fraction of what RF-based accelerators cost. New use cases include compact X-ray machines that are easily positioned for inspection of bridges, cargo or security, diagnosing nano-cracks deep inside novel materials, time-resolved medical imaging with high spatial resolution, tools for studying bacteria and viruses. In other words, EuPRAXIA is ultimately expected to boost the expertise of the European scientific communities.
In addition the progress towards ultra-compact and more cost-effective accelerators and applications, which is in EuPRAXIA’s core mission, will lower the entry barrier for accelerator-assisted research, allowing access to research groups and countries typically not making use of particle accelerators.
EuPRAXIA is expected to contribute to several of the grand societal challenges:
Health, demographic change and well-being: through advancing medical imaging and through providing capabilities for science studies on viruses like SARS-CoV-2, on multi-resistant bacteria and on drug development. Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy: through advanced and mobile X-ray (nano-pollution of plants) and sterilization techniques. Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials: through advanced material imaging techniques, such as for example compact,
deeply penetrating positron annihilation spectroscopy for nm-scale fatigue investigations.
Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies: through securing high-tech expertise and a job base, attracting and training young generations in transformative and ground-breaking technology developments, building on and defending world-leading laser expertise in Europe. Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens: through mobile X-ray techniques with superior resolution via the point-like emission of X-rays (small emission length in plasma undulators).
A substantial Socio-economic impact is also expected through training of specialized technicians, engineers and scientists. Until 2032, we estimate 200 PhD students (FTEs) involved, with 33 degrees per year produced.
In the long term, EuPRAXIA aims to establish the scientific and technological foundations upon which a new market, and therefore a new industrial leadership for non-RF-based accelerators, could emerge, characterized by a much shorter length and possibly a cost representing only a fraction of what RF-based accelerators cost. New use cases include compact X-ray machines that are easily positioned for inspection of bridges, cargo or security, diagnosing nano-cracks deep inside novel materials, time-resolved medical imaging with high spatial resolution, tools for studying bacteria and viruses. In other words, EuPRAXIA is ultimately expected to boost the expertise of the European scientific communities.
In addition the progress towards ultra-compact and more cost-effective accelerators and applications, which is in EuPRAXIA’s core mission, will lower the entry barrier for accelerator-assisted research, allowing access to research groups and countries typically not making use of particle accelerators.
EuPRAXIA is expected to contribute to several of the grand societal challenges:
Health, demographic change and well-being: through advancing medical imaging and through providing capabilities for science studies on viruses like SARS-CoV-2, on multi-resistant bacteria and on drug development. Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy: through advanced and mobile X-ray (nano-pollution of plants) and sterilization techniques. Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials: through advanced material imaging techniques, such as for example compact,
deeply penetrating positron annihilation spectroscopy for nm-scale fatigue investigations.
Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies: through securing high-tech expertise and a job base, attracting and training young generations in transformative and ground-breaking technology developments, building on and defending world-leading laser expertise in Europe. Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens: through mobile X-ray techniques with superior resolution via the point-like emission of X-rays (small emission length in plasma undulators).
A substantial Socio-economic impact is also expected through training of specialized technicians, engineers and scientists. Until 2032, we estimate 200 PhD students (FTEs) involved, with 33 degrees per year produced.
The overall architecture of the EuPRAXIA RI is taking shape. It will consist of two implementation pillars and several Excellence Centers that will act as national nodes and they will contribute to the technical advancement of the project. The distributed RI is complemented with smaller units (namely Project Cluster) that will provide expertise on dedicated topics.
The two pillars will implement different particle acceleration schemes and technologies, both complementary. The so-called Beam Driven Pillar will be hosted at INFN and it is now at advanced technical design stage and prototyping. The TDR is expected to be produced by 2025. The other pillar is based on Laser Driven acceleration. At the moment there are 4 outstanding institutes candidates to host such facility. One of the goal of the Preparatory Phase is to identify the second pillar based on evidence and robustness of the proposal. At the moment a survey of the possible candidates has been done and in the next months a set of formal requirements will be produced in order to rank them. Significant progress has been made also for the identification of the legal framework and financial model. A benchmark of possible legal frameworks to be adopted has been done, along with some evaluation on the constraints and requirements from the partners. A prerequisite of the financial model is the cost-estimation. For the Beam Driven Pillar a quite mature cost-book has been produced, while for the Laser Driven Pillar an estimation has been concluded from all the potential candidates.
Another significant progress has been made in identifying possible cooperation and in-kind contribution from all the partners.
From the technical side, the required R&D to bring the Technology Readiness Level has been identified and the state-of-the-art has been analyzed. A survey to update the possible user attractiveness has been performed and it confirms the estimation that were done at the Conceptual Design Phase. The EuPRAXIA initiative is therefore highly attractive for a vast area of possible applications: material science, chemistry, nanomaterial, life science, laser matter interaction, among others. In addition EuPRAXIA will serve plasma accelerator community to further develop particle acceleration scheme that will allow a remarkable reduction in terms of size, cost and consumption of a particle accelerator.
The two pillars will implement different particle acceleration schemes and technologies, both complementary. The so-called Beam Driven Pillar will be hosted at INFN and it is now at advanced technical design stage and prototyping. The TDR is expected to be produced by 2025. The other pillar is based on Laser Driven acceleration. At the moment there are 4 outstanding institutes candidates to host such facility. One of the goal of the Preparatory Phase is to identify the second pillar based on evidence and robustness of the proposal. At the moment a survey of the possible candidates has been done and in the next months a set of formal requirements will be produced in order to rank them. Significant progress has been made also for the identification of the legal framework and financial model. A benchmark of possible legal frameworks to be adopted has been done, along with some evaluation on the constraints and requirements from the partners. A prerequisite of the financial model is the cost-estimation. For the Beam Driven Pillar a quite mature cost-book has been produced, while for the Laser Driven Pillar an estimation has been concluded from all the potential candidates.
Another significant progress has been made in identifying possible cooperation and in-kind contribution from all the partners.
From the technical side, the required R&D to bring the Technology Readiness Level has been identified and the state-of-the-art has been analyzed. A survey to update the possible user attractiveness has been performed and it confirms the estimation that were done at the Conceptual Design Phase. The EuPRAXIA initiative is therefore highly attractive for a vast area of possible applications: material science, chemistry, nanomaterial, life science, laser matter interaction, among others. In addition EuPRAXIA will serve plasma accelerator community to further develop particle acceleration scheme that will allow a remarkable reduction in terms of size, cost and consumption of a particle accelerator.
EuPRAXIA is meant to be a high impact project. The realization of a distributed research infrastructure in the field of plasma based acceleration will have a huge impact on several domains and it will certainly pave the way to further technology development in the field of High Power Laser and Particle accelerator.
First of all EuPRAXIA is meant to be an user facility, providing a top class experimental facility for a large set of potential users.
The implementation of EuPRAXIA will also demonstrate the full feasibility of a plasma based accelerator. This will allow a remarkable reduction in terms of space, cost and consumption with respect to standard particle accelerators. This is a huge breakthrough that will lead to still unexplored developments and applications.
EuPRAXIA aims at filling a gap between research, academia and industry. Private sector will be heavily involved thus ensuring the competitiveness of European industries in a highly competitive scenario, creating highly qualified jobs.
EuPRAXIA is also looking forward to strengthen the relationships with the universities, allowing students and young researchers to perform top-class experiment and therefore being a valuable tool to train a new generation of physicists and engineers.
The socio-economic impact is one of the key deliverables of the Preparatory Phase Project and it will be prepared following the best practices and the ESFRI Guidelines.
KEY NEEDS. In order to exploit the full potential a sound funding must be ensured, both in the preparation for the required R&D and prototyping and in the implementation phase to sustain the whole process. Particular attention will be given when the financial model will be formalized to the full sustainability of the investment.
First of all EuPRAXIA is meant to be an user facility, providing a top class experimental facility for a large set of potential users.
The implementation of EuPRAXIA will also demonstrate the full feasibility of a plasma based accelerator. This will allow a remarkable reduction in terms of space, cost and consumption with respect to standard particle accelerators. This is a huge breakthrough that will lead to still unexplored developments and applications.
EuPRAXIA aims at filling a gap between research, academia and industry. Private sector will be heavily involved thus ensuring the competitiveness of European industries in a highly competitive scenario, creating highly qualified jobs.
EuPRAXIA is also looking forward to strengthen the relationships with the universities, allowing students and young researchers to perform top-class experiment and therefore being a valuable tool to train a new generation of physicists and engineers.
The socio-economic impact is one of the key deliverables of the Preparatory Phase Project and it will be prepared following the best practices and the ESFRI Guidelines.
KEY NEEDS. In order to exploit the full potential a sound funding must be ensured, both in the preparation for the required R&D and prototyping and in the implementation phase to sustain the whole process. Particular attention will be given when the financial model will be formalized to the full sustainability of the investment.