Networking activities tie the project partners together and link Laserlab-Europe to the user community and to emerging Pan-European laser RI. They provide the means to boost the efficiency of R&D and help to exploit its innovation potential. Publication of the biannual Laserlab newsletter and of the European Laser Landscape (together with ELI ERIC), the Laserlab Conference showcasing Laserlab-Europe’s scientific achievements and societal impacts to the broadest audience and bridge workshops with Science@FELs are among the most important networking activities. A large number of training schools and events was organized to enlarge the user community.
Laserlab-Europe merges the capabilities of 35 leading European laser RIs in 18 countries. It offers research opportunities to scientists from all over the world through access to an Integrated Infrastructure whose combined technical capability and expertise have no counterpart worldwide. Overall, 3963 access days have been provided to 952 users, exceeding the contractual commitment. 70% of the users are new users, i.e. persons who have not had access during previous projects. These achievements attest the attractivity of the access programme and the high user demand.
Two JRAs strongly support developments of innovative equipment and techniques to improve, beyond the present state-of-the-art, the participating RIs and their services. The JRA topics address major societal needs, key bottlenecks and challenges in laser technology, diagnostics and metrology, evolving industrial needs, and materials and biomedical science in demand of innovative analytical tools and advanced imaging techniques.
PRISES integrates the improvement of both ultra-short high-power lasers and secondary energetic radiation and particle sources to the development of workstations for multi-scale applications. Aging and damaging of laser materials and optics were investigated to improve the resilience of the primary laser facilities. Post-pulse compression schemes were extended into the mid-infrared wavelength region as well as into the XUV. Together with other developments, it led to new records for a number of different wavelength ranges and pulse energies, even at very high repetition rates. Thanks to a better understanding of laser-matter interaction, and in combination to new simulation codes, secondary sources were optimized, as well as their beam parameters that reach now unprecedented values. It laid the foundation for the success of the connected workstations for applications in radiobiology, coherent X-ray imaging and X-ray spectroscopy, providing a promising business case for their wider use in the future, e.g. in cancer therapy or fundamental research.
ALTIS addresses the needs for new and innovative methodologies and platforms for advanced imaging and spectroscopy in the fields of biomedicine, bio- and nano-materials and environmental science. Spectroscopy and imaging tools have been expanded from the nanometer to the micrometer scale and integrated with manipulation methods to probe the biophysical response of samples to external stimuli. They have enhanced the usability of label-free, non-perturbing techniques. Existing technologies have been combined and enhanced to enable fast, single-cell resolution imaging and to probe rapid signaling in living samples. The structure and dynamics of complex molecular systems, materials, and energy relaxation pathways have been explored through the development of novel ultrafast pump-probe instrumentation and techniques, covering a broad range of frequencies from attosecond to femtosecond timescales. Finally, this JRA has focused on integrating complementary laser spectroscopic techniques to study polluting gases, metals, and microplastics, aiming to better understand and raise awareness about their impact on the environment, climate, ecosystems, and food chains.
