1. Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics
The 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions San Antonio, Texas, May 27th – June 1st, 2012

2. Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI)
2006 – ELI on ESFRI Roadmap
ELI-PP (FP7)
ELI-Beamlines (Czech Republic)
ELI-Attoseconds (Hungary)
ELI-Nuclear Physics (Romania)
Project Approved by the European Competitiveness Council (December 2009)
ELI-DC (Delivery Consortium): April 2010 2

3. ELI-NP “Start-up” Activities
February-April 2010
Scientific case “White Book” (100 scientists, 30 institutions) (
approved by ELI-NP International Scientific Advisory Board
August 2010
Feasibility Study
December 2010 – Romanian Government: ELI-NP priority project
August 2011 – March 2012
Technical Design
January 2012
Submission of the application for funding
March 2012
Detailed technical design of the buildings. 3

4. National Physics Institutes
Bucharest-Magurele Physics Campus
National Physics Institutes
BUCHAREST
ring rail/road
ELI-NP
NUCLEAR
Tandem acc. Cyclotron
γ – Irradiator
Adv. Detectors
Life & Env.
Radioisotopes
Reactor (decomm.)
Waste Proc.
Lasers
Plasma
Optoelectronics
Material Physics
Theoretical Physics
Particle Physics

5. IFIN-HH: International cooperation
Member of: JINR Dubna, FAIR Darmstadt, CERN, ELI
European FP 7: 15 projects
International Organizations: NuPECC, EPS-NPB, IUPAP, ECT.
Agreements:
IN2P3- France, CEA Saclay, ICTP-Trieste, INFN - Italy
Universities & Research Centers: ~50. 5

6. ELI-NP Large equipments:
Ultra-short pulse high power laser system, 2 x 10PW maximum power
Gamma radiation source, high intensity, tunable energy up to 20MeV, bandwidth 10-3
Buildings – special requirements, 33000sqm total
Experiments
8 experimental areas, for gamma, laser, and gamma+laser 6

7. ELI-NP Facility Concept
Oscillators
+OPCPA preamps
multi-PW block
Apollon-type
Flashlamp based
400mJ/ 10Hz/ <20fs
Combined laser-gamma experiments
Gamma/e- experiments
Multi-PW experiments
High rep-rate laser experiments
0.1 – 1 PW
+ OPCPA preamps
300J/ 0.01Hz/ <30fs
e- accelerator
Warm linac
Laser
DPSSL 10J/>100Hz
Gamma beam
Compton based
0.1 – 20MeV
1PW block
Ti:Sapph
30J/ 0.1Hz/ <30fs 7

8. ELI-NP Main buildings Lasers Gamma and experiments Laboratories
Unique architecture

9. ELI – Nuclear Physics Research
Nuclear Physics experiments to characterize laser – target interaction
Photonuclear reactions
Exotic Nuclear Physics and astrophysics
complementary to other NP large facilities (FAIR, SPIRAL2)
Applications based on high intensity laser and very brilliant γ beams
complementary to the other ELI pillars
ELI-NP in Romania
in ‘Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan in Europe’ as a major facility 9

10. Advances in lasers science
Gerard Mourou 1985: Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) 10

11. Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA)
Idea: to stretch (and chirp) a fs pulse from an oscillator (up to 10,000 times), increase the energy by linear amplification, and thereafter recompress the pulse to the original pulse duration and shape
During amplification, the laser intensity is significantly decreased in order
- to avoid the damage of the optical components of the amplifiers;
- to reduce the temporal and spatial profile distortion by non-linear optical effects during the pulse propagation 11

12. Wake-field acceleration (Tajima, Dawson 1979)+ -
pushes the electrons;
The charge separation generates an electrostatic longitudinal field: (Tajima and Dawson: Wake Fields or Snow Plough)
3) The electrostatic field: 12 12

13. Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA)
Secondary
target
Secondary radiations
- electrons bremssstrahlung
- gamma rays, neutrons
Primary radiations
Electrons are expelled from the target due to the ponderomotive force
Heavy ions are accelerated in the field created by the electrons:
E~Ilaser1/2 13
S.C. Wilks et al., Phys. Plasmas 8, 542 (2001).

14. Radiation Pressure Acceleration (RPA)
Electrons and ions accelerated
at solid state densities cm-3
(Classical beam densities 108 cm-3)
RPA in Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) foils
E~ I laser 14

15. Esarey, Schroeder, and Leemans
Electrons
Laser intensity ~ 1019 W/cm2
Collimated beams were obtained, even of the size of the incident laser beam
The energies up to hundreds of MeV at ~ 1PW lasers (VULCAN, etc.)
Intensities may go up to particles/laser pulse
Esarey, Schroeder, and Leemans
Rev. Mod. Phys., Vol. 81, No. 3, 2009 15

16. Heavy ion beams at LULI (France)
Protons, heavy ions
Heavy ion beams at LULI (France)
Laser pulses:
30 J, 300 fs, 1.05 mm => 5x1019 W/cm2.
Target: 1 mm C
on rear side of 50 mm W foils
Detection: Thomson parabola spectrometers
+ CR-39 track detectors
Protons come from surface contamination
Heating the target the protons are removed and
heavy ions are better accelerated 16

17. Proton acceleration
Maximum energy scales with laser beam intensity approximately as I0.5
TNSA at work at intensities of 1019 – 1021 W/cm2
T. Lin et al., 2004, Univ. of Nebraska Digital Commons 17

18. Proton acceleration
LLNL 100fs, 1020W/cm2 (2001)
Plateau of proton energy with increasing foil thickness
Graphs show results for multi-TW-class lasers
T. Lin et al., 2004, Univ. of Nebraska Digital Commons
Hercules laser, Michigan, 3x1020W/cm2, 30fs 18

19. Ion beam acceleration
Dependence of maximum energy function of the ion species
Graphs show results for multi-TW-class lasers
Mylar target irradiated with a 1019W/cm2 laser pulse
Vulcan 50TW, Appleton Lab, 2x1019W/cm2, thick lead target 19

20. ELI-NP Gamma beam productionj q
Compton backscattering is the most efficient « frequency amplifier »
wdiff=4ge2wlaser
Ee=300 MeV and optical laser <=> ge~ => Eg > 3 MeV
but very weak cross section: cm2
Therefore for a powerful γ beam, one needs:
- high intensity electron beams
- very brilliant optical photon beams
- very small collision volume
- very high repetition frequency 20

21. Photonuclear physics with MeV-range photon beams
Pure EM-interaction
(nuclear-) model independent
“small“ cross sections, penetrating (thick targets)
Minimum projectile mass
minimum angular momentum transfer,
spin-selective: dipole-modes
Polarisation
“Parity physics“ 21

22.  ´ ´ Photonuclear reactions   A´Y AX Separation threshold
Absorption ´  ´ 
A´Y  gs AX
Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence (NRF)
Photoactivation
Photodisintegration
(-activation) 22

23. Potential for ELI photonuclear pillar‘s high-flux high-resolution γ-ray beam
Will open up new horizons for photonuclear research
Nuclear dipole strength near threshold
Fine structure of quadrupole response
Energy resolution on Doppler-width scale
Detection of hazardous material in bulk matter … 23

24. ELI – NP Experiments (1) Stand-alone High Power Laser Experiments
Nuclear Techniques for Characterization of Laser-Induced Radiations
Modelling of High-Intensity Laser Interaction with Matter
Stopping Power of Charge Particles Bunches with Ultra-High Density
Laser Acceleration of very dense Electrons, Protons and Heavy Ions Beams
Laser-Accelerated Th Beam to produce Neutron-Rich Nuclei around the N = 126 Waiting Point of the r-Process via the Fission-Fusion Reaction
A Relativistic Ultra-thin Electron Sheet used as a Relativistic Mirror for the Production of Brilliant, Intense Coherent γ-Rays
Studies of enhanced decay of 26Al in hot plasma environments 24

25. ELI – NP Experiments (2) Laser + γ /e− Beam
Probing the Pair Creation from the Vacuum in the Focus of Strong Electrical Fields with a High Energy γ Beam
The Real Part of the Index of Refraction of the Vacuum in High Fields: Vacuum Birefringence
Cascades of e+e− Pairs and γ -Rays triggered by a Single Slow Electron in Strong Fields
Compton Scattering and Radiation Reaction of a Single Electron at High Intensities
Nuclear Lifetime Measurements by Streaking Conversion Electrons with a Laser Field. 25

26. ELI – NP Experiments (3)
Standalone γ /e experiments for nuclear spectroscopy and astrophysics
Measuring Narrow Doorway States, embedded in Regions of High Level Density in the First Nuclear Minimum, which are identified by specific (γ, f), (γ, p), (γ, n) Reactions
Dipole polarizability with high intensity, monoenergetic MeV γ-radiation for the evaluation of neutron skin
Nuclear Transitions and Parity-violating Meson-Nucleon Coupling
Study of pygmy and giant dipole resonances
Gamma scattering on nuclei
Fine-structure of Photo-response above the Particle Threshold: the (γ ,α), (γ,p) and (γ ,n)
Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence on Rare Isotopes and Isomers
Multiple Nuclear Excitons
Neutron Capture Cross Section of s-Process Branching Nuclei with Inverse Reactions
Measurements of (γ, p) and (γ, α) Reaction Cross Sections for p-Process Nucleosynthesis
High Resolution Inelastic Electron Scattering (e,e’) 26

27. ELI – NP Experiments (4) Applications
Laser produced charge particle beams may become an attractive alternative for large scale conventional facilities
Laser-driven betatron radiation - gamma beams
High Resolution, high Intensity X-Ray Beam
Intense Brilliant Positron-Source: 107e+/[s(mm mrad)2 0.1%BW]
Radioscopy and Tomography
Materials research in high intensity radiation fields
Applications of Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence 27

28. Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence Applications
Management of Sensitive Nuclear Materials and Radioactive waste
isotope-specific identification 238U/235U , 239Pu,
scan containers for nuclear material and explosives
Burn-up of nuclear fuel rods
fuel elements are frequently changed in position to obtain a homogeneous burn-up
measuring the final 235U, 238U content may allow to use fuel elements 20% longer
more nuclear energy without additional radioactive waste 28

29. Radioisotopes for medical use
Ageing nuclear reactors that currently produce medical radioisotopes, growing demand – shortages very likely in the future
New approaches and methods for producing radioisotopes urgently needed
Feasibility of producing a viable and reliable source of photo fission / photo nuclear-induced Mo-99 and other medical isotopes used globally for diagnostic medical imaging and radiotherapy is sought
Producing of medical radioisotopes via the (γ, n) reactions
e.g. 100Mo(γ, n) 99Mo
195mPt: In chemotherapy of tumors it can be used to label platinum cytotoxic compounds for pharmacokinetic studies in order to exclude ”nonresponding” patients from unnecessary chemotherapy and optimizing the dose of all chemotherapy 29

30. Materials Science and Engineering
Due to the extreme fields intensity provided by the combination of laser and gamma-ray beams, novel experimental studies of material behavior can be devised
to understand, at the atomic scale, the behavior of materials subject to extreme radiation doses and mechanical stress in order to synthesize new materials that can tolerate such conditions
Extremely BRIlliant Neutron-Source produced via the (γ ,n) Reaction without Moderation
The structure and sometimes dynamics investigations by thermal neutrons scattering are among the obligatory requirements in production of the new materials
An Intense BRIlliant Positron-Source produced via the (γ, e+e−) Reaction (BRIP) – polarized positron beam – microscopy 30

31. Astrophysics – related studies
Production of heavy elements in the Universe – a central question for Astrophysics
Neutron Capture Cross Section of s-Process Branching Nuclei with Inverse Reactions
the single studies on long-lived branching points (e.g. 147Pm, 151Sm, 155Eu) showed that the recommended values of neutron capture cross sections in the models differ by up to 50% from the experimentally determined values
the inverse (γ,n) reaction could be used to decide for the most suitable parameter set and to predict a more reliable neutron capture cross section using these input values
Measurements of (γ, p) and (γ, α) Reaction Cross Sections for p-Process Nucleosynthesis
determination of the reaction rates by an absolute cross section measurement is possible using monoenergetic photon beams produced at ELI-NP
tremendous advance to measure these rates directly
broad database of reactions – high intense γ beam needed 31

32. ELI-NP Timeline June 2012: Launch of large tender procedures
September 2012 – September 2014: Construction of buildings
2014: TDRs for experiments ready
July 2015: Lasers and Gamma Beam – end of Phase 1
December 2016 : Lasers and Gamma beam Phase 2
January 2017: Beginning of operation 32

33.
Thank you!

35. RPA in DLC foils
Experiment
Theory
2D PIC simulations 35 35

36. Nuclear photonics
aim: determination of transition strengths: need absolute values for ground state transition width
NRF-experiments give product with branching ratio:
assumption:
no transition in low-lying states observed
but: many small branchings in other states?
self-absorption: measurement of absolute ground state transition widths 36
Norbert Pietralla, TU Darmstadt
ELI Workshop