Optica High-Brightness Sources and Light-Driven Interactions Congress

Lighting the Way: Advances at ELI and Beyond

This talk will present recent advancements at the ELI Facilities since the beginning of the ELI User Programme in 2022. This includes primary laser systems and secondary sources serving various research fields, encompassing not only a broad range of physics, but also chemistry, biology and materials science. We will discuss the performance of this new generation of sources at ELI’s facilities, how they are providing unprecedented tools to tackle these challenges and new, disruptive technologies. Furthermore, the talk will venture into the future, outlining the visionary paths that laser and light source technology are set to embark upon. This includes an overview of the expected technical achievements in the next 24 months, as informed by contributions from various ELI facilities and partner facilities. These advances promise to further elevate our collective capability to probe the mysteries of the universe, from the smallest particles to the grandest cosmic phenomena.

About the Speaker

Dr. Allen Weeks has been the Director General of the ELI Delivery Consortium since July 2018. He took over from Carlo Rizzuto, who had held the position since December 2015. Previously, Allen was the Associate Director for Members and Stakeholders Relations. In his new role, he is responsible for managing the transition from ELI DC to ELI ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium), established in 2019.

Allen Weeks has been involved in research facilities since 2005 when he worked on the construction project of the Free-Electron Laser 'FERMI' at Elettra in Trieste, Italy. He was the Director of Business Development at Instrumentation Technologies, a leading company that makes instrumentation for the world's most advanced accelerators. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the Head of Communications, External Relations, and In-Kind at Lund's European Spallation Source (ESS). He joined ELI in November 2017 to use his experience in starting a leading European research infrastructure and ERIC membership negotiations.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure is the world's largest and most advanced high-power laser infrastructure and a global technology and innovation leader in high-power, high-intensity and short-pulsed laser systems.

The international laser user facility ELI accommodates some of the most intense lasers in the world. ELI’s lasers produce ultra-short pulses of high energy photons, electrons, protons, neutrons, muons and neutrinos in the (sub-) attosecond regimes on demand.