#	Pagina
attuale pagina	/open-h2020/projects/198070/results.html

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LASERLAB-EUROPE (The Integrated Initiative of European Laser Research Infrastructures)

Teaser

Summary

Lasers and laser-based technology have revolutionised scientific research as well as our everyday lives. They have led to numerous outstanding scientific discoveries, and at the same time to products and applications used in the most diverse areas of society. Laser technology is a key innovation driver for highly varied applications and products in many areas of modern society. Europe has a strong global position in this key area, reflected by a solid long-term growth of 2% in jobs.
Laserlab-Europe is the European consortium of major national laser research infrastructures, covering advanced laser science and applications in nearly all domains of research and technology, including areas with high industrial and social impact. Through its strategic approach, Laserlab-Europe will strengthen Europeâ€™s leading position and long-term competitiveness in these key scientific and industrial areas. The main objectives are:
â€¢ to promote, in a coordinated way and on a European scale, the use of advanced lasers and laser-based technologies for research and innovation;
â€¢ to serve a cross-disciplinary user community, from academia as well as from industry, by providing access to a comprehensive set of advanced laser research installations, allowing leading-edge, ground-breaking and technically very demanding experiments;
â€¢ to increase the European basis of human resources in the field of lasers by training new users;
â€¢ to improve human and technical resources through technology exchange and sharing of expertise among laser experts and operators across Europe and through coordinated Joint Research Activities enabling world-class research, innovations and applications beyond the present state-of-the-art, maintaining the research basis for future areas in laser science and applications.

Work performed

Networking activities tie the project partners together and link Laserlab-Europe to the user community and to emerging Pan-European laser research infrastructures. They provide the means to secure and furthermore boost the efficiency of R&D and help to exploit its innovation potential. Training of users and staff, through training schools, technology exchange and sharing of expertise, is among the most important networking activities.
Laserlab-Europe combines the capabilities of a comprehensive consortium of the leading European laser research infrastructures, which beyond â€œtraditionalâ€ laser infrastructures also include representative accelerator-based free-electron lasers (FELs), and offers European scientists research opportunities through transnational access to an Integrated Infrastructure whose combined technical capability and expertise have no counterpart world-wide. External users have access to 22 labs in 12 countries. During the first 18 months, 1180 days of access to Laserlab facilities were granted to 333 users. Compared with the anticipated 1127 days for an estimated 254 users (estimated access provision in relation to the project duration), this reflects a high user demand and a very attractive access programme, co-funded to a large extent from other sources.
Four different Joint Research Activities strongly support developments of state-of-the-art equipment in the field of lasers and their applications for laser science, innovation and interdisciplinary research. The tools developed at the Laserlab infrastructures offer state-of-the-art instrumentations and methods for scientists in many disciplines, and users benefit from the possibility to perform experiments at the forefront of science.
BIOAPP is pursuing key developments of innovative workstations and methodologies for biomedical applications, spreading from the investigation of single bio-molecules and single cells to in-vivo microscopy on living animals to the development of diagnosis tools for human diseases. Novel laser-based techniques developed by the partners have already been tested and applied in clinical applications, in many cases in close collaboration with clinical partners.
ILAT aims at solving crucial laser physics bottlenecks in order to improve existing laser systems and to widen the knowledge base to be prepared for demands on laser based sources in the future. The results so far, each one a great achievement of its own, provide radiation sources for the different wavelength ranges with unprecedented application power, that will be in most cases readily available in user facilities or usable by the community.
PHOTMAT addresses the integration of state of the art and newly developed photonic sources and technologies with analytical capability, spanning temporal, spatial and compositional/structural domains, needed to unravel complex structural, mechanistic and functional questions in materials science. High performance stations are being developed, tailored to provide for a broad, multidisciplinary portfolio of Laserlab users in the areas of advanced material characterisation and environmental sensing.
LEPP is developing techniques for production of high quality radiation and particle beams from laser-matter interaction for targeted high impact applications in medicine, biology and materials science. So far, for example dosimetry studies have been performed supporting the use of laser driven electron accelerators in the radiotherapy context, generation schemes of laser driven proton beams for radiotherapy and imaging based on different target geometry and type are explored and different schemes with incoherent and coherent laser plasma based X-ray sources have been tested for imaging of bio- and nano-materials.

Final results

Laserlab-Europe is expected to have a very strong impact on the ERA. It promotes, in a coordinated way and on a European scale, the use of advanced lasers and laser-based technologies for research and innovation while optimising synergies with emerging relevant ESFRI RIs. It serves an increasingly cross-disciplinary user community, from academia as well as from industry, by providing access to a comprehensive set of advanced laser research installations, and it contributes to increasing the European basis of human resources in the field of lasers by training staff and new users. It continuously improves, in key areas, human and technical resources enabling world-class research, innovations and applications beyond the present state-of-the-art.
Pushing the forefront of laser research beyond the state-of-the-art, and thereby improving the capabilities and services provided by the participating RIs is a goal of Laserlab-Europe. The integration of representative accelerator-based free-electron lasers (FELs) will allow users to exploit the advantages of combining both types of lasers, thus stimulating novel applications and innovation. In the JRA, emphasis is given to technologies enabling novel applications with high industrial and social impact, in particular in life-science related applications. All JRAs include cooperation with several industries, SMEs and/or hospitals and medical centres, underlining that Laserlab-Europe is a place with high innovation potential. Actions to enhance exploitation and interaction with industry and medical centres will lead to a rich exchange of knowledge and ideas, increasing the potential turning innovation into new products and jobs.