Joint Research Activities 2009-2012

During FP6 a number of major trends have emerged in the laser world which are orientating the research program in LASERLAB-EUROPE:

(i) in all fields of science including micro- and nano-technologies, shorter temporal and smaller geometrical structures are the frontiers to be explored, requiring ultra-short-pulse (attosecond) and ultra-short-wavelength sources;

(ii) laser acceleration has a huge potential as a source of energetic particles, for applications of high societal impact (e.g., material sciences and medicine), linking also lasers to the accelerator-based light sources;

(iii) high energy lasers are frequently the key to novel applications and new science, but suffer from extremely low repetition rates and average powers;

(iv) laser tools and techniques have been flourishing in very active, autonomous and sophisticated applications,
especially in biology and biomedicine.

These evolutions are addressed in the five JRAs pursued by LASERLAB-EUROPE II, namely:

JRA1: Attosecond Laser sources and Applications; Design and INnovation (ALADIN)
JRA2: High Average and Peak Power lasers for Interaction Experiments (HAPPIE)
JRA3: LAser Plasma acceleration TECHniques (LAPTECH)
JRA4: Advanced OPTical techniques in BIO-imaging and bio-processing (OPTBIO)
JRA5: Sources of Femtosecond INtense X-rays (SFINX)