ELI Advances Strategic Partnership in High-Intensity Laser Science with German Partners

The Extreme Light Infrastructure ERIC (ELI) and leading German laboratories, universities, and industry partners gathered on 6-7 November 2025 in Dresden for a workshop aimed at strengthening collaboration in high-energy-density and high-field science. Hosted by Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the meeting was the first in a series of workshops dedicated to fostering cooperation between ELI and the German scientific community.

The workshop drew representatives from Germany’s major national laboratories, universities as well as from industry. The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) provided guidance on strategic research directions. German researchers are active participants in ELI’s User Programme. Germany led in the number of proposals submitted in the most recent ELI User Call.

Group photo from the workshop

“The German scientific community is already taking advantage of ELI’s capabilities in many fields,” said Allen Weeks, Director General of ELI. “The workshop helps us to understand there are many opportunities to strengthen the ties.”

Leading ELI scientists presented its state-of-the-art research capabilities at the three ELI facilities, with a particular emphasis on research opportunities in inertial fusion for energy, laser-particle acceleration, and strong-field quantum electrodynamics. German participants demonstrated their work at ELI as well as their national high-power laser infrastructure and ongoing projects. The aim was to explore how access to ELI’s facilities can complement domestic capabilities.

Among the various opportunities for cooperation, two areas were identified as promising: ELI’s Mission-based Calls that enable coordinated, multi-campaign research, particularly in the field of inertial fusion energ. Another key area is is plasma acceleration technologies, with special attention to how the EuPRAXIA laser-based pillar at ELI may align closely with Germany’s technological strengths and research ambitions.

The Dresden workshop included a constructive dialogue on collaboration frameworks and funding mechanisms as well. A Position Paper from the Helmholtz Accelerator Research and Development (ARD), Sub-Topic 4 (Plasma Accelerators) notes, “ELI plays an important role in the European research landscape by integrating European initiatives and by providing a call-based access to general-purpose high-power laser systems and their laser-driven application beam-lines for explorative research. […] We do, however, highly welcome the initiative to establish future mission-based calls to access ELI infrastructures, e.g., in the area of fusion research. […] We expect that such calls would attract consortia across different German research organisations and from the private and public sector.”

The workshop was an important step toward a deeper partnership between ELI and the German scientific community. Future workshops on ultrafast science and innovative laser-based techniques in radiobiology are planned for the beginning of 2026. Those workshops are being organised together with the European XFEL in Hamburg and Garching Research Center in Munich.