The EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network (EuPRAXIA-DN) held a two-day Camp on laser and plasma-related technologies, connecting the latest research and development results in these areas with the challenges related to their integration in a plasma-accelerator-based research infrastructure. The Camp was hosted by the National Institute of Optics (CNR-INO) in Pisa, Italy, on the 7th and 8th April 2025, with support from the University of Liverpool/Cockcroft Institute.
Over 30 participants attended the workshop, including EuPRAXIA-DN Fellows, invited keynote speakers and external participants from organizations across Europe.
Participants enjoyed a packed schedule, with talks split into five main groups and introduced by one of our five key-note speakers. On day one, the network coordinator Professor Carsten P Welsch welcomed participants before Dr Leo Gizzi from CNR-INO introduced the topic of laser technology. Dr Marta Fajardo from Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST) in Lisbon then spoke about laser manipulation and Dr Sören Jalas from DESY in Hamburg covered the design and optimization through numerical methods. These talks were complemented by several contributions from EuPRAXIA-DN Fellows and external participants. The day’s academic activities were concluded with a poster session, which facilitated discussion and knowledge exchange as well as sparking new professional relationships between camp attendees.
Day two kicked off with an invited talk on diagnostics for beam and plasma from Professor Alessandro Cianchi from INFN. After lunch, Dr Luca Piersanti, also from INFN, spoke about synchronization in plasma accelerators. Similarly to day one, these sessions were complemented by a wealth of contributed talks.
Camp participants were able to take advantage of the research facilities at the host, visiting CNR-INO’s lab. They were also able to explore the beautiful city of Pisa, taking in historical sites and stopping off at the leaning tower for a group photo!
The camp had a friendly, collegiate atmosphere and one of the highlights was the generous amount of time allowed for questions and for discussion. This was particularly interesting for early-career researchers to speak to and be inspired by researchers at more advanced stages of their careers that they may not have had the opportunity to meet had it not been for the camp.
The EuPRAXIA Doctoral Network would like to thank all invited speakers for their time and invaluable contributions, as well as all contributed speakers for sharing their research. A special thanks is extended to Dr Luca Labate and David Gregocki from CNR-INO for their help in organising the camp.
All presentations can be found at the event website. The next EuPRAXIA Camp will be held in Lisbon, Portugal on 14 – 15 July 2025 and cover the science enabled by plasma accelerators. Registration is now open, and anyone interested can register via the following link: https://agenda.infn.it/event/46472/