Romania's ELI-NP at Magurele, home to two of the world's most powerful lasers, enters a new phase

On the outskirts of Bucharest, in the town of Magurele, stands one of the most remarkable scientific facilities in Europe. It is called ELI-NP, and it is home to laser technology so advanced that it pushes the boundaries of what physics can currently explore. As the facility moves into a new operational stage, Romania finds itself at the very frontier of laser and nuclear physics research, a position few countries can claim.

Two of the world's most powerful lasers

At the core of ELI-NP are two lasers, each capable of reaching a peak power of 10 petawatts. To put that in perspective, a petawatt is an almost unimaginable amount of power, delivered in incredibly short bursts. When the beams of these two lasers are coherently added together, they can reach light intensities in the range of ten to the power of twenty-three, and even ten to the power of twenty-four, watts per square centimetre.

According to available descriptions, the High Power Laser System is designed to deliver several levels of peak power, namely 100 terawatts, one petawatt and ten petawatts for each of its arms. This flexibility allows researchers to select the intensity best suited to each experiment. These are numbers that push at the very limits of what current technology can achieve.

Part of a European infrastructure

ELI-NP does not stand alone. It is one of three pillars of the Extreme Light Infrastructure, a pan-European project. The Romanian facility at Magurele is dedicated to nuclear physics, while the Czech Republic hosts ELI Beamlines in Dolni Brezany and Hungary hosts ELI-ALPS in Szeged. Together, the three sites are operated under a single European consortium known as ELI ERIC.

Combined, these facilities form what has been described as the world's largest collection of high-power lasers. This distributed approach allows different centres to specialise in distinct areas of research, while sharing knowledge and resources. For Romania, hosting one of these pillars is a mark of scientific prestige and a magnet for international collaboration.

The Gamma Beam System

Beyond its lasers, ELI-NP is also known for its Gamma Beam System. This system is designed to produce a very intense and brilliant beam of gamma rays, obtained through a process known as inverse Compton back-scattering, using electron beams from a linear accelerator. Such a precise and powerful gamma source is a rare and valuable tool for scientific research.

This part of the facility has drawn particular attention recently. According to reports, in 2026 the Gamma Beam System is entering its operational phase, marking the transition from years of design and construction to actual implementation and use. It is one of the most complex research systems within the entire ELI-NP infrastructure, so reaching this stage is a significant milestone.

What such power is for

A natural question is what all this extraordinary power is actually used for. The applications listed for the facility include frontier fundamental physics, new areas of nuclear physics, and astrophysics. Researchers can use these tools to study processes that would otherwise be impossible to recreate or observe in a laboratory on Earth.

The facility is also relevant to more practical fields, such as the study of nuclear materials and the management of radioactive waste. By understanding matter under extreme conditions, scientists hope to gain insights that could inform everything from our understanding of the cosmos to the handling of nuclear byproducts here on the ground.

Why Magurele matters

The choice of Magurele is deeply symbolic. The town, located just south of Bucharest, has long been a centre of physics research in Romania, home to a cluster of scientific institutes. Building a facility of this magnitude there reinforces its status as a national hub of science and technology, anchoring decades of tradition in a world-class project.

For the researchers and engineers who work there, and for the students who aspire to join them, ELI-NP is a source of pride and opportunity. It brings cutting-edge science to Romania and offers local talent the chance to work on experiments that attract attention from across the globe, helping to keep skilled scientists engaged at home.

A new chapter for Romanian science

In conclusion, the progress at ELI-NP represents a new chapter for science in Romania. What began as an ambitious and demanding construction project is now maturing into a working research facility at the very edge of human capability. The move of the Gamma Beam System into an operational phase is the payoff of years of effort and investment. The coming years will reveal what discoveries this remarkable concentration of light and energy can help to unlock.