PACRI annual meeting at Técnico
IPFN hosted the first annual meeting of the European project PACRI from 24 to 26 March at Instituto Superior Técnico (Alameda campus), convening researchers to discuss the latest advances in plasma-based accelerator technologies.
Funded by the European Union and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, with a budget exceeding €10 million, PACRI (Plasma Accelerator Systems for Compact Research Infrastructures) aims to revolutionise plasma accelerator technologies for next-generation research infrastructures.
The consortium brings together 19 academic and 6 industrial partners and is closely linked to EuPRAXIA, an initiative included in the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap, a strategic instrument for the development of scientific infrastructures in Europe.
The meeting provided an opportunity to review the progress achieved and foster knowledge exchange among partners, also featuring the participation of IPFN PhD students Xuezhi Wu, Bhushan Thakur and Diogo Lemos, as well as Robert Babjak, a recent PhD graduate (March 2026), where they all presented their posters.
Jorge Vieira, project coordinator, researcher at GoLP/IPFN and professor at Técnico, notes “the main goal of PACRI is to develop advanced accelerator technologies capable of operating at high repetition rates”.
Within PACRI, which is closely linked to the EuPRAXIA project, where GoLP has been involved since its launch in 2015, IPFN researchers play a central role in the development of these technologies, “leading the work on plasma accelerator theory and simulations and being also strongly involved in the development of high-repetition-rate plasma sources”, he adds.
This involvement is also reflected in the group’s scientific strategy, “constituting a central component of its research strategy and reflecting its strong engagement in pan-European initiatives on plasma-based accelerators and light sources,” he emphasises.
Plasma accelerators are regarded as a promising alternative to conventional technologies, enabling a significant reduction in the size, cost and energy consumption of research infrastructures. With applications ranging from compact X-ray sources and medical imaging to materials science, detector development and advanced photon science, PACRI contributes to expanding the reach of plasma accelerators across different scientific and technological domains.
The annual meeting gathered all partners, both in person and online, to present and discuss progress across the different areas of the project, including theory and simulations, plasma structures, diagnostics and instrumentation, RF technology and laser systems. Communication and dissemination activities were also addressed.
The programme also included networking moments, such as a guided visit to historic neighbourhoods of Lisbon, and concluded with visits to IPFN laboratories, offering participants the opportunity to explore the host institution’s research infrastructures.
