What ELI Attosecond does

ELI-ALPS (Extreme Light Infrastructure Attosecond Light Pulse Source), operated by ELI-HU Nonprofit Kft. in Szeged, Hungary, is one of three pillars of the ELI ERIC European research infrastructure consortium (alongside ELI Beamlines in the Czech Republic and ELI Nuclear Physics in Romania). The institute operates as a publicly funded, non-profit user facility providing the international scientific community with access to high-repetition-rate, ultra-short pulse laser systems that generate the shortest light pulses available for ultrafast science, spanning terahertz to X-ray frequencies. It does not sell a commercial product; instead, beamtime is allocated via competitive, peer-reviewed open user calls, and the 8th User Call alone attracted 146 proposals from 134 principal investigators and over 411 co-proposers.

The core technology portfolio is anchored by the SYLOS2 laser system (5 TW peak power, sub-10-fs pulses, 1 kHz repetition rate) and is delivered through more than 20 beamlines and endstations — HR1, MIR, SEA, SYLOS2, THz-HE, NLTSF, HR GHHG, SYLOS GHHG, NanoESCA, REMI-ES, TAS, GPRC, VMI-ES, SNOM, LEIA, UF Ellipsometer, IFIR LDP — supported by NanofabLab, ChemLab, RadioBiolLab, and Optical Workshops. The recently commissioned ePW beamline (jointly with the John Adams Institute) extends capabilities into laser wakefield acceleration. Applications span ultrafast chemistry, materials science, plasma physics, life sciences, and renewable energy materials.

The business model is grant-funded rather than commercial: revenue derives from EU Structural Funds, Hungarian government appropriations via NKFIH, the Swiss-Hungarian Cooperation Programme, and bilateral international grants (H2020/EUCALL, Erasmus+, FWF with TU Wien). Access is provided free of charge to approved researchers. The institute had 269 employees as of Q1 2026 across four scientific divisions (Ultrafast Science and Applications, Secondary Sources, Laser Sources, Engineering), with Q1 2026 personnel expenses of 892.8M HUF, and is governed as part of ELI ERIC under EU law following the Commission's April 2021 decision.

Name

ELI Attosecond

Legal name

ELI-HU Kutatási és Fejlesztési Nonprofit Közhasznú Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság

Website

https://eli-alps.hu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Laser Research Infrastructure

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (54138)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Optoelectronic Emitters (LED/Laser/VCSEL) (HDAHALAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Optoelectronic / Photonics Foundries (Silicon Photonics/LED/Laser) (HDAHACAG)

Keywords

• Attosecond laser research
• Ultrafast laser infrastructure
• Beamtime user facility
• High-harmonic generation
• Laser wakefield acceleration

Headquarters

HQ city

Wolfgang

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. European and National Research Funding: ELI-ALPS is a non-profit government-funded research institute. Its primary funding derives from EU Structural Funds (co-financed by Hungary) and Hungarian national research budgets. The institute does not operate on commercial revenue but on public research grants, project-based funding, and institutional allocations. Research access is provided to the international scientific community at no cost through competitive peer-reviewed beamtime allocation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ELI-ALPS operates a publicly funded attosecond laser research infrastructure providing the international scientific community with open access to high-power, ultra-short pulse laser systems and secondary radiation/particle sources (XUV, X-ray, electron beams, THz). Researchers from universities and research institutes worldwide submit proposals through the ELI-ERIC open user call system; approved applicants receive beamtime on beamlines such as SYLOS2, HR1, MIR, SEA, THz-HE, NLTSF, HR GHHG, NanoESCA, REMI-ES, TAS, GPRC, VMI-ES, SNOM, LEIA, and IFIR LDP free of charge. The institute also supports user communities with nanofabrication, chemical, radiobiology, and optical workshop facilities, alongside the ELISS Summer School and teacher training programs.

Product overview

ELI-ALPS is a world-class laser research institute providing access to state-of-the-art attosecond and ultrafast laser facilities as a user facility. The portfolio includes multiple laser systems (SYLOS2 high-repetition-rate few-cycle laser), beamlines (HR1, SEA, SYLOS2, THz-HE, NLTSF, HR GHHG, SYLOS GHHG), and endstations (NanoESCA, REMI-ES, TAS, GPRC, VMI-ES, SNOM, LEIA, IFIR LDP, UF Ellipsometer, NanofabLab). Supporting services include Chemical Laboratory, Radiobiology Laboratory, and Optical Workshops. User access is managed through the ELI User Portal via competitive calls for proposals. The institute also offers educational programs including ELISS summer school, teacher training, open days, and science outreach events. ELI-ALPS operates as part of the ELI ERIC European research infrastructure consortium alongside ELI Beamlines (Czech Republic) and ELI Nuclear Physics (Romania).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SYLOS2 Laser System

Quantifiable outcome

• 146 proposals submitted by 134 principal investigators from the international research community in the 8th ELI User Call
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Canada)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 March 2026Joint PhD program in advanced laser-driven science and technology announced March 2026, inviting applications for collaborative doctoral research between INRS (Canada) and ELI facilities.
• John Adams Institute for Accelerator SciencecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2025Joint commissioning of the ePW (electron plasma wakefield) beamline last summer (2025). Experiments conducted July–September 2025. First scientific results published in Physical Review Research. Collaboration between ELI-ALPS Laser Research Institute and John Adams Institute combines expertise in laser wakefield acceleration and advanced accelerator science.
• Swiss-Hungarian Cooperation Program (ELI-ALPS Collaboration, SM02-RES PC1)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2024Bilateral scientific cooperation strengthening Swiss and Hungarian researchers' collaboration at ELI-ALPS. Total budget 689,423,251 Ft with 85% Swiss contribution and 15% Hungarian co-financing over 48 months (Sep 2024 – Aug 2028). Supports joint scientific publications, R&D projects, researcher exchange, equipment upgrades, and integration of ELI-ALPS into international research networks.
• Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2021Research on resonant strong-field interactions using intense tunable narrowband THz sources. Project ANN 139483 aims to develop high-energy, narrowband THz sources with programmable waveform control for applications in chemistry, medicine, and spectrally-resolved imaging. ELI-ALPS budget: 35,125,000 Ft (Dec 2021 – Nov 2025).
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) ChennaicoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2021Joint project on perovskite solar cell durability and efficiency enhancement using infrared-reflecting polymer/phase-change material hybrid protective layers. ELI-ALPS conducts electron structure and charge carrier dynamics studies. Funded by 2019-2.1.13-TÉT_IN-2020-00059. ELI-ALPS budget: 45,717,856 Ft over 36 months (May 2021 – Feb 2025).
• Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of SciencescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2019Collaboration on extreme-power lasers and physical applications, studying ultrahigh-intensity laser-matter interactions using SIOM's 5 PW SG-II laser and ELI-ALPS's 5 TW SYLOS-2 laser system. Joint experiments on laser-driven secondary sources (particle and XUV/X-ray beams). ELI-ALPS budget: 5,000,000 Ft (project 2018-2.1.14-TÉT-CN-2018-00040) and 69,954,757 Ft (project 2020-1.2.4-TÉT-IPARI-2021-00018).
• EUCALL (European Cluster for Advanced Laser Light Sources)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2015H2020-INFRADEV project (No. 654220) creating a cluster of laser research institutes (XFEL, DESY, ELETTRA, ESRF, HZDR, Lund University, PSI, ELI-DC). ELI-HU is a linked third party. Total budget: 7,466,800 EUR; ELI-ALPS share: 313,750 EUR. Develops common methodologies and research projects across advanced laser light source facilities (Oct 2015 – Sep 2018).
• IT-ELLI (Innovative Training and Education for Large Laser Infrastructures)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2015Erasmus+ project (IT ELLI, 2015-1-FR01-KA203-015144) for training and education for large laser infrastructure professionals. Consortium includes Université de Bordeaux, Ecole Polytechnique, IFIN-HH, ELI-DC, Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK), University of Szeged, and others. ELI-ALPS share: 42,185 EUR. Develops common protocols for laser safety and nuclear radiation safety (Sep 2015 – Aug 2018).
• ELI ERIC (Extreme Light Infrastructure European Research Infrastructure Consortium)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerELI ERIC is the legal entity governing ELI's three facilities across Hungary (ELI-ALPS), Czech Republic (ELI Beamlines), and Romania (ELI NP). Established by EU Commission decision on 30 April 2021. Provides the community law framework for access, governance, and international coordination of the European laser research infrastructure. ELI-ALPS operates as the Hungarian node within this consortium.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• ELI Beamlines: Sister facility to ELI-ALPS within the ELI ERIC consortium, located in Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic. Operates high-power laser user facility for photonuclear physics and material science, sharing governance, user access model, and ELI ERIC framework.
• Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI NP): Third pillar of the ELI ERIC consortium, located in Măgurele, Romania. Focused on nuclear physics and high-intensity laser-matter interaction experiments, directly comparable in mission, funding model, and user-facility structure.
• CLF (Central Laser Facility, STFC): UK's national laser user facility at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, providing high-power laser access to international researchers. Direct peer in mission, beamtime allocation model, and ultrafast laser science community engagement.
• LULI (Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses): French user facility at École Polytechnique operating high-power laser systems for plasma physics, laser-matter interaction, and inertial confinement fusion research. Direct peer in high-intensity laser user facility operations.
• Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM): Chinese Academy of Sciences institute operating the SG-II 5 PW laser and conducting extreme laser-matter interaction research. Direct peer in high-power laser technology; active collaboration partner with ELI-ALPS.

Broad incumbents

• European XFEL: International research facility in Hamburg, Germany, operating the world's largest X-ray free-electron laser. Comparable as a European user facility providing advanced photon science capabilities to global research communities through peer-reviewed access.
• DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron): German national laboratory operating multiple photon science user facilities (PETRA III, FLASH, European XFEL partner). Comparable as a publicly-funded multi-beamline research infrastructure serving ultrafast science and materials research.
• SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory: US Department of Energy national laboratory operating LCLS (Linac Coherent Light Source) X-ray free-electron laser. Comparable as a large-scale photon science user facility serving attosecond and ultrafast science research.

Regional players

• SACLA (SPring-8 Angstrom Compact Free Electron Laser): Japanese X-ray free-electron laser facility operated by RIKEN. Comparable as a national user facility providing ultrafast photon science capabilities, but geographically focused on Asian research community.
• HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics: Hungarian national physics research institute that previously employed several current ELI-ALPS scientists (including former division head Péter Dombi and researcher Bence Gábor). Comparable Hungarian physics research institution with overlapping ultrafast science expertise.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/EliAlpsLezerkozpontSzeged
• Xx.com/ELINPMagurele
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/eli-alps-research-institute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about ELI Attosecond