The Fundamental Research Division (DRF) is present at all the CEA's civilian centers, and its main objective is to undertake fundamental research related to the CEA's missions in the fields of physics, chemistry and life sciences, in which its excellence is internationally recognized.

The Laboratory Interactions, Dynamique et Lasers (LIDYL), part of CEA's Institut Rayonnement Matière de Saclay (IRAMIS) and home to the EMR9000 CNRS-CEA research unit, carries out fundamental research into laser-matter interaction in the ultra-short pulse duration and Ultra High Intensity (UHI) regimes. LIDYL is home to state-of-the-art facilities ATTOLab-Orme (dedicated to studies of ultrafast dynamics in gaseous and solid phases on femtosecond and attosecond timescales) and UHI100 (dedicated to relativistic optics, radiation generation and particle acceleration studies). The latter is based on a 100TW class Titanium-Sapphire laser coupled to a new experimental zone whose geometry and equipment have been optimized as part of the fit-out of the brand-new LIDYL laboratories to be set up on CEA Paris-Saclay's Orme des Merisiers site in 2021. The state-of-the-art UHI100 system uses two intense, synchronized laser beams with very high temporal contrast. This configuration enables the implementation of a wide range of experiments in the field of relativistic optics on plasma mirrors, as well as laser particle acceleration in dense and sub-dense plasmas.