## 1 Introduction  
The concept of coherent acceleration, that can be advised as the starting idea of the new particle acceleration approach, based on the high-intensity laser matter interaction, was introduced for the first time in 1957 by [PERSON] [1]. Ever since, enormous theoretical, as well as experimental progress, has been achieved in this field until the year 2000, which can be considered the _annus mirabilis_ of laser-driven ion acceleration. In 2000 three experiments [2; 3; 4] reported on the generation of intense and energetic (up to 58 MeV) proton beams from solid targets irradiated with high-intensity (from \(3\times 10^{18}\) W/cm\({}^{2}\) to \(3\times 10^{20}\) W/cm\({}^{2}\)) laser pulses.  
The typical experimental set-up used in these experiments consists of a high power laser beam impinging on a thin solid target; thanks to the laser-matter interaction charged particles are accelerated in both directions with respect to the laser-irradiated target surface. For the first time, protons were emitted as a rather collimated beam, along the target normal direction rather than in the isotropic and low-brilliance emission typical of previous experiments [5; 6].  
So far different acceleration regimes, for instance target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) [7], the radiation pressure acceleration [8], \"Light sail\" acceleration [9], \"Laser piston\" acceleration [10], \"Break-out afterburner\" acceleration [11], have been studied and several experimental results on laser driven ion energies [12; 13; 14], obtained mainly within the TNSA regime, have been reported in literature.  
The peculiarities of the proton emitted in the forward direction (_i.e._ in the opposite direction with respect to the laser-irradiated target surface) in these new experiments were extremely promising suggesting that laser-driven proton/ion acceleration might represent a new opportunity in the particle acceleration field and generating also a huge interest in both fundamental research as well as in the possible multidisciplinary applications.  
Actually, laser accelerated beams show different and, in some cases, extreme characteristics with respect to the conventional ones. A very high peak current, a broad energy spectrum, a wide angular distribution and a rather small transverse and longitudinal emittance are the main features of a typical laser-driven ion beam generated in the so-called TNSA (Target Normal Sheath Acceleration) acceleration regime, which represents the most known and experimentally investigated laser-induced acceleration process.  
In this framework, a collaboration between the INFN-LNS (Nuclear Physics Laboratory, Catania, Italy) and the ASCR-FZU (Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Science), in charge for the ELI-Beamlines facility implementation, has been established in 2012. The main aim of the collaboration, named ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical applications), is to investigate the feasibility to design and realize a beam transport line for optically accelerated beams to be used for multidisciplinary and medical applications. In 2013 the ELI-Beamlines Institute started the realization of a facility in Prague, where one of the experimental halls, called ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser-Ion Acceleration), will host the beam line dedicated to the ion acceleration and multidisciplinary applications. The ELIMED beam line, which will be developed by LNS-INFN, will represent the section of the ELIMAIA activity addressed to the transport, handling and dosimetry of the laser-driven ion beams allowing the achievement of stable, controlled and reproducible beams that, in the future, will be available for all the users interested in multidisciplinary and medical applications of such innovative technology.