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2d ago

ZEUS Laser Achieves U.S. Record with 2 Petawatt Pulse

The University of Michigan's ZEUS facility begins user experiments at unprecedented power levels, setting the stage for a 3-petawatt upgrade later this year.

John Nees (left) and laser engineer Paul Campbell (right) work in Target Area 1, where the first 2 petawatt user experiment will take place. ZEUS is now the most powerful laser in the U.S. Photo: Marcin Szczepanski/Michigan Engineering
Image
A view through the titanium-sapphire crystal that helps to transfer power into ZEUS’s laser pulses. At two petawatts, ZEUS is now the most powerful laser in the U.S. Image credit: Marcin Szczepanski, Michigan Engineering
Photo by Marcin Szczepanski/Lead Multimedia Producer, University of Michigan College of Engineering.

Overview

  • The ZEUS laser at the University of Michigan has delivered a 2-petawatt pulse, doubling the power of any other laser in the U.S. and marking a key milestone in high-field science.
  • This 25-quintillionth-second pulse is equivalent to over 100 times the total global electricity output, enabling groundbreaking experiments across multiple disciplines.
  • The first user-led experiments, led by Franklin Dollar of UC Irvine, aim to generate electron beams with energies rivaling those produced by large particle accelerators.
  • A 3-petawatt upgrade is planned for later this year, with the installation of a titanium-doped sapphire crystal that took over four years to manufacture.
  • ZEUS, funded by the National Science Foundation, operates as a user facility, welcoming researchers globally to conduct experiments with potential applications in medicine, astrophysics, quantum physics, and national security.