A gymnasium-sized facility at the University of Michigan has just fired the most powerful laser pulse in American history, reaching 2 petawatts—that’s 2 quadrillion watts packed into a beam lasting just 25 quintillionths of a second.
The ZEUS laser facility roughly doubled the peak power of any other US laser while delivering more than 100 times the global electricity output in that infinitesimal moment. This new capability opens doors for medical advances, national security applications, and fundamental physics research that could reshape multiple scientific fields.
Breaking New Ground in High-Field Science
The milestone represents more than just a bigger number. “This milestone marks the beginning of experiments that move into unexplored territory for American high field science,” said Karl Krushelnick, director of the Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, which houses ZEUS.
Unlike previous laser facilities that function as single-purpose tools, ZEUS offers unprecedented flexibility. “One of the great things about ZEUS is it’s not just one big laser hammer, but you can split the light into multiple beams,” explained Franklin Dollar, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, whose team is running the first user experiment at 2 petawatts.
Dollar’s enthusiasm reflects broader excitement in the physics community. “Having a national resource like this, which awards time to users whose experimental concepts are most promising for advancing scientific priorities, is really bringing high-intensity laser science back to the U.S.”
Chasing Particle Accelerator Performance
The current experiments aim to produce electron beams with energies equivalent to those created by particle accelerators hundreds of meters long. This would represent a 5-10 times increase over previous electron beam energies achieved at ZEUS.
The technique relies on wakefield acceleration—imagine electrons surfing behind a laser pulse like wakeboarders trailing a speedboat. “We aim to reach higher electron energies using two separate laser beams—one to form a guiding channel and the other to accelerate electrons through it,” said Anatoly Maksimchuk, University of Michigan research scientist who leads experimental area development.
The physics gets wonderfully weird when light meets plasma. The laser pulse slams into helium gas, ripping electrons from atoms and creating a soup of charged particles. Light travels slower through this plasma, allowing electrons to catch up and ride the electromagnetic wake to incredible speeds.
Key Technical Specifications:
- Peak power: 2 petawatts (2 quadrillion watts)
- Pulse duration: 25 quintillionths of a second
- Final beam width: 0.8 microns (narrower than a red blood cell)
- Facility size: Similar to a school gymnasium
- Crystal diameter: Nearly 7 inches of titanium-sapphire
The Path to Even More Power
But ZEUS isn’t done growing. The facility gets its full name—”Zettawatt Equivalent Ultrashort laser pulse System”—from a planned signature experiment later this year. When accelerated electrons collide head-on with laser pulses, the interaction will simulate the effects of a zettawatt-scale pulse, a million times more powerful than the driving laser.
Reaching 2 petawatts required overcoming significant technical challenges. The road has been “slow and careful,” with the biggest hurdle being a massive titanium-sapphire crystal needed for the final amplifier.
“The crystal that we’re going to get in the summer will get us to 3 petawatts, and it took four and a half years to manufacture,” said Franko Bayer, project manager for ZEUS. “The size of the titanium sapphire crystal we have, there are only a few in the world.”
From Medicine to National Security
The applications extend far beyond pure physics. Research at ZEUS spans medicine, national security, materials science, and astrophysics. The National Science Foundation, which funds the facility, sees broad potential.
“The fundamental research done at the NSF ZEUS facility has many possible applications, including better imaging methods for soft tissues and advancing the technology used to treat cancer and other diseases,” said Vyacheslav Lukin, program director in the NSF Division of Physics.
What makes ZEUS particularly valuable is its accessibility. As a user facility, research teams nationwide and internationally can submit experiment proposals that undergo independent review—democratizing access to cutting-edge laser science.
A Nimble Giant
Despite its immense power, ZEUS operates with surprising agility. “As a midscale-sized facility, we can operate more nimbly than large-scale facilities like particle accelerators or the National Ignition Facility,” noted John Nees, University of Michigan research scientist who leads ZEUS laser construction. “This openness attracts new ideas from a broader community of scientists.”
The facility has already hosted 11 separate experiments involving 58 researchers from 22 institutions since opening in October 2023. Even while operating at lower power levels, ZEUS has proven its worth to the scientific community.
The journey to 2 petawatts involved careful problem-solving, including discovering that worrying darkening of critical optical components came from carbon deposits rather than permanent damage. The team learned to balance pushing boundaries with protecting expensive equipment.
As ZEUS continues upgrading toward its full 3-petawatt potential, it represents America’s return to the forefront of high-intensity laser science—one quadrillionth-of-a-second pulse at a time.
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