NERS Professor Karl Krushelnick is leading UM’s participation in a new collaborative research network dedicated to high-intensity laser research. With $6.8 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, LaserNetUS includes five other universities and three national laboratories.
UM will receive $1 million to make its HERCULES laser – currently the world’s highest-intensity laser at 20 sextillion (2×1022) watts per square centimeter – available to external researchers. The goal is to expand the growing research field and improve U.S. competitiveness.
“While experiments with HERCULES have made many discoveries over the past decade, the facility doesn’t run as much as it could,” said Krushelnick, who also heads the University’s Center for Ultrafast Optical Science. LaserNetUS will provide new opportunities for investigators throughout the United States to conduct high-intensity laser research across a broad range of application areas.
