News - Laboratory for Laser Energetics

Steve Craxton, front, with participants of the 2025 Summer High School Research Program.

LLE Celebrates its 36th Annual Summer High School Research Program

December 22, 2025

Map of the United States of America with arrows pointing from LLE to collaborators' locations across the states.

Powering Discovery Through Academic Partnerships

December 1, 2025

Laser target shot photograph.

A Milestone Achievement: Omega Laser Facility’s 50,000th Shot

November 17, 2025

Grating Compressor Chamber (GCC) optics in the MTW-OPAL laser facility on Monday, September 18, 2023.

Di Piazza, International Team Win Prestigious ERC Synergy Grant for Quantum Research

November 14, 2025

Photo of Danae Polsin.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Danae Polsin Receives 2026 Neil Ashcroft Early Career Award

November 5, 2025

Photo of Alex Chin

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Alex Chin Awarded 2026 GCCM Student and Dissertation Research Award by APS

November 4, 2025

Blue-toned watercolor image of Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland.

Chirped-Pulse Amplification at 40

October 29, 2025

Photo of LLE Scientist David Turnbull.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

LLE Scientist David Turnbull Receives APS Fellowship

October 10, 2025

Photo of 2025 Undergraduate Education Program students and advisors

A Successful Summer for the 2025 Undergraduate Education Program

September 22, 2025

BEST 2025 participants.

BEST Program Celebrates Five Years of Inspiring STEM Futures

September 3, 2025

Schematic depicting the flying-focus technique using a chromatic lens.

LLE Scientists Co-author New Publication in Optica

Shown is a range of experimentally relevant densities and temperatures used in DFT simulations.

Article by Katie Hilleke Selected as “Editor’s Suggestion” by Physical Review Materials

LLE recipients of the 2024 Nuclear Fusion Journal Award.

2024 Nuclear Fusion Journal Award Recognizes Paper Co-authored by LLE Scientists

Attendees of the 2025 OLUG Workshop at LLE.

OLUG 2025 Recap: A Cornerstone of the High-Energy-Density Science Community

Photo of Annie Maloney.

Annie Maloney Wins 2025 Stoddard Prize for Best Senior Thesis

Victor Zhang and Will Trickey posing in front of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics branding wall.

LLE Scientists Included in the 2024 Physics of Plasmas Early Career Collection

Portrait of Petros Tzeferacos.

University of Rochester and LLE Faculty and Collaborator Receive 2025 PECASE Award

January 21, 2025

Group photo of the Cyro Fill Systems Group in lab attire next to computers and lab equipment.

LLE’s Cryogenic and Tritium Facility Sets New Record in 2024

December 16, 2024

SBIR Phase II with Sydor Technologies and LLE.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

LLE and Sydor Technologies Awarded $1.15M DOE Phase II SBIR Grant for Fusion Research

November 19, 2024

Photo portrait of Kaan Aytekin.

Kaan Aytekin Receives APS Outstanding Student Poster Award

October 30, 2024

An artistic depiction of an accretion disk and an image of a simulation.

OMEGA 60-Beam Laser System Helps Shed Light onto Black Hole Accretion Disks

October 8, 2024

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

LLE Research Team Wins 2024 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research

September 16, 2024

Group photo of BEST students (top) and High school students program (bottom).

A Summer of Science for Rochester-Area High School Students

August 30, 2024

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

LLE and Focused Energy, Part of the INFUSE Network, Secure DOE Grant to Advance Fusion Research

August 16, 2024

Portrait of Jason Puth.

Jason Puth Takes Helm as Omega Facility Division Director

Portrait of JJ Ruby

LLE Alumnus JJ Ruby Supports Houston Astros with Physics and Engineering

Varchas Gopalaswamy Appointed Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Eddy Wu standing by his scientific poster at a conference booth.

Pittsford Sutherland Graduate Eddy Wu Receives ISEF Award

Segev BenZvi shakes hands with award winners Hunter Markland and Md Reshad Rahman, each holding their wards.

Hunter Markland Awarded 2024 Susumu Okubo Prize

Laser Focus World magazine cover and inside pages spread across a light gray background.

LLE Featured in May 2024 Edition of Laser Focus World

Group of people cutting ceremony ribbon outside of LLE's Office and Lab Expansion building.

Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Officially Opens LLE Office and Laboratory Expansion

Group photograph of Neel Kabadi, Mokin Lee, Edban Watt, Alex Kulvivat, Julie Hernandez, and Adam Cummings on the East Lobby staircase, a colorful illustration with an image of a diagnostic.

New Diagnostic Platform for OMEGA EP Established by Team of Undergraduate Students

Portrait of Julia Kubes at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Julia Kubes Inducted into Tau Beta Pi Honor Society

Photo of Declan Walden.

Declan Walden Selected for CLEO 2024 Post-Deadline Session

Rip Collins speaking at a podium in the University of Rochester's Douglas Commons building.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Gilbert (Rip) Collins Elected as Fellow to AAAS

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Varchas Gopalaswamy Receives 2024 EPS–PPCF Sylvie Jacquemot Early Career Prize

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Matthew Cufari Awarded 2024 NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship

Retiree being handed an award with party attendees sitting and clapping in the background.

LLE Celebrates the Retirement of Distinguished Scientist Vladimir Glebov

Group photo of students in front of the National Ignition Facility with a border around it showing the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of Rochester, and LLE logos and University of Rochester: March 11, 2024.

Inaugural National Lab Trip for Students in LLE’s Undergraduate Education Program

Gregory Demos where protective eyewear adjusting equipment on a light table.

Paper by LLE Summer High School Research Program Student Published in Optical Engineering

Portrait of Michelle Marshall.

Michelle Marshall to Lead High-Energy-Density Physics Experiments Group

High School Program students inside of the OMEGA EP Laser System.

2024 Summer High School Research Program

February 12, 2024

Collage of people giving demonstrations at the LLE Safety Appreciation Day.

LLE Holds Safety Appreciation Day

February 5, 2024

SafeZone Initiative speaker presenting in the LLE Coliseum.

LLE Pride hosts Trans Allyship Seminar

January 29, 2024

Photo of Terrance Kessler with equations on a whiteboard in background.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Terrance Kessler Elected Optica Fellow

January 8, 2024

Dustin Froula speaking with a reporter next to the LLE Contributions to Ignition plaque.

LLE Featured on News 10NBC

January 1, 2024

Scientist Jeremy Pigeon installing a radial echelon by inserting a metal part into a system in front of a blue-lit background.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Jeremy Pigeon Awarded Young Investigator Research Program Grant

December 28, 2023

Image of Cooperative Agreement publication on a background of a blue target shot.

LLE Cooperative Agreement Renewed with U.S. Department of Energy

December 13, 2023

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

$10 Million in Funding Secured for New Inertial Fusion Energy Consortium

December 7, 2023

Group photo holding framed awards in front of the OMEGA airbrush illustration.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

2023 Capt. Loucks Recognition Awards

December 4, 2023

Screen capture of YouTube video for Vox Science

LLE Featured in New Viral Video

November 16, 2023

David Turnbull accepting an award at a podium labeled with APS Division of Plasma Physics.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

David Turnbull Receives 2023 Thomas H. Stix Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Plasma Physics Research

November 6, 2023

NSF Funds Design of World-Leading NSF-OPAL Laser Facility

September 25, 2023

Group photo of Stephen Craxton with 2023 Summer High School Research Program students.

LLE’s 34th Summer High School Research Program

September 25, 2023

The PEPC being loaded into a high power laser system.

Sydor Technologies Receives Grant for Developing Plasma Electrode Pockels Cells for Inertial Fusion Facilities

September 11, 2023

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

U.S. Department of Energy Awards $28.5 Million to LaserNetUS

August 20, 2023

Photo of Avi Milder.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Avi Milder Selected to Receive Chiyoe Yamanaka Award

August 14, 2023

Portrait of Maria Gatu Johnson

Maria Gatu Johnson Promoted to Principal Research Scientist

Collage of four photos from BEST program. Group photo of LLE participants and High School participants on top. Bottom shows three photos with BEST participants touring LLE and having lunch with LLE director, Chris Deeney.

LLE’s 2023 Broad Exposure to Science and Technology Research Program

Portrait of David Turnbull.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

David Turnbull Selected for 2023 Edouard Fabre Prize

Photo of four LLE Researchers named Optica Senior Members: Chengyong Feng, Mark Meyers, Erik Power, and Benjamin Webb.

Four LLE Researchers Named Optica Senior Members

Riccardo Betti in front of a whiteboard covered in equations.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Riccardo Betti Awarded the Blaise Pascal Medal from the European Academy of Sciences

$Danae Polsin, assembling a powder x-ray diffraction image plate (PXRDIP)$

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Danae Polsin Receives SUNY Geneseo Outstanding Young Alum Award

David VanWey being awarded the University of Rochester Witmer Award for Distinguished Service on Wednesday, June 8, 2023. Larry Kessler on left, David VanWey in center, and Sarah Mangelsdorf on right.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

David VanWey Awarded Witmer Award for Distinguished Service

Full portrait of Suxing Hu.

Suxing Hu Appointed Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

University of Rochester Awarded Regional Innovation Grant for STELLAR Engine Project

Photo of Alison Christopherson posing with equations on whiteboard in background.

LLE Graduate, Alison Christopherson, Elected National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow

Six photos of students along the top and an image of the student expo beneath with students displaying their posters.

LLE Undergraduate Program Attends Research Expo

Portraits of Jay Eastman on left and Barukh Yaakobi on right.

In Memoriam

Photo of Dillon Ramsey.

LLE Graduate Student Dillon Ramsey Awarded the Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student

Render of LLE's Office and Lab Expansion

The Current Status of the LLE Office and Laboratory Building Expansion

Full Portrait of Rick Spielman.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Rick Spielman was Awarded the 2023 Erwin Marx Award

A group photo from the 2023 Stephen D. Jacobs Memorial talk.

Stephen D. Jacobs 2023 Memorial Lecture

Screen capture from video: Laser Research for the Next Generation, Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester.

LLE Featured in WebsEdge Science Video at APS March Meeting

Diagram demonstrating the All-Optical, Optically Addressable Liquid Crystal-Based Light Valve Employing Photoswitchable Alignment Layer for High-Power and/or Large Aperture Laser Applications

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Patent for LLE Technology Awarded

Steve Craxton and Lindsay Browning posing in front of an OMEGA Laser System poster

LLE High School Program Alums Continue to Excel

February 27, 2023

Three photo collage. Top left LLE director with retiree. Top right, a portrait of retiree and photograph taken by retiree displayed on an easel. Bottom, group photo of retirement attendees.

Longtime LLE Photographer, Eugene Kowaluk, Retires

February 13, 2023

Target shot of laser on the top with a group photo on the bottom.

OMEGA EP’s 10,000th Shot

January 23, 2023

Scientists group photo in front of LANL PLX.

Flash Center Releases New Version of FLASH code

January 6, 2023

With LLE Director, Chris Deeney, on the left, and CAPT. Steve Loucks, on the right, shown holding their plaques which detail their recognition are from left to right Andrew Sorce, Sharyl Abbey, Tyler McKean, Daniel Neyland, and Jeremy Coon.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

The Inaugural Capt. Loucks Recognition Awards

November 30, 2022

Group shot of BEST Research Program for high school students and teachers

UR/LLE’s Broad Exposure to Science and Technology (BEST) Research Program

November 17, 2022

Collage of four photos. Top photo shows fire extinguishers being inspected. Along the bottom has three photos with close-up shots of fire extinguishers on the left and right corners with center photo of a fire extinguisher demonstration.

Periodic Fire Extinguisher Inspections

November 11, 2022

To the left is a photo of Brittany Callin shaking hands with Denise Hinkel. On right is a photo of Will Trickey. In foreground is image of Brittany Callin's poster entitled Bayesian Optimization of Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Simulations.

Outstanding APS Undergraduate Poster Award to Brittany Callin

November 7, 2022

Group photo of Reetam Paul in center with thesis committee

Reetam Paul, the First Ph.D. from the HEDP-Theory Group

October 24, 2022

LLE 2022 High School Program group photo.

LLE’s 33rd Summer High School Research Program

September 12, 2022

BEST program 2022 group photo.

BEST High School Program

September 6, 2022

Photo of Alison Christopherson posing with equations on whiteboard in background.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Alison Christopherson Awarded the 2022 American Physical Society Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis

September 6, 2022

Rendered image of new building for LLE on top with Chris Deeney and other speakers posing with shovels on bottom.

Groundbreaking for the LLE Building Expansion

August 22, 2022

Mike Campbell holding bobble head with a dinosaur body and human head in his likeness.

Tributes to Past Director Include a Presidential Reception and a Dedicated Symposium

Morgan LaMere shown with an example of the new custom-designed GHS label.

Implementation of the International GHS Standard to Chemicals

Certificate that reads: The Flag of the United States of America, this is to certify that the accompanying flag was flown over the Pentagon on April 25, 2022 in honor of Mike Campbell for your service to the Nation.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Mike Campbell Honored for his Service to the Nation

Portrait of Chris Deeney, interim Director of University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics photographed at the LLE March 29, 2022. // photo by J. Adam Fenster / University of Rochester.

Christopher Deeney Appointed New Director of the Laser Lab

Two plaques recognizing the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics are hung in the LLE Lobby.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Plaques Honoring Nobel Prize Recipients

Sam Miller and his thesis committee.

Sam Miller Defends Thesis and Joins LLE

Owen Mannion, Radha Bahukutumbi, and Matthew Cufari.

Matthew Cufari has won a 2022 Goldwater Scholarship

Employees gathered in the LLE Lobby to pay tribute to Mike Campbell in an informal retirement gathering.

Employees Gather to Pay Tribute to Retiring Director

Fusion meeting in the White House, participants including Mike Campbell gathered around a table.

White House Fusion Energy Summit

Internal view of the OMEGA Laser's target chamber during a target shot

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

$83 Million in Funding Secured for LLE

Four images of safety inspections in OMEGA EP.

Monthly Safety Inspections

LLE Representation in the Genesee Staff Council

FLASH simulations of the TDYNO platform.

“Strong suppression of heat conduction in a laboratory replica of galaxy-cluster turbulent plasmas” by J. Meinecke et al. to appear on Science Advances

Collage of eight photos in a three column spread. Left column shows two portraits of professors. Center and right columns are splint into six photos with students in a lab setting working on equipment.

LLE’s Summer High School Research Program has Mentored Over 100 Eventual Doctorates

February 14, 2022

Bill Krupke and Stephen Payne.

Awards, Honors, & Fellowships

Bill Krupke Awarded SPIE Maiman Laser Award

February 13, 2022

Petros Tzeferacos explains FLASH simulations.

The University of Rochester Welcomes the Flash Center for Computational Science

January 18, 2022

Chris Deeney in cleanroom attire standing in OMEGA EP.

Chris Deeney Tours OMEGA EP

January 11, 2022