Publications Archives - Laboratory for Laser Energetics

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Valentin Karasiev’s Paper Selected as Editor’s Pick in Physics of Plasmas

Congratulations to LLE staff scientist Valentin Karasiev and coauthors Suxing Hu, Katerina Hilleke, Ammar Ellaboudy, Deyan Mihaylov, and Samuel Trickey, whose paper “Thermal Exchange-Correlation Functionals: Capturing Quantum Electron Behavior…

Photograph of FLUX SHG stage

FLUX: A Next-Generation Broadband Laser for Direct-Drive Fusion Experiments

A Next-Generation Broadband Laser for Direct-Drive Fusion Experiments A New Laser Concept to Mitigate Laser–Plasma Instabilities Achieving fusion in the laboratory has proven a grand challenge of science. At its…

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A Gentle Puff with a Big Impact: A New System Advances Cryogenic Target Technology

February 23, 2026

A new gas puffer system (GPS) is transforming how fusion scientists fill cryogenic targets, turning precise whiffs of deuterium gas into liquid fuel and opening the door to next-generation “wetted-foam”…

BHx diagnostic on table in the Diagnostics Evaluation Lab.

The BHx Streak Tube: Enabling the Next Generation of Streak Cameras

February 23, 2026

Over the last several years, scientists and engineers at LLE have been developing the BHx streak tube, a cutting-edge instrument designed to capture changes in light on a trillionth-of-a-second timescale.…

3D rendering of light beams reacting to lenses and mirrors.

Enabling Ultraclean Pulses from Kilojoule-Class Lasers

February 23, 2026

NSF OPAL is a proposed future user facility at LLE that is intended to enable scientists to create and study matter under extreme conditions [1]. To study these conditions, NSF…

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Liquid Crystal Plasma Mirrors: A Breakthrough for NSF OPAL

February 23, 2026

Researchers at LLE and The Ohio State University (OSU) have teamed together to develop renewable, liquid crystal plasma mirrors (LCPMs) to enhance the temporal contrast of the 25-PW pulses planned…

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New Mirror Technology for NSF OPAL

February 23, 2026

A future NSF OPAL laser user facility will require extremely large all-reflective optics estimated to weigh up to 1000 pounds using traditional solid substrates. Large beams are required to prevent…

A figure from Physics of Plasmas showing a classical particle transitioning to a ring polymer to a quantum particle

Ioannis Pagiazitis’s Paper Selected as Editor’s Pick in Physics of Plasmas

February 4, 2026

Congratulations to LLE graduate student and Horton Fellow Ioannis Pagiazitis and coauthors Nathaniel Shaffer and Suxing Hu, whose paper “Path Integral Molecular Dynamics: A High-Fidelity Approach to Quantum Dynamics…

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Powering Discovery Through Academic Partnerships

December 1, 2025

Scientific discovery thrives when expertise and resources come together. At the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), collaboration is not just a practice—it is the foundation for advancing…

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Chirped-Pulse Amplification at 40

October 29, 2025

From Student Research to Global Impact This year marks the fortieth anniversary of chirped-pulse amplification (CPA), a groundbreaking laser technology first developed at LLE in the 1980s. Invented by then-graduate…

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Fusion Student Delegation

October 17, 2025

Dear Reader, This summer, I joined the Fusion Student Delegation (FuSD) to better understand fusion energy policy and the systems that shape its development. My background is technical—my research focuses…

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Building Fusion Leaders

October 17, 2025

IFE-SURE Undergraduates Connect In Nation’s Capitol The Inertial Fusion Energy Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (IFE-SURE) is a new Department of Energy (DOE)-funded workforce development initiative launched by the IFE Science…