Milestone Celebration Marks Three Anniversaries at LLE

The week opened with a look back at three decades of the OMEGA 60 Laser System, one of the world’s leading high-energy laser facilities for fusion and high-energy-density science. Christopher Deeney, LLE’s Director, welcomed guests alongside Stephen Dewhurst, the University’s Vice President of Research, who spoke to LLE’s role as a research pillar of the University.

Speakers throughout the day traced OMEGA’s impact across the national and international research community, including its ties to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), France’s CEA, the University of Michigan, and MIT.

A student panel highlighted the generations of scientists trained through OMEGA experiments — a throughline for a laser system built three decades ago that continues to shape careers today.

Thursday’s program turned to Chirped-Pulse Amplification, the technique developed at LLE in 1985 that transformed the field of ultrafast, high-intensity lasers and now underpins applications from eye surgery to industrial manufacturing. The day’s keynote came from Nobel Laureates Donna Strickland (University of Waterloo) and Gérard Mourou (École Polytechnique), whose work on CPA earned the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Researchers from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the Italian National Research Council, the University of Michigan, and beyond joined them to discuss where the technology has traveled since — and where it’s headed next, including the NSF OPAL facility.

The day’s program closed with the celebration of a mural in the Atrium honoring the Nobel laureates whose work on CPA reshaped laser science — one that Strickland and Mourou signed themselves. Both laureates also spent time with students from the afternoon’s poster session, talking through their research before touring LLE’s facilities.

Later that evening, Strickland and Mourou were each presented with an honorary Edward Teller Award, presented by Kim Budil, Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in recognition of their contributions to CPA and ultrafast laser science.

The celebration culminated Friday with remarks marking half a century of LLE, opening with Christopher Deeney and University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf. Kim Budil, Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), spoke to the decades-long partnership between LLNL and LLE. Congressman Joseph Morelle, NNSA’s David LaGraffe, Empire State Development’s Vincent Esposito, Senator Jeremy Cooney, Assemblymember Sarah Clark, and Leah George VanScott of Greater Rochester Enterprise each offered remarks on LLE’s role in the region’s economy and the nation’s scientific enterprise.

The morning closed with two ribbon-cutting ceremonies: one marking the next 50 years of LLE, and a second unveiling the MTW OPAL Target Chamber, expanding the capabilities available to LLE’s user community. Guests then toured the facility before an family picnic closed out the three-day celebration.