Posts Tagged Laboratory for Laser Energetics

In addition to their Nobel noteworthiness, Rochester researchers continue to develop new ways to apply lasers in research, medicine, and everyday life in 2018. Because frankly, we’re big on lasers.

Today’s Rochester researchers are taking science developed at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics to develop the next generation high-power lasers and to better understand the fundamentals of high-energy-density physics. 

Three scholars with ties to the University of Rochester received the Nobel Prize in their fields at the 2018 ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to both Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) and her graduate advisor and former senior scientist Gérard Mourou, for work that paved the way for more compact and precise high-intensity laser systems. In addition, Paul Romer, a former assistant professor in the Department of Economics, has been awarded a shared Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in endogenous growth theory.

Rochester researchers are part of an international collaboration of scientists that has, for the first time, detected extremely high-energy gamma rays from one of the most powerful star systems in the Milky Way.

They major in optical engineering and minor in Italian. Or work toward dual degrees in music and computer science. Or pursue two minors while majoring in audio and music engineering. Meet the graduating seniors from the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences honored for pursuing dual degrees or minors in the humanities.

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), the largest university-based laser facility in the world, is partnering with eight other high-intensity laser facilities to form a new national research network called LaserNetUS.

“All the stars, including the sun, are powered by fusion. We are here because of fusion. But fusion is really hard to create,” says E. Michael Campbell, director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Every time you pick up your smartphone, you are holding a product made possible by a Nobel Prize–winning technology developed at the University of Rochester.

University of Rochester doctoral graduate Donna Strickland ’89 (PhD) and former optics faculty member Gérard Mourou shared the Nobel Prize in Physics today for work they undertook at the University’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics. Their breakthrough paved the way for the creating very short and very intense laser pulses now used in a variety of applications, from LASIK eye surgery to the manufacturing of materials used in cell phones.

After a great deal of uncertainty, the final FY 2019 Energy and Water bill that was just passed by the U.S. Congress includes $80 million for the LLE, a $5 million increase over FY 2018.