Colorado State University breaks ground on laser fusion facility

22 Oct 2024

ATLAS research and development center scheduled to be completed by mid-2026.

Construction activity will start this month on a powerful new laser research facility located on Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus. Scheduled to open in mid-2026, the facility is the combined result of 40 years of laser development research at CSU in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences program in the Office of Science and a strategic $150 million public-private partnership with Marvel Fusion, which was launched in 2023.

The new building will be known as the Advanced Technology Lasers for Applications and Science (ATLAS) Facility. A key focus of research there will be laser-driven fusion as a viable clean energy source. CSU President Amy Parsons this month hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the facility, that included comments from Geraldine Richmond, under secretary for science and innovation at the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, and Marvel Fusion CEO Moritz von der Linden.

Custer of high-intensity, high-rate lasers

When finished, the facility will feature an upgraded version of an existing ultrahigh power laser developed at CSU in combination with two new lasers provided by Marvel. The ATLAS Facility will comprise a cluster of high-intensity, high-repetition rate lasers that can be configured to fire simultaneously at a single fusion target. That burst will deliver nearly 7 petawatts of power into a focal spot of approximately 100µm across. The trio of ultra high-power lasers can also be used independently and in other combinations to study questions beyond fusion energy.

Parsons said the university has been at the forefront of laser research for many years and the facility would support leadership in this space for many more to come. “As a top institution recognized both for research and for sustainability, CSU is a fitting home for this facility,” she said. “We have been a leader in laser research for decades, and our faculty are advancing critical technologies. This new facility will house one of the most powerful lasers in the world and establishes CSU as a nexus for laser fusion research.”

Beyond fusion and basic science research, the ATLAS Facility will also support interdisciplinary work into topics like medicine, where lasers could be used to deposit energy in a very localized region for tumor treatment. Other potential research at the facility includes microchip lithography and design and detailed X-ray imaging of rapidly moving objects. The combined existing and new facilities will now be known collectively as the Advanced Laser for Extreme Photonics (ALEPH) Center.

Undersecretary Richmond highlighted the DOE’s partnership with CSU around laser research in her comments at the event – particularly through the Fusion Energy Sciences program. The agency recently awarded the university $12.5 million through its LaserNetUS program in addition to another award of $16 million to start an Inertial Fusion Science and Technology hub.

Those grants support research using the existing facilities on campus, including upgrades of the high-powered ALEPH laser. The DOE funding also enables outside researchers to access research facilities for free, whether they are working on fusion or any other topic – supporting activity across many key fields.

Partnership for research

“I’m excited for the important research through this private-public partnership happening with Marvel Fusion at Colorado State University,” said Richmond. “We are eager to leverage these opportunities. Laser development and experiments fit within our long-term goal of reaching fusion energy, but equally important is uncovering what we will learn in this process that will help us ultimately achieve that goal.”

CSU’s leadership in laser research is primarily due to work by University Distinguished Professors Jorge Rocca and Carmen Menoni. Both are part of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, while Rocca also holds a position in the Department of Physics, and Menoni has a position in the Department of Chemistry.

The pair have been leading interdisciplinary research on this topic at the university for years. Their existing and fruitful research partnerships with Marvel Fusion was the key reason the company chose to further invest in the university with the project, said CSU Vice President for Research Cassandra Moseley.