News & Updates - NSF OPAL

- NSF OPAL System
  The proposed NSF OPAL system parameters and capabilities significantly extend the current state of the art in ultrahigh peak power, ultrafast lasers and will serve national and international research communities for decades to come.
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- Frontier Science
  NSF OPAL will allow the creation and study of extreme physical conditions, such as ultrahigh electromagnetic fields, temperatures, and pressures that represent the frontier of science in studying matter in the Universe.
  
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- People
  Led by principal investigators from the nation’s leading universities, the NSF OPAL team is working to design and prototype the key technologies necessary for a state-of-the-art laser facility.
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- News and Events
  NSF OPAL news and event updates.
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  Discover different ways to stay involved with the NSF OPAL project.
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Resources

October 22, 2025

LLE and NSF OPAL Leadership Visit ELI Beamlines in Czechia to Strengthen Global Collaboration in High-Field Laser Science

Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) Director, Chris Deeney, and NSF OPAL Project Director, Jon Zuegel, visited the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Beamlines facility near Prague, Czechia.

September 4, 2025

Post-CDR Community Update

During this event, the Project Team provided an update to the community about the status of the facility design following the Conceptual Design Review (CDR) held in April.

Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester: Where Education Meets Innovation

NSF OPAL is discussed in a video highlighting the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) with Executive Office emblem in background.

January 15, 2025

Franklin Dollar Receives 2025 PECASE

Franklin Dollar, NSF OPAL Co-PI, has been honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest recognition from the U.S. Government for early-career researchers.

December 23, 2024

How POWERFUL of a Laser Can We Make?

NSF OPAL project Co-PI, Franklin Dollar, recently appeared in an NSF video talking about lasers, high power lasers, and Death Stars.

November 9, 2024

NSF OPAL: Laser System Design and Critical Technologies

NSF OPAL Lead Laser Scientist Jake Bromage provides an overview of the laser architecture and cutting-edge technologies that form the foundation of the NSF OPAL system.

Donna Strickland and Douglas Dykaar visit LLE in September, 2024.

October 8, 2024

An Inspiring Visit from Donna Strickland

Nobel laureate Donna Strickland and her husband Douglas Dykaar visited with the NSF OPAL (Optical Parametric Amplifier Line) design team at LLE.

August 30, 2024

NSF OPAL Flagship Experiment Selection Report

The Flagship Selection Report details the selection of experiments that will guide the NSF OPAL midscale research infrastructure (RI-1) project that will design and prototype critical systems for a new,…

Is a gamma-ray laser possible?

Led by NSF OPAL Co-PI Antonino Di Piazza, a team of researchers have secured National Science Foundation funding in collaboration with colleagues from ELI Beamlines in the Czech Republic to…

September 25, 2023

NSF Announcement of RI-1 Awards

The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Rochester nearly $18 million over three years to design and prototype key technologies for the NSF OPAL facility. https://reactoonzpelit.com/ crypto exchange…

November 23, 2022

MP3 Workshop Report

The Multi-Petawatt Physics Prioritization (MP3) Workshop Report captures the outcomes from a community-initiated workshop held April 20-22, 2022 at Sorbonne University in Paris, France.