Lasers

Lasers have a wide range of applications, from recreating the extreme conditions found in the centre of planets, to tracking the movement of drug molecules in living cells.

A laser is one of the most versatile and useful tools available to scientists. It is a device which amplifies light - by shining a light beam in at one end of a laser, a more intense beam emerges at the other and it can be produced in intense pulses.

The Central Laser Facility (link opens in a new window) (CLF) provides world class laser facilities to UK and international researchers. From advanced, compact tuneable lasers which can pinpoint individual particles to high power laser installations that recreate the conditions inside stars. A vigorous development programme ensures that the CLF maintains its international competitiveness.

• Central Laser Facility user liaison office (link opens in a new window)

Vulcan

Vulcan (link opens in a new window), a high energy neodymium-glass laser, is one of the highest-intensity focused laser in the world, capable of producing a beam with a focused intensity of 10²¹ watts per cm² (equivalent to all the sunshine falling on the Earth focused onto the end of a single human hair). This petawatt laser is available to the UK and international research community to support a wide-ranging programme in fundamental physics and advanced applications.

Astra-Gemini

Astra (link opens in a new window)is a high power, ultra-short pulse titanium-sapphire laser. With two experimental areas and focused intensities of up to 10²¹ watts per cm², it offers new and exciting opportunities to researchers investigating the interaction of high intensity laser light with matter.

Astra-Gemini is a new laser which started operating in September 2007. It is an internationally unique facility which will deliver two beams, each with a power of 0.5 petawatt. The two beams can be configured in different ways to enable scientists to carry out a broad range of experiments.

Astra-Gemini will be the highest intensity laser in the world.

• Astra Gemini (link opens in a new window)

Artemis

Artemis (link opens in a new window) is an ultrafast soft x-ray science facility based on high repetition rate, few optical cycle tuneable laser sources and ultra-fast XUV pulses, produced through high harmonic generation.

The Lasers for Science Facility

Lasers for Science Facility (link opens in a new window) provides a broad range of advanced lasers, laser-based techniques and expertise for physicists, chemists and biologists. Laser beams can be generated from the ultraviolet to the infrared and with pulse durations ranging from nanoseconds to femtoseconds.

Laser Loan Pool

The Laser Loan Pool (link opens in a new window) provides commercial laser systems and diagnostics for researchers in the UK academic community to enable them to carry out laser experiments at their own institutions (EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) funded).