An ultra-high-intensity laser system, DIOCLES, was built at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study the interactions of light with matter at the highest attainable field strengths. It has the highest combination of peak power and repetition rate of any laser in the U.S., 100 TW at 10 Hz. When focused, it is capable of directly increasing an electron's mass relativistically by 20 times.
Behlen Laboratory is a 5,000-square-foot facility of white walls and stainless steel, built to the highest technical specifications.
We are one of ten high-intensity laser labs in the LaserNetUS user-facility network.
Dr. Donald Umstadter established and directs the laboratory, where his studies involved highly relativistic laser-matter interactions with petawatt-power and femtosecond-duration laser light.