Colorado State University is building one of the nation’s most powerful laser research facilities on its Foothills Campus. The Advanced Technology Lasers for Applications and Science Facility, known as ATLAS, will open in 2026. Construction started in October 2024.
Set to come online 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 industry leader Marvel Fusion that launched in 2023.
Cutting-edge laser research at CSU for 40 years
The building is part of a 40-year partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences Program in the Office of Science and a new strategic collaboration with industry leader Marvel Fusion.
CSU’s leadership in this area is driven largely by University Distinguished Professors Jorge Rocca and Carmen Menoni who are part of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Rocca, who is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, also holds a position in the Department of Physics, and Menoni in the Department of Chemistry.
Menoni also serves as director of RISE, a national Inertial Fusion Science and Technology hub that is focused on advancing inertial fusion energy.
“As a top institution recognized both for research and for sustainability, CSU is a fitting home for this facility. 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.”
Amy Parsons
President, Colorado State University
Myriad of possibilities for laser research
ATLAS researchers will investigate laser-driven fusion as a viable clean energy source. Beyond fusion and basic science research, the building will also support interdisciplinary work into topics like medicine where lasers could be used to deposit energy for localized tumor treatment.
CSU boasts one of the few high-power, ultrashort pulse lasers in the world capable of reproducing the process of fusion. Researchers will leverage CSU’s unique technology to provide the knowledge needed to develop this crucial carbon-free energy source.
Beyond laser-driven fusion for clean energy, lasers are central to the development of innovative technologies for basic research, advanced manufacturing, defense, medicine, and more.
"This is an exciting opportunity for laser-based science, a dream facility for discovery and advanced technology development with great potential for societal impact."
Jorge Rocca
Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering and Physics
About Laser Fusion
Fusion energy is a form of power generation that aims to recreate the process that powers the sun by fusing atomic nuclei together.
LaserNetUS
Colorado State University is part of LaserNetUS, a scientific ecosystem established by the U.S. Department of Energy to advance intense ultrafast laser science and applications.
The universe runs on fusion: the release of energy when two atoms collide. Harnessed on earth, fusion could generate unlimited clean energy to power cities and industries.
CSU’s current petawatt-class laser system can generate extreme conditions like those found at the center of stars.
The new laser facility will house a unique cluster of high-power, high-repetition lasers that have the potential to produce, for a brief amount of time, an astounding power of 6 petawatts – that’s about 6,000 times larger than the power produced by all power plants in the United States combined.
A petawatt is a quadrillion watts, equivalent to the power of 10 trillion 100-watt light bulbs.