A laser energy system has allowed scientists to achieve fusion ignition

Nuclear fusion, where the nuclei of two atoms are combined, can produce near-limitless clean energy, but requires extreme conditions to kickstart because of the natural repulsion of atomic nuclei.

Stimulating electrons to emit identical photons produces lasers

This effect was predicted by Albert Einstein in 1917, and requires all excited electrons in a material to exist in the same excited metastable state within their atoms. Pumping all atoms through the same mechanism, such as electricity or flash lamps, can create this environment.

The first nuclear reactor was built three years after nuclear fission was discovered

After learning that large atomic nuclei release energy upon being split apart, scientists quickly researched how to control the reaction to make electricity. Fusion—combining small atomic nuclei—generates massive energy in stars and hydrogen bombs.

Scientists have proposed using lasers to push space trash into Earth's atmosphere

Such projects would allow most debris to burn up and no longer pose a risk to active satellites, telescopes, and astronauts on space stations. Enacting these plans would require substantial investments from private and governmental space agencies and overcoming international laws that prevent the removal of another country's space equipment.

How to cook food with lasers

Creative Machines Lab at Columbia Engineering have developed a system of software-controlled lasers to cook food with precision, retain moisture with the final-cooked product, brown food within its original packaging, and create an entirely new meal creation process for a consumer. Watch this three-minute video to see for yourself.

Scientists have diverted the path of lightning using lasers

A proof of concept for a laser protection system, which could be used to protect launchpads and airports in the future, was conducted on the Säntis mountain in northeastern Switzerland. Rapid laser pulses heated air molecules, creating a more conductive, 50-meter (164-foot) path for the electrical discharge to travel through.

Through sonoluminescence, concentrated sound waves can produce short, high-intensity flashes of light by rapidly collapsing microscopic bubbles to temperatures up to twice that of the sun's surface.

What fuels the sun?

The sun is our biggest source of heat and light, but how does this massive powerhouse continue to produce such amazing energy? Basically, it's a fusion reactor. At its core the sun produces all that solar energy through hydrogen fusing and converting into helium, over and over again. Learn more about the entire amazing and explosive process here.

While both are nuclear weapons, atomic bombs release nuclear energy by splitting large atomic nuclei, whereas hydrogen bombs derive most of their energy from fusing heavy hydrogen isotopes.

Some materials can absorb low-energy light and emit high-energy radiation

Through anti-Stokes cooling, incoming energy is combined with vibrations in a material's crystal lattice to produce a net reduction in its temperature. Using this effect, lasers can be directed at microchip hot spots to help keep data centers cool.

Lasers have been used to create natural adhesives for paper

German researchers at four Fraunhofer institutes have developed a method to seal paper packaging using a carbon monoxide laser. Without the need for glue or plastic adhesives, the Papure project is expected to improve the recyclability of paper. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Fusion reactions and radioactive decay produce elements inside stars

Hydrogen, present since the early universe, serves as fuel for the proton-proton chain, producing helium, which is then incorporated into the CNO cycle to produce carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Additional fusions of helium with these elements and subsequent decays via the alpha ladder produce elements up to iron and bismuth.

Lasers could be the most cost-effective tool for clearing dangerous space debris

A NASA study found that lasers from ground- and space-based systems could utilize the momentum of light to safely push smaller debris out of their orbits. These systems would need to be accompanied by amendments to international space law, which prevents any nation from touching debris from another country, among other strategies.

Visualize what happens to atoms during nuclear fission and how the process produces energy

Nuclear fission occurs when an unstable, often massive, atomic nucleus splits into smaller ones—daughter atoms—and releases energy. Within a nuclear reactor, these daughter atoms can collide and combine with neighboring atoms, destabilizing them and triggering a chain reaction of atomic splitting.

Lasers can be used to reduce the motion of atoms because particles of light—photons—can collide with particles of matter, as billiard balls do, to slow them down.

Space probes propelled by lasers may one day visit distant planetary systems

Launched in 2016, Breakthrough Starshot is a project to send gram-sized spacecraft to the nearest stars and their planets at 10% to 20% the speed of light after being accelerated by ground-based laser systems. The project requires orders of magnitude advancements to current technology.

If they could be built, antimatter drives, which run on energy released from the collision of matter and antimatter particles, would be the most efficient engines in existence.

Watch an artist's impression of two neutron stars merging in a kilonova explosion

Such an event produces enough light to briefly outshine an entire galaxy and to produce characteristic gravitational wave and gamma-ray signals. On August 17, 2017, these signals were captured by the LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL observatories, respectively, from a kilonova about 130 million light-years away.

NASA uses a specialized plasma wind tunnel to test heat shield technology

The ArcJet Complex ionizes compressed air that fires onto shields at hypersonic speeds, replicating the conditions of high-speed, planetary reentry. An enhanced facility incorporates lasers to mimic the radiant heating experienced during high-energy atmospheric traversal.

The formation of a neutron star through a core collapse lasts one-tenth of a second

Massive stars keep fusing heavier and heavier elements in their cores to produce energy that pushes against the weight of the star itself. However, the fusion of silicon into iron consumes energy and initiates a feedback loop that rapidly compresses the stellar core, creating neutrons and neutrinos from the combination of electrons and protons.

A beam of neutrinos can be created by firing a beam of high-energy protons at a target to produce unstable particles that decay into neutrinos.

Before 1932, when particle accelerators were first used for nuclear research, scientists relied on naturally radioactive substances to advance their understanding of the atomic nucleus.

Nuclear-powered missiles replace chemical combustion with energy from nuclear fission

In these systems, energy is added to an airstream, which passes through a nozzle to generate thrust. Because the amount of energy released per unit mass of nuclear fuel is millions of times larger than that of chemical propellants, nuclear missiles can travel faster and farther with less fuel.

The High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider will provide a tenfold increase in particle collisions compared with the initial LHC infrastructure by increasing the number of ions in collision bundles and by concentrating the ion beams.

The H-bomb is hundreds of times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima

Unlike the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, which relied on nuclear fission, the hydrogen bomb uses fusion to unleash vastly greater destructive power. Developed by both superpowers in the 1950s, it gave each the ability to destroy entire cities in seconds.

At the Large Hadron Collider, scientists have transformed lead into gold—a process known as chrysopoeia, which alchemists sought for centuries.

The origin of LASIK eye surgery, from a lab incident to federal funding and widespread use

After a University of Michigan engineering student suffered retinal burns from an ultrashort pulse laser, researchers realized it could be used to reshape the cornea and improve a person's vision with greater precision than a scalpel and earlier laser technologies. Agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Energy, provided funding to develop and commercialize the procedure.

Laser technology powers communication, medical and manufacturing tools

Lasers are used when scanning groceries, printing documents or undergoing cosmetic procedures to enhance efficiency, precision and accuracy. Missile defense, targeting and optical communication systems have made using laser technology habitual in the military.

Scientists can create movies of atomic and molecular phenomena using X-ray free-electron lasers, in which images are produced by matter being struck by high-intensity light created by accelerating electrons.

In an X-ray free-electron laser, electromagnetic fields are used to accelerate and move electrons in wiggling patterns, causing them to emit synchronized, high-energy X-rays. This resulting light beam can strike targets up to 120 times per second to create movies of changing molecular structures and phenomena.

Since 2026, the Large Hadron Collider has provided heat to thousands of French homes and businesses through a system that harnesses hot water from the accelerator's cooling circuits.

Visualizing the chemistry of nuclear weapons

Nuclear weapons have devastating effects, but the science of how they work is atomically small. There are two main types of nuclear reaction: fission and fusion. The fission bomb produces immense energy by splitting an atom, the result of firing a...

With a reported value of $20M per kilogram, space resource extraction companies are seeking to harvest helium-3 from the moon for its potential use in clean nuclear fusion.

How helium greatly improves the efficiency of barcode-scanning lasers

Rather than directly energizing neon atoms, electrical discharge at lower, more practical power levels can excite helium atoms to energy levels nearly equal to those in neon atoms. Within a helium-neon laser, these gases are present in a 10-to-1 ratio, enabling helium to efficiently transfer energy to neon, which is then discharged as red light.

Particle accelerators propel matter toward small targets at high speed

Devices like cathode-ray tube televisions were once basic particle accelerators, but modern ones, such as the Large Hadron Collider, use massive magnetic fields and circular tunnels to achieve energies high enough to recreate the conditions just after the big bang.

Despite fears of creating black holes, the Large Hadron Collider produces collisions with energies of 13.6 trillion electronvolts, about one million times smaller than the energy needed to create the lightest possible black holes.

Explore the components of the linear particle accelerator at Los Alamos

Located at the site of bomb design and development for the Manhattan Project, LANSCE features an injector system for hydrogen ions, a series of tanks with alternating electric fields for proton acceleration, and an isotope production facility that creates radioisotopes for medical treatments.

Learn about five of the largest particle accelerators on Earth, which, as of 2026, are led by the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Watch how the machine at the heart of NASA's Cold Atom Lab produces atoms near absolute zero—the coldest theoretical temperature in the universe—for experiments involving quantum phenomena.

Lasers help build the layers of circuit components in microchips

During the photolithography process, light is projected through a blueprint onto a light-sensitive chemical layer on silicon wafers, etching patterns that become transistors through a series of successive reactions. These processes require significant electricity, as only about 2% of photons reach the wafer.

Watch a visualization of a fission chain reaction

When a neutron collides with an atom, it is absorbed into the nucleus. If the resulting nucleus is unstable, it can undergo a series of decays that turn it into a less massive nucleus while releasing energy and other particles.

At the Large Hadron Collider, protons are accelerated so close to the speed of light that they would lag behind a laser by just 10 feet after 14 minutes of travel.

Photons emitted via stimulated emission have identical characteristics

When confined to a pair of mirrors, a single photon passing a region of population-inverted atoms can produce a chain reaction of monochromatic light. This chain reaction amplifies the initial photon, from which lasers get their name: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Solar sails use light as a means of propulsion

Photons possess momentum and can transfer it to objects they strike or bounce off, imparting radiative pressure, or a light-based force over a small surface area. Lasers fired at observational equipment with specially designed sails can theoretically use this mechanism to accelerate up to 20% the speed of light.

How to make your own DIY ionic thruster

In the search for more efficient, sustainable types of propulsive thrust, scientists have dabbled in developing engines using ionic thrust, a type of propulsion using the attractive force of oppositely charged ions. First introduced by a Russian...

View a step-by-step breakdown of how helium is forged in stars alongside antimatter

During the proton-proton chain, four hydrogen nuclei—protons—are fused together to create an alpha particle—a helium nucleus—and produce the energy that supports a star's own weight. Through radioactive decay, two of these protons become neutrons, with each releasing an antielectron, or positron, and an electron neutrino.

Mixed reality technology helped make repairs to a quantum physics facility in space

In 2021, astronaut Megan McArthur used a HoloLens to work alongside Earth-based engineers and make hardware replacements to the International Space Station's Cold Atom Lab, the first quantum science facility in Earth orbit. The facility cools atoms to near absolute zero to perform quantum chemistry experiments in a microgravity environment.

Scientists are experimenting with ways to probe the multiverse theory

Researchers are simulating vacuum bubbles—the theorized starting points of universes—using quantum computers, digital models, and exotic lab setups to study how they form, expand, and possibly collide. One experiment aims to "blow" artificial universe-like bubbles inside ultra-cold quantum gases, potentially capturing real-time glimpses of cosmic birth processes in a lab.

How a quantum quirk allowed neutral atoms to form soon after the Big Bang

At the beginning of the universe, high-energy photons prevented atomic nuclei from combining with electrons to form neutral atoms. Rather than waiting for the universe to expand and cool completely, a rare quantum phenomenon—a two-photon transition—allowed neutral hydrogen atoms to form sooner, expediting the formation of stars, planets, and life.

Oxygen is produced in the International Space Station from recycled water, which is split into hydrogen and oxygen gases using an electric current.

How gold, platinum, and many rare earth elements form during neutron star mergers

While massive stars naturally fuse elements as heavy as iron, an analysis of gravitational waves from the collision of two neutron stars revealed that more massive elements are created in this environment via rapid neutron capture—the r-process. This phenomenon sees existing iron nuclei absorb plentiful free neutrons, many of which decay into protons, creating new elements.