- August 21, 2026
- By Georgia Jiang
For a fraction of a trillionth of a second, the world’s most powerful lasers can concentrate light into a tiny spot a few millionths of a meter across. In that instant, focused laser pulses recreate conditions that otherwise only exist in the crushing interiors of stars and giant planets and the extreme electromagnetic fields of the early universe.
These lasers provide a unique opportunity for physicists to investigate a host of fundamental properties of nature and assorted mysteries of the universe, but such studies are inhibited today because physicists have no reliable way to measure the intensity of these focused pulses each time the laser fires—all known materials are destroyed by such focused power.
Without precise intensity measurements, these lasers cannot be used to compare theory against experiment, which is essential to understanding the underlying physics. Wendell T. Hill III, professor and director of the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland, is working to tackle that problem.
Hill will lead a team in the Diagnostics for Extreme-LIGHT (DELIGHT) program, a new $4.5 million, six-institution initiative funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and directed by University of Nevada, Reno Physics Chair Thomas White. The program will build precision instruments and computer models needed to turn extremely powerful laser shots into science that researchers can quantify.
DELIGHT comprises six complementary efforts, including real-time feedback systems that diagnose and correct distortions in a laser's focus at full power, detectors fast enough to keep pace with lasers that fire many times a second and simulation tools that predict what a given experiment should see.
Hill will lead the effort on pulse optimization and focal spot assessment, which targets the measurement problem directly.
“The cross-fertilization inherent in working together gives us a chance to design and build a larger collection of interesting and useful tools than would be possible if we were working individually,” Hill said.