Photo courtesy of Colorado State University

A rendering of the new laser research facility being built on Colorado State University’s Foothills Campus.

 Construction activity started recently on a powerful new laser research facility on Colorado State University's Foothills Campus.

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.

The new building will be known as the Advanced Technology Lasers for Applications and Science (ATLAS) Facility. A major topic of research there will be laser-driven fusion as a viable clean energy source.

Construction on the project will be managed by Tetrad Corp. with McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. serving as the general contractor and SWBR leading design. The 71,000-sq.-ft. facility will feature more than 7,500 cu. yds. of concrete — including 5-ft.-thick shielding walls around the target bay and a 3-ft.-thick slab below the laser and target bays for vibration isolation.

Photo courtesy of Colorado State University

The lab spaces will feature clean rooms up to ISO 6 / Class 1,000, and the HVAC systems will maintain extremely tight temperature and humidity tolerances to keep the laser systems functioning properly.

Fusion energy is a form of power generation that aims to recreate the process that powers the sun by fusing atomic nuclei together. If successful, laser-driven fusion energy promises to safely generate practically unlimited, sustainable, carbon-free energy. When finished, the facility will feature an upgraded version of an existing ultrahigh power laser developed at CSU in combination with two new lasers provided by Marvel Fusion.

The new structure will be located near existing laser research-focused buildings and will house related labs and offices. Taken together, the project is a major expansion of space and capabilities for the university.

The ATLAS Facility will be a unique cluster of high-intensity, high-repetition rate lasers that can be configured to fire simultaneously at a single fusion target. That burst will deliver nearly 7 petawatts of power — over 5,000 times the electrical generation capacity of the U.S. —into a focal spot roughly the width of a human hair for approximately 100 quadrillionths of a second. The trio of ultra-high-power lasers also can be used independently and in other combinations to study questions beyond fusion energy, including key topics in fundamental research.

Parsons said the university has been at the forefront of laser research for years, and the facility would support ongoing leadership for many more.

The combined existing and new facilities will now be known collectively as the Advanced Laser for Extreme Photonics (ALEPH) Center.

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