The Vulcan 20-20 is being built at the Central Laser Facility (CLF), part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory campus in south Oxfordshire.
It will become one of the most powerful lasers in the world once operational, with an energy output of 20 petawatts.
Professor John Collier, director of the Central Laser Facility, said: “Vulcan has been the flagship laser at CLF for many years and widely recognised internationally as a pioneering research facility.
“This major upgrade of Vulcan will help secure UK leadership in High Energy Density Science as well as offering UK industry and researchers access to advanced technology development to aid UK growth.”
The Central Laser Facility uses high-powered lasers to study plasma, the fourth state of matter.
Their research spans physics, chemistry and biology.
The Vulcan 20-20 will be a 20-fold upgrade of the CLF’s previous Vulcan laser, and will feature eight high-energy beams with an output of up to 20 kilojoules.
This will make it not only the brightest laser ever built at the CLF, but one of the most powerful anywhere on the planet.
The facility has received £85 million from UK Research and Innovation for the upgrade programme.
Construction is now underway on the substructure of the new building.
The laser will support research into laser-driven fusion for clean energy, and will be used by a new generation of scientists in cutting-edge experiments.
Planned experiments include creating matter-antimatter pairs using strong electromagnetic fields, usually only found in space, and studying a new particle acceleration method for potential ion radiotherapy treatments to treat cancer.
Professor Collier said the Vulcan 20-20 laser will keep the UK at the forefront of laser research and high energy density science.
The facility’s broader mission includes collaboration with academic and industrial partners to advance science and technology for the benefit of society.
The UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) funds and supports research in particle and nuclear physics, astronomy, gravitational research and astrophysics, and space science and also operates a network of five national laboratories as well as supporting UK research at a number of international research facilities including CERN, FERMILAB and the ESO telescopes in Chile.
STFC is keeping the UK at the forefront of international science and has a broad science portfolio and works with the academic and industrial communities to share its expertise.