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The figures are mind-boggling. The world's most powerful laser is capable of generating pulses of 10 petawatts that's 10 million billion watts lasting just 20 femtoseconds, or 20 millionths of a billionth of a second. This milestone was reached at the ELI-NP (Extreme Light Infrastructure for Nuclear Physics), a scientific research facility in Romania, and for Thales, it's an endorsement of more than 30 years of consistent innovation in high peak power laser technology.
The origins of this leadership date back to the early 1990s, when Thales made the strategic decision to explore and develop the concept of pulsed radiation and solid-state lasers. While its researchers expanded on the established technology of direct amplification using diode-pumped or flashlamp-pumped nanosecond high-energy lasers, the company also chose to pioneer a second approach known as Chirped Pulse Amplification, or CPA. This new technique paved the way for ultrashort-pulse (femtosecond) lasers capable of achieving unprecedented peak power levels, and would earn Thales's research partner Gérard Mourou the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018.
The lasers from Mars
Thales has deep academic roots in this field and its scientific leadership is no coincidence.
"We are building on this legacy today through a number of important partnerships, in particular in France with the CNRS and École Polytechnique"
Christophe Simon-Boisson - Expert in scientific and industrial lasers at Thales's Land and Air Systems business
The objective today is to adapt these technologies to meet emerging needs in industry, medicine, space, energy and other key areas, with a particular focus on nuclear fusion. "And the road ahead is strewn with challenges" says Christophe Simon-Boisson,"such as increasing average power in other words pulse energy times repetition rate at the same time as making the lasers smaller and more efficient."
Thales's power lasers have long made the journey from the science lab into the worlds of industry and space. On Earth, they are used to manufacture semiconductors and flat screens. In space, they are roaming the Red Planet aboard NASA's Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, helping to analyse the composition of the Martian soil. In fact, for the Mars project, Thales adapted an existing product from its catalogue to meet the demands of the Martian environment, leveraging years of work by the company's research centres.
Accelerating particle acceleration
Another of the fields where Thales is breaking new ground, and no doubt one of the most closely watched today, is inertial confinement fusion, otherwise known as laser fusion. The ultimate goal here is to build gigawatt-class nuclear fusion power plants driven by high-energy-efficiency lasers a huge technological challenge that Thales has chosen to tackle head-on.
Particle generation and acceleration through laser-plasma interaction has similarly game-changing potential. Here, the question of size is especially critical. "A conventional accelerator needs two kilometres to reach 10 gigaelectronvolts, but a femtosecond laser can achieve the same energy in just a few metres" explains Christophe Simon-Boisson. "For the time being, this is very much a physicist's problem, but the potential for tangible applications is becoming clearer and clearer." The next step will be to increase the repetition rates so that femtosecond lasers can close the performance gap with conventional accelerators.
The industrial dimension is already starting to take shape. In the summer of 2025, Thales signed a groundbreaking partnership agreement with TAU Systems, a US company developing next-generation ultra-fast laser-plasma accelerators, to create a new market for complete laser-driven particle and radiation sources capable of generating electrons, neutrons, X-rays and gamma rays. This type of system could have a wide range of applications, such as imaging of semiconductor structures, radiation testing of space electronics components, and the development of cancer therapies or advanced medical imaging techniques.
Revolutionising industrial radiography
There are other potential benefits too. Next-generation femtosecond lasers are expected to transform industrial radiography, with levels of precision that are unthinkable today.
"They will allow us to create exceptionally fine X-ray beams, opening up new possibilities for non-destructive testing"
Christophe Simon-Boisson - Product Line Architect Scientific & Industrial Lasers
It's an innovation that would be of particular interest to the nuclear industry and for inspecting shipping containers. For container inspection applications, Thales is already a partner on the EU-funded MULTISCAN 3D project.
A bridge between civil and defence lasers
To stay at the cutting edge of innovation, Thales can count on a team of around fifty highly qualified employees. At its scale, this is a niche but a key one given the stakes involved.
"The civil dimension is a key driver of innovation, giving us access to advanced optical and laser expertise that then proves extremely valuable to the defence sector"
Tugdual Le Bouar - Director of Laser Systems and Solutions at Thales
The innovation dynamic around lasers is opening up regular recruitment opportunities at Thales. "We are actively recruiting in this field and working closely with the academic world to attract young PhD graduates and photonics experts" says Tugdual Le Bouar. "The sheer range of our innovation projects and partnerships with academic research institutes makes us a particularly attractive proposition for young engineers, offering them a unique opportunity to work alongside the world's leading experts in the high-stakes field of high-power lasers."
About Thales
Thales (thalesgroup.com) is a global leader in advanced technologies for the Defence, Aerospace, and Cyber & Digital sectors. Its portfolio of innovative products and services helps address several major challenges: sovereignty, security, sustainability and inclusion.
The Group allocates €4.5 billion per year in Research & Development in key areas, particularly for critical environments, such as Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Quantum and Cloud technologies.
Thales has more than 85,000 employees in 65 countries. In 2025, the Group generated sales of €22.1 billion.
Recent images of Thales and its Defense, Aerospace and Cyber & Digital activities can be found on the Thales Media Library. For any specific requests, please contact the Media Relations team.
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