The Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science (CUOS) is an interdisciplinary research center in the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. CUOS was sponsored as a Science and Technology Center by the National Science Foundation during 1990-2001 by the 2018 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Prof. Gérard Mourou, and as a College of Engineering Center continues its research in ultrafast optics with funding from a variety of government agencies and industry. Its mission is to perform multidisciplinary research in the basic science and technological applications of ultrashort laser pulses, to educate students from a wide variety of backgrounds in the field, and to spur the development of new technologies.
These ultrafast lasers enable a tremendous range of applications in fundamental science and applied technology; further information on these applications may be found on About CUOS page, and details of specific research programs may be found under Research Groups. CUOS houses a 500-terrawatt HERCULES laser, which has held a Guinness world record of the highest focused intensity of 2×1022 W/cm2 for 10 consecutive years and is under expansion into the flagship high-intensity laser user facility in the United States, under name ZEUS (Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System). ZEUS will reach the peak power of 3 petawatts and is supported by the National Science Foundation.
