Researchers in Japan demonstrated a new way to combine ultrashort laser pulses, reaching a reported peak power of 1.2 terawatts. That is a major result for the beam-combining method, but it is not a new world-leading laser facility: terawatt power is below petawatt power, and the researchers describe exawatt-class output only as a future possibility.
What did the researchers achieve?
Japan’s National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), working with Doshisha University, reported a proof-of-principle experiment that combined laser beams at a peak power of 1.2 terawatts (1.2 × 1012 watts). QST said this was about three orders of magnitude—roughly 1,000 times—above prior reported peak-power results for beam-combining methods. The announcement was published September 1, 2026, U.S. time, and the work appeared online in Optics Letters that day. QST’s announcement
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The distinction matters: the result is a demonstration of a technique, not the unveiling of a new operating laser facility that has been established as the world’s most powerful. QST itself notes that the highest peak power among laser systems worldwide is in the petawatt range.
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One way to raise a laser’s output is to enlarge its optical components and beam aperture, but QST says that approach is nearing practical limits. The alternative is to combine multiple beams while keeping their phases aligned, so their light adds coherently rather than interfering unpredictably.
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The team placed a high-power solid-state amplifier inside a Sagnac interferometer. In this arrangement, split pulses travel along equal optical path lengths, which passively aligns their phases. According to QST, this avoids active feedback control—a particular challenge when working with very short pulses. The reported 1.2-terawatt result shows what this proof-of-principle setup achieved; it does not establish that future systems will scale without additional engineering challenges.
How powerful is 1.2 terawatts compared with today’s largest lasers?
Laser power figures are meaningful only when the comparison identifies what is being measured. Peak power describes a pulse’s maximum instantaneous output; a facility’s status or a combined-beam demonstration is a different kind of claim. The figures below are not a single global ranking.
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| Figure | What it describes | Status and scope |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2 terawatts | Peak power in QST and Doshisha’s coherent beam-combining proof of principle | Demonstrated in 2026; a method result, not a facility ranking. QST |
| 2 petawatts | Peak power reported for a University of Michigan ZEUS user experiment | Reported by the U.S. National Science Foundation in June 2025; NSF called ZEUS the most powerful laser in the United States at that time. NSF, 2025 |
| Highest-power laser in the U.S. | NSF’s description of ZEUS as it entered full-power operations | Facility status announced in September 2026; this is a U.S. claim, not a comprehensive worldwide comparison. NSF, 2026 |
| 10 petawatts operational; 100 petawatts under construction | Field-level overview of high-power laser facilities | Stated in a 2026 review abstract; not a complete live inventory or a statistic about QST’s experiment. 2026 review abstract |
A petawatt is 1015 watts, while a terawatt is 1012 watts; an exawatt is 1018 watts. Thus, 1.2 terawatts is below one petawatt. These are peak-power comparisons, not claims about average power delivered continuously.
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Does the result mean an exawatt laser is coming?
No exawatt output was demonstrated. QST says that combining more beams could let output scale with beam count and open a route toward exawatt-class systems; this is a proposed future extension, not an achieved power level. Broader field context also points to a substantial gap: a 2026 review abstract describes 10-petawatt lasers as operational and a 100-petawatt facility as under construction, while treating exawatt lasers as a future frontier. 2026 review abstract
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What could the technique be used for?
QST identifies extreme-matter science and smaller particle accelerators as potential applications. Those are prospects for future research or industry, not outcomes demonstrated by this experiment. The work received support through Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grant-in-Aid project JP21K8149, according to QST. QST’s announcement
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