High power laser community gathers in Scotland for ICUIL 2026

The 11th International Conference on Ultrahigh Intensity Lasers (ICUIL 2026), hosted by the CLF, is currently underway.

Large gathering of conference attendees on the staircase in the foyer of the Fairmont hotel.

Held in the historic town of St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland, UK, ICUIL is providing a venue for discussions among representatives of high-intensity laser facilities and members of user communities, on international collaborative activities such as the development of the next generation of ultrahigh intensity lasers, exploration of new areas of fundamental and applied research, and formation of a global research network for access to advanced facilities by users.

Conference topics

  • Multi-petawatt facilities and beyond
  • New enabling laser technologies, metrology and diagnostics
  • Novel laser-based particle and radiation sources
  • Combined sources (high power lasers with other drivers)
  • Application of secondary sources
  • Application of AI and Machine Learning in optimisation of lasers and secondary sources
  • Advancements and laser development for fusion
  • High harmonics, attosecond generation and few cycle lasers
  • High field science
  • Innovative optics, beam shaping, pulse engineering
Researcher operating laser technology at the Central Laser Facility

Attendees, many of whom have travelled internationally for this conference, range from senior academics to university students.

Alongside a week of talks, discussions and poster sessions, attendees have the unique opportunity visit both the Scottish Centre for the Application of Plasma-based Accelerators (SCAPA) in Glasgow and the the CLF’s Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC) in Oxfordshire.