The Vulcan laser is an 8-beam 2.5 kJ per (~2 nanosecond) pulse infrared neodymium glass laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's Central Laser Facility in Oxfordshire England. Vulcan is also capable of operating in frequency doubled mode where it can deliver about 1 kJ to a target at 532 nm in 2 ns pulses. One of Vulcan's beams is also available as an ultra-short pulse (~800 femtosecond) ultra-high intensity beam using chirped pulse amplification called the "Vulcan petawatt". Main uses for Vulcan and Vulcan petawatt are the investigation of high intensity light-matter coupling experiments and inertial confinement fusion experiments including the investigation of the "fast ignition" scheme of target implosion.
