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A new breed of compact particle accelerators, capable of producing electron-beam energies in the GeV range, could soon bring some of the experimental power of synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers to a tabletop near you.

The article focuses on physicist Félicie Albert and her use of lasers to explore the most extreme forms of matter known to nature at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. Topics include a description of the giant laser housed in the NIF facility, Albert's use of the laser wakefield acceleration technique to coax Titan laser into generating betatron X-rays, and the multiple pulses fired by Titancan in a day.