Major laser: the brightest light in the universe, photographed B-movie style

When Texas photographer Robert Shults gained unprecedented access to a Petawatt laser - which can create temperatures 1,000 times hotter than the centre of the sun - he drew on his favourite sci-fi films to show the facility in action

It is hard to evoke the wondrous power of the Petawatt laser, an example of which is found in a laboratory three storeys underground at the University of Texas.

If focused for an instant (one 10th of a trillionth of a second) on a spot one 10th the width of a human hair, it produces the brightest light in the universe - brighter than that created by black-hole-driven explosions. When targeted into a gas, the 1000tn-watt laser can create temperatures 1,000 times hotter than the centre of the sun.