THE PETAWATT is the name for what is currently the world's most powerful laser, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It can produce pulses of 1.3 quadrillion (peta) watts for half a trillionth of a second, more than 1300 times the entire electrical generating capacity of the US, if only for a short time. At the upcoming American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics meeting, Steve Hatchett of Livermore (925-422-5916) will describe how the laser can produce highly improved, sub-millimeter resolution images of objects through almost 6 inches of lead (papers B1S.06 and B1I2.03). Shining the laser on a gold target, Tom Cowan (925-422-9678) of Livermore and his colleagues have ejected electrons with as much as 100 MeV energy, a new record for electrons coming from a solid (K6F.02). When these electrons were made to decelerate rapidly and release high-energy photons as a result, the researchers observed the photons to induce nuclear fission of uranium-238. Although such "photofission" has been seen before, the Petawatt may allow scientists to do newly detailed studies of nuclear processes. (Meeting program at www.aps.org/BAPSDPP98/) )