ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A multimillion-dollar project that was years in the making is now open for business at the University of Rochester.

It’s an expansion of the university’s laboratory for laser energetics, built to develop and house some of the world’s largest lasers. 

Lab director Christopher Deney hosted tours of the new space, showing visitors where the new lasers and other projects will go.

“I call Rochester the photon city," said Deney. "You can go back to Kodak Eastman to today; laser and optics are at the heart of everything this city does."

The new space gives students and faculty more room for collaboration on projects, including working to create next generation optics and harvesting energy from nuclear fusion.

"They represent phenomology in areas we deal with on the defense side where you’re talking about conditions where a nuclear system may be operating," said Mark Suriano, from the national nuclear security administration. 

It’s not just U of R students using this space. The lab has partnerships with other colleges and high schools in the area as well as with researchers around the world. A total of 450 jobs were created through the lab's expansion.

Deney estimates that the work and funding coming into the lab bring in 1,000 new jobs to the Rochester area each year.