On 12-16, April, the 4th International Symposium on High Power Laser Science and Engineering (HPLSE2021) was held in Suzhou, which was organized by Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Academician Xian-Tu He, Academician Dianyuan Fan, and Dr. Colin Danson served as the co-chairs of the conference, and Prof. Jianqiang Zhu from SIOM served as the executive chair.

Over 350 attendees (online participants included) took part in HPLSE2021. 9 plenary talks, 80 invited talks, 71 oral talks, and 86 posters were accepted by the program committee. Speakers residing outside of mainland China recorded their speeches in advance.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Weibiao Chen, the Secretary of Party Committee of SIOM, and Jianda Shao, the director of SIOM, Prof. Jianqiang Zhu, and Dr. Colin made an opening remark respectively.

In the plenary session during 13-15, April, some famous scientists around the world made their speeches about their recent outstanding work, which include Academician Jie Zhang, Academician Xiantu-He, Prof. Jianqiang Zhu and Colin Danson from Imperial College London, Michael Campbell from University of Rochester, Ryosuke Kodama from Osaka University, Justin Wark from Oxford University, Peter Norreys from Oxford University and Olivier Chalus from THALES LAS France.

During the conference, some other academic activities were also organized like the 2nd Shenguang International Forum for Graduate Students and Shenguang user’ meeting.

Every two years, the Symposium brings together worldwide scientists and engineers on high power laser and physics to share their ideas. The main topics range from high energy density physics, high power laser, high power laser related components, and advanced laser technology and applications.