The Continuum laser business unit of GSI Group Inc. of Bedford, Mass., has been awarded a $4.8 million contract from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) to deliver a 400-J amplifier section for use in the Apollon high-energy laser program developed by the Institut de la Lumière Extrême of Palaiseau, France. The Apollon laser is designed to be the world's first 10-PW fs pulsed output sapphire laser system. The award is the result of a four-year program, funded in part by the French government, to develop a compact, high-energy laser pump module that operates at typical repetition rates approximately 20 times faster than conventional high-energy laser glass pump modules.