Abstract: A system for producing ultra-high peak power pulses employs a plurality of solid state amplifying materials, such as Nd:glass, alexandrite, and Ti:sapphire, to achieve stretching of a pulse prior to amplification by a factor of approximately between 100 and 10,000. The time-stretched pulse is amplified by many orders of magnitude, illustratively 10.sup.9. After time-stretching and amplification, the pulse is then recompressed to its original duration. Pumping of the multiple solid-state elements is performed simultaneously using an alexandrite laser which is tunable between approximately 700 and 800 nm. The pumping energy has a pulse duration which is less than the fluorescence lifetime of the excited solid-state media.