His research interests are in the physics and development of compact soft-ray lasers and their applications, the development of high power lasers, and the study of high intensity laser-matter interactions. He has published more than 250 peer-review journal articles in these topics. Prof. Rocca received the Arthur. L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science from the American Physical Society in 2011, and the Willis Lamb Prize for Laser Science and Quantum Optics in 2012. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America. He also received an IEEE LEOS Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2008. Early in his career he was an NSF Presidential Young Investigator.