Scientists in Japan had a blast—literally—when they test shot what is believed to be the world's most powerful laser beam.
Researchers from the Institute of Laser Engineering at the Osaka University conducted an experiment and found the Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) to be the planet's most powerful laser.
The LFEX, which does not take up much energy, has a 2-petawatt pulse. For merely one-trillionth of a second, that equals 2 quadrillion watts. Even if you put together all of the world's electricity consumption, the power of the LFEX is still much greater by 1,000 times.
In the experiment, the researchers used devices such as glass lamps that looked like fluorescent tubes through which the laser beam passed. These glass lamps repeatedly amplified the beam's power. The experiment went on continuously until the team came to a record when it was test fired, releasing a 2-petawatt pulse.
Ironically, the energy it releases is equivalent to the amount of power it takes to get a microwave running for just two seconds.
In physics, power—in this case, watt—is equivalent to energy over time. The Laser Engineering team at Osaka was looking at a time span of a pico-second, or one-trillionth of a second. The LFEX actually only took up more or less a couple of hundred joules. The glass lamps amplified the beam, turning it into quite a massive amount of power.
According to Junji Kawanaka, associate professor of electrical engineering, the intensifying worldwide competition to improve lasers is pushing their team to increase results to a much more massive 10 petawatts.
Including its observation apparatus, the world's most powerful laser beam has a length of 300 feet. It has a set of four devices that amplify the laser beam, and was completed last year.
Photo: Jeff Keyzer | Flickr
