World's Most Powerful Laser - Power to "burn as hot as a star"

[Alexizupinhea]

Just thought many of you laser enthusiasts (like myself) would enjoy reading this FASCINATING article about the "super laser" in California which may lead to groundbreaking discoveries.

Rather than me talking more about it... read it for yourself !

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090530/ts_alt_afp/usitresearchmilitarylaser_20090530082418

 

[Deleted member 8382]

wow, pretty amazing. really interesting

 

[GoRdOn_B]

Awww... Beat me to it

"Equipment connected to a house-sized sphere can focus 192 laser beams on a small point, generating temperatures and pressures that exist at cores of stars or giant planets."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.12fab6f6c00a65e15e6fb5e305aacbb7.41&show_article=1

 

[nikokapo]

The first link looks like it lacks scientific quotes, it's all like "Hey we've got a James Bond laser cutter lol!"

 

[HanMan5000]

I wanna touch it

 

[Alexizupinhea]

It sounds pretty awesome... I'd love to see more pics and hear more about it!

 

[Schrecken_Licht]

Here's a narrated slide show about it:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10255167-76.html

 

[Alexizupinhea]

thanks for the link^^ It was very interesting to watch

 

[ElektroFreak]

Good ol' NIF. Anyone got any D/T pellets?

 

[Elektrotechniker]

so what power does it output?

 

[Asherz]

can it light a match? that is the question.

 

[larrball]

This is a good read.

http://www.laserfocusworld.com/disp...combine-to-form-powerful,-high-brightness-bea

 

[HIMNL9]

can it light a match? that is the question.

No, it can't.

In fact, the match just become vaporized before that it can also start to light, so, technically, it can't do that .....

 

[ChukiDori]

Fuck that. The Free Electron Laser is where its at.

Have yall heard about it?

Boeing is fronting like hundreds of millions to develop a compact FEL laser for ship deployment.

Unlike solid state diode and gas lasers it uses an oscillating free electron beam in magnetic confinement as the lasing medium, actually using the electron stream it self to generate photons. Output goals are in the 10,000 KW range (SUSTAINABLE) and it can be tuned to any wavelength simply by adjusting the magnetic confinment or the electron stream itself so it can be used in a variety of environments.

Im sure right now its also the size of a house...but they don't have to converge "Multiple beams" and it can burn shit for more than a thousandth of a second.

 

[Laserburn]

No, it can't.

In fact, the match just become vaporized before that it can also start to light, so, technically, it can't do that .....

Excellent!! BTW i dont wanna touch it...I WANT IT!!!!:drool:

 

[cybob101]

i will take 2, one for me, one for my shadow