What is the "most powerful" laser?

[L4sers]

I know some lasers can cut through metal, but are they for purchase? I just wanna see what one looks like, anyone got a link? And I am sure they are very big and probably extremely heavy, and aren't they powered by some sort of liquid?

 

[styropyro]

I know some lasers can cut through metal, but are they for purchase? I just wanna see what one looks like, anyone got a link? And I am sure they are very big and probably extremely heavy, and aren't they powered by some sort of liquid?

Look up CO2 lasers, they aren't the most powerful, but you can use them to cut metal.
Look at these videos to see their power> http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1195954086

 

[L4sers]

arent there also "weapon" lasers that the army uses to blast bombs? I saw a video, it was crazy

 

[Switch]

There's the MTHEL ground unit and the ATL air unit, and probably others.Those are in the MegaWatt range so yea, they're really powerful.Of course the most powerfull lasers are the scientific petaWatt lasers.Unfortunately not as spectacular that you might think since that power only lasts a tiny tiny fraction of a second.I guess the most spectacular "slicing and dicing"/melting and burning are the military ones.Their not powered by liquid, all of them are powered by electricity.CO[sub]2[/sub] lasers are watercooled though, but still powerd by electric current.

 

[L4sers]

There's the MTHEL ground unit and the ATL air unit, and probably others.Those are in the MegaWatt range so yea, they're really powerful.Of course the most powerfull lasers are the scientific petaWatt lasers.Unfortunately not as spectacular that you might think since that power only lasts a tiny tiny fraction of a second.I guess the most spectacular "slicing and dicing"/melting and burning are the military ones.Their not powered by liquid, all of them are powered by electricity.CO[sub]2[/sub] lasers are watercooled though, but still powerd by electric current.

niceee. Are lasers the "future" weapons? What if people start making laser-guns...

 

[Switch]

I don't really see lasers becoming anti-personnel weapons anytime soon.Not only it would hurt like hell to be burnt alive, and that there are probably conventions against it.But for now, laser guns are pretty impractical.You can incorporate a 20W CO[sub]2[/sub] tube in a rifle package with a huge battery pack that could probably cut through a fence or a car door at close range and set fire to paper farther away, and would probably be totally useless any farther than 50 meters. :-/ We don't have the technology to make portable laser weapons yet, except maybe for shining in the enemy's eyes.

 

[L4sers]

I don't really see lasers becoming anti-personnel weapons anytime soon.Not only it would hurt like hell to be burnt alive, and that there are probably conventions against it.But for now, laser guns are pretty impractical.You can incorporate a 20W CO[sub]2[/sub] tube in a rifle package with a huge battery pack that could probably cut through a fence or a car door at close range and set fire to paper farther away, and would probably be totally useless any farther than 50 meters. :-/ We don't have the technology to make portable laser weapons yet, except maybe for shining in the enemy's eyes.

I got a good question... What if you shined a Laser (like 100mW+) into a magnifying glass? Like you know when u see kids going around putting magnifying glasses over ants and burning them from the sun? I wonder what would happen with a really strong laser...

 

[pseudolobster]

I got a good question... What if you shined a Laser (like 100mW+) into a magnifying glass? Like you know when u see kids going around putting magnifying glasses over ants and burning them from the sun? I wonder what would happen with a really strong laser...

it would focus to a point and then diverge. at the point it would be much stronger, though once it diverges it would become much less powerful for every inch of distance. something like this:
======()>>>.<<<
beam... lens... focus point... divergence

if you've ever played with a laser capable of burning things, you'll know you need to focus it to a point to get any real action out of it.

Most higher powered lasers capable of cutting metal are giant glass tubes pressurized with various gases, which require insanely high voltages to operate... they're not exactly portable... though they do make infrared diode lasers up to tens of watts which are a little easier to carry around... still, there's no practical way of using a laser as a handheld weapon except maybe for blinding people.

 

[Things]

What if you shined a Laser (like 100mW+) into a magnifying glass? Like you know when u see kids going around putting magnifying glasses over ants and burning them from the sun? I wonder what would happen with a really strong laser...

Stick it infront of a high powered Co2, and you'd probably melt it ;D

 

[Switch]

[quote author=L4sers link=1211924550/0#6 date=1211933811]What if you shined a Laser (like 100mW+) into a magnifying glass? Like you know when u see kids going around putting magnifying glasses over ants and burning them from the sun? I wonder what would happen with a really strong laser...

Stick it infront of a high powered Co2, and you'd probably melt it ;D[/quote]

Or crack it, or melt a hole right through it.
glass and CO[sub]2[/sub] lasers ;D

 

[Xombie]

World's most powerful laser eh?

Not for purchase, mind you, but these two take the cake:

http(colon)//www(dot)engadget(dot)com/2008/02/16/university-of-michigan-creates-most-intense-laser-in-the-univers/

http(colon)//www(dot)engadget(dot)com/2008/04/08/university-of-texas-fires-up-petawatt-laser-hercules-weeps/

My apologies about the links. Just edit the (dot)'s out.

 

[Cyparagon]

The highest average power lasers in existence are chemical lasers. Chemical lasers are to electric lasers as nuclear bombs are to chemical bombs. The most common type is the COIL (chemical oxygen iodine laser)

The laser is fed with gaseous chlorine, molecular iodine, and an aqueous mixture of hydrogen peroxide and potassium hydroxide. The aqueous peroxide solution undergoes chemical reaction with chlorine, producing heat, potassium chloride, and oxygen in excited state, with spontaneous lifetime of about 45 minutes. This singlet delta oxygen transfers its energy to the iodine molecules injected to the gas stream; they are nearly resonant with the singlet oxygen, so the energy transfer during the collision of the particles is rapid. The excited iodine then undergoes stimulated emission and lases at 1.315 µm in the optical resonator region of the laser.

The laser operates at relatively low gas pressures, but the gas flow has to be nearing the speed of sound at the reaction time; even supersonic flow designs are described.