US: Create the strongest laser to study the universe

In a lab in Texas, the team at the Center for High-Level Laser Science created the most brilliant laser so bright that scientists can create a star on the table.

The highest intensity in the world

With more than 2,000 liters of power from all US power plants, the $ 14 million Petawatt laser is the world's highest-powered laser. . This laser is brighter than the light on the surface of the sun but only lasts 1/10 of 1,000 billion seconds (ie 0.0000.000001001 seconds).

This is also the key to laser energy: It generates moderate energy in a very small unit of time.

To launch this laser, the power must be loaded with 20 capacitors of 20,000 volts. These capacitors energize the power amplifiers. Each tube contains an amplified material, usually glass, and is excited by the light supplied by the capacitor.

Each time the laser passes through one of the glass plates, it gains more energy.

Help study the universe

The team will use this laser to heat and study matter under extreme conditions of the universe, such as temperatures that are greater than the sun's temperature and pressure to many billion atmospheres.

From there it is possible to discover many miniature asteroid phenomena, such as mini meteors, stars, very high density plasma gas, the conditions that occur inside stars that are still a question. of science.

Such a high intensity laser would also allow us to study the ability to generate energy from a controlled integrated reaction, similar to the solar energy process. Spray deuterium (heavy hydrogen) beams into the laser cavity, where the laser fuses the atoms and creates a uniform energy.

Using lasers this way is a traditional way to study the process that occurs inside the H-bombhead. This is why the project is funded by the National Agency for Nuclear Safety of the Department of Energy America.

The laser works in the laboratory, with green glass amplifiers. (Photo: Roger Highfield)