U of MI Produces Strongest Laser Ever 244
eldavojohn writes "Weighing in at a mere 20 billion trillion watts per square centimeter and containing a measly 300 terawatts of power, the University of Michigan has broken a record with a 1.3-micron speck wide laser. It's about two orders of magnitude higher than any other laser in the world and can perform for 30 femtoseconds once every ten seconds — some of the researchers speculate it is the most powerful laser in the universe. 'If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory ... To achieve this beam, the research team added another amplifier to the HERCULES laser system, which previously operated at 50 terawatts. HERCULES is a titanium-sapphire laser that takes up several rooms at U-M's Center for Ultrafast Optical Science. Light fed into it bounces like a pinball off a series of mirrors and other optical elements. It gets stretched, energized, squeezed and focused along the way.'" And ... cue the evil chortling.
Cool (Score:5, Funny)
The power to destroy a planet... (Score:2, Funny)
Safety first (Score:5, Funny)
Yes but... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Popcorn [imdb.com]!
Kegels (Score:5, Funny)
That's nothing! I can perform for 3 seconds once every ten minutes!
Re:Kegels (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The power to destroy a planet... (Score:3, Funny)
That's no moon.....
Re:Safety first (Score:5, Funny)
Re:all these strange figures (Score:1, Funny)
hope that clarifies things.
Nope, it doesn't!
Re:The power to destroy a planet... (Score:5, Funny)
Caution... (Score:4, Funny)
Large spinning mirror (Score:4, Funny)
What comes next... (Score:5, Funny)
Professor: We shall commence "Phase 2", we shall place the "la-ser" on something called "the moon"
Student: And then we can hold the world ransom for a horrendously large amount of money
Professor: Hell no! We're going to wipe all other universities off the face of the Earth!
Re:Not so cool (Score:3, Funny)
Ohio State... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sharks? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Possibly... (Score:2, Funny)
"Commander, this confirms that the inhabitants are hostile. Shall we assume battle stations?"
Commander: "We are Klingons. What other stations do we have?"
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re: Magnifying glasses (Score:3, Funny)
Please, won't someone think of the ants?!
Re:Ohio State... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Not so cool (Score:5, Funny)
It may not have been a great "teen flick" but it was certainly a good geek movie.
Over 100 movies in a year and you haven't heard enough about this to check it out?
Kid, I've served with geeks: I've known many geeks; geeks are most friends of mine. Kid, you're no geek.
Consider your geek card revoked (if, indeed, you ever had one).
Re:Safety first (Score:2, Funny)
Re:all these strange figures (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Safety first (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Most powerful laser in the universe? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not so cool (Score:3, Funny)
(Some people take themselves WAY too seriously!)
Re:Safety first (Score:3, Funny)
Muhahaha! (Score:3, Funny)
Watch for the spread offense.
Go Blue!
Re:FS-Lasers are cool beasts (Score:3, Funny)