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Power Science

World's Newest, Most Powerful Laser Comes Online 110

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the now-that's-a-hotspot dept.
deglr6328 writes "The OMEGA EP laser at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics was dedicated today at the Robert L. Sproull Center for Ultra High Intensity Laser Research. The new laser, which has been in design since ~2002 will, at 1 kilojoule per 1 picosecond pulse, be the highest energy petawatt-scale laser ever created by far. For a fleeting fraction of a second, it will deliver a beam of infrared light at 1054 nm that is more powerful than the total energy consumption of all human activity on the planet, to a tiny spot the size of the head of a pin. Previous petawatt scale lasers such as the one created at Lawrence Livermore labs in the late '90s and (dismantled in 1999) were capable of only several hundred joules per pulse. The new OMEGA EP laser will be able to manifest power densities sufficient to examine Unruh and Hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory and will have the capability to directly produce nuclear reactions through ultra high electric field initiated photodisintegration."
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World's Newest, Most Powerful Laser Comes Online More

World's Newest, Most Powerful Laser Comes Online

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  • needs more shark (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    wheres the most powerful shark, step on up!

  • Don't be too proud... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nurhussein ( 864532 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @04:39AM (#23444348) Homepage
    ...of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to generate a 1 kilojoule per 1 picosecond pulse is insignificant, next to the power of a good Slashdotting.

    • Re:Don't be too proud... (Score:4, Funny)

      by aerthling ( 796790 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @04:47AM (#23444364)
      Perhaps one day ISPs will be able to capture that energy and use it to power their data centers. It would be green energy in more ways than one! ;)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tcc ( 140386 )
        If he uses a frequency doubling crystal on his laser, it becomes 532nm, so what would make it green too :)

        Assuming there's a crystal supporting such a hit.

        On the other hand I wonder how they've managed to get around air ionization... for far less energy then that, air ionize and it creates a mirror effect that sometimes bounces the beam back in the system and crack something in the optical system (usually the crystal)
    • You have been warned!

    • The most intense is a UK Laser. (Score:4, Informative)

      by Nowhere.Men ( 878773 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @05:56AM (#23444608)
      The Central Laser Facility in the UK has a laser Astra-Gemini that will produce a greater intensity on target. It is a dual beam laser with a repetiton rate of 3 shots per minutes.

      The building to house this laser is like a small house but with a shielded room for the target area.

      - Astra- Gemini : 15 J on target in 30 fs : Single Beam Intensity to 10^22 W/cm2.

      - OMEGA EP : 1 kJ in 1 ps; on-target intensities of greater than 2 x 10^20 W/cm2.

      the pico second ignition should be called slow ignition compared with 30 femtosecond.
      • Shoot down an enemy ICBM, even with rotating heat shields, reflective surfaces, etc.

        Nice to have since other countries are working on their atomic programs, and missile systems. Suitcase nukes on the other hand :-(
      • Interesting, you're right on par with the Uof Michigan's 20J / 30fs pulse laser then. But honestly what can you do with 10-20J? it's so little energy. What sorts of things are you guys doing with these ultrashort pulse lasers? The Japanese GEKKO XII laser people pretty much determined that you don't need pulses shorter than 1-10ps for fast ignition fusion studies so you must be doing other stuff with it...... laser wakefield acceleration....?

  • oblig (Score:4, Funny)

    by owlnation ( 858981 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @04:45AM (#23444356)

    to a tiny spot the size of the head of a pin
    ... from the head of a frickin' shark, obviously...
  • "The new laser, which has been in design since ~2002 will, at 1 kilojoule per 1 picosecond pulse, be the highest energy petawatt scale laser ever created by far. For a fleeting fraction of a second, it will deliver a beam of infrared light at 1054 nm that is more powerful than the total energy consumption of all human activity on the planet,"

    More powerful than the total ENERGY consumption of all the human activity on the planet? It's only one kilojoule. It would be much more accuracte to say that the POWER output for a picosecond would be greater than the combined POWER consumption of the entire planet.

    But that raises another question: Do most people understand the difference between ENERGY and POWER, anyway? the two words seem to be used almost interchangabily by your average Joe.

    • "The new laser, which has been in design since ~2002 will, at 1 kilojoule per 1 picosecond pulse, be the highest energy petawatt scale laser ever created by far. For a fleeting fraction of a second, it will deliver a beam of infrared light at 1054 nm that is more powerful than the total energy consumption of all human activity on the planet,"

      More powerful than the total ENERGY consumption of all the human activity on the planet? It's only one kilojoule. It would be much more accuracte to say that the POWER output for a picosecond would be greater than the combined POWER consumption of the entire planet.

      But that raises another question: Do most people understand the difference between ENERGY and POWER, anyway? the two words seem to be used almost interchangabily by your average Joe.

      Of course! Power is what you get when Energy sits around for a while :)

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by penguin king ( 673171 )
      Actually (although I hate to reply twice) I've just noticed something in your statement that doesn't sit quite right.

      You've said "POWER output for a picosecond would be greater than the combined POWER consumption of the entire planet"

      I'm not a physicist, but isn't Power Energy per Time, thus Power output for a picosecond is Energy per Time per picosecond? Are you trying to say Energy output for a picosecond (ie 1 kJ)? I think what they are saying is that 1kJ per picosecond (a measure of power) = 10^12 k

      • Re:And once again science reporters gets it all wr (Score:5, Informative)

        by mangu ( 126918 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @06:15AM (#23444660)

        isn't Power Energy per Time, thus Power output for a picosecond is Energy per Time per picosecond?

        You're right in that power is energy per time, in this case the energy is one kilojoule and the time is one picosecond, so the power is one kilojoule per picosecond.


        What the GP means is that, during that interval of one picosecond, the thing is emitting more power than is being consumed by all the planet. The total energy emitted by the laser pulse is that power multiplied by one picosecond, and the result of this multiplication is one kilojoule.


        An interesting bit of information here is a round figure for the power consumption of all humanity: one kilojoule per picosecond. To get the equivalent in kilowatts, multiply one kilojoule by 1000000000000, because a kilowatt is one kilojoule per second.

        • One petawatt? One kiloterawatt? Megagigawatt!

          10E15 watts?

          9090909 libraries of congress?

          One Pinatubo?

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by peas_n_carrots ( 1025360 )
          Their statement is recursive:
          "For a fleeting fraction of a second, it will deliver a beam of infrared light at 1054 nm that is more powerful than the total energy consumption of all human activity on the planet"

          Last I checked, Rochester (and the laser there) are located on planet earth. Strictly speaking, it could only consume all the power on the planet if everything else were shut off. 'Course, that statement would apply to everything else, including a blender. Here's a suggestion for the poster: ".
    • Imagine a rave with those! Even better a beowulf- I'll just shutup there.

      `Jarik

      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Yes, but It couldn't be held in Australia. I don't think rave qualifies as a legitimate reason.

    • How many jewels do you need to get that?!

       
    • When you say "consumption" you generally refer to the derivative of the value, so in this case energy consumtion := power.

      If I say "my car consumes a lot of fuel", I primarily mean that my car isn't very efficient, not that I drive a lot.
    • you're right,it certainly could've been worded more accurately, but in my defense, /. edited the HELL out of what I submitted - removing links everywhere and CUTTING OUT A LOT of more interesting information like gee, I don't know what the laser will mainly be be used for [wikipedia.org]. Which is really annoying because the hawking radiation stuff is only a minor part of what we're doing. They sat on the submission for a whole day and to answer the question of the poster below, NO it wasn't an accident that this was submi

  • OT : Coincidence? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 4D6963 ( 933028 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @05:00AM (#23444410)

    Is it just a coincidence or does this story have anything to do with the fact that yesterday Google had lasers on its main page (which I assume commemorated to 50 years of the creation of lasers, either that or "first laser!" must be the latest new Internet fad)?

    • It is NOT a coincidence and that's why I submitted it mid-day YESTERDAY with mention of this very fact. After which time /. decided to sit on the story for a day, strip out half the useful information and links I originally included, and THEN publish it.
  • .. to put a sign up on my office door "No Hawking"
  • On my office in Germany "Kein Unruh!"
  • Don't shoot it in your foot, son!
  • Where's the KABOOM? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering KABOOM!

  • World's Newest, Most Powerful Laser Shark Created (Score:3, Funny)

    by erlehmann ( 1045500 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @05:27AM (#23444526)
    The OMEGA EP laser shark at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Bioenergetics was dedicated today at the Dr. E. Vill Center for Ultra Evil Laser Shark Research. The new shark, which has been growing since ~2002 will, at 1 kilojoule per 1 picosecond pulse, have the highest energy petawatt scale laser ever mounted on the back on a shark, by far. For a fleeting fraction of a second, it will deliver a beam of infrared light at 1054 nm that is more powerful than the total power output of all other shark activity on the planet, to a tiny spot the size of the head of a pin. Previous petawatt scale shark lasers such as the one created at Lawrence Lawless labs in the late 90's (and dismantled in 1999) were capable of only several hundred joules per pulse. The new OMEGA EP laser shark will be able to manifest power densities sufficient to exert power over various just-above-soon-below sea-level countries and will have the capability to directly attack nuclear submarines through ultra high electric field initiated photodisintegration.

  • Someone's Sig - It Needs To Be Said (Score:4, Funny)

    by MichaelCrawford ( 610140 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @05:51AM (#23444592) Homepage Journal
    "Do not look into laser with remaining good eye."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gijoel ( 628142 )
      Shouldn't that be do not look at laser with remaining head?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Trogre ( 513942 )
      Or if you live in Australia:

      Do not point laser at remaining pilot.

      (I wish I could take credit for making this one up - saw it on /. recently)
  • The new OMEGA EP laser will be able to manifest power densities sufficient to examine Unruh and Hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory and will have the capability to directly produce nuclear reactions through ultra high electric field initiated photodisintegration

    What about black holes? I refuse to be impressed except if it can create at least a tiny black hole. They seem to be all the rage nowadays.
  • Worlds biggest laser online? Cool. What's the IP?
  • Thanks to this breakthrough the sequel to the 80's movie "The Manhattan Project" will be 90% shorter with 300% more John-Lithgow-Scrunched-Up-Nose per cm2
  • if we aim that to a human being?
    • That would be overkill.

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by ScentCone ( 795499 )
      if we aim that to a human being?

      --

      - Human knowledge belongs to the world

      Because... you want to share with the world what would happen if something that it takes an entire lab to operate on ultra tiny targets were, what... strapped to the back of a super soldier flying around in a black helicopter? Without a little context, your questions seems a little... absurd.

      Incidentally, I presume that since you think that whatever the people doing this research learn belongs to the world, that you've figured
    • Don't point that to me bro !
    • it's not possible to aim it at a person. the beam is vastly too intense to propagate through air. you would simply break the air down into a plasma spark where the beam exits its vacuum tube. you would have to put the [person INSIDE a vacuum chamber in order to ever actually hit them with the thing, but you'd be dead anyway inside there!
  • where is that mound of fire ants that bit me @ the last BBQ.....
  • Scriptkiddies ready to hack newest laser.

  • The six most exciting words in the article (Score:4, Funny)

    by DreadfulGrape ( 398188 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @07:26AM (#23444896)
    "ultra high electric field initiated photodisintegration"

    Gawd, I get a chubby just thinking about that.....

  • "We're gonna need a bigger shark"
    • Hey, that movie is over *30* years old, so everyone complaining about the Austin Powers references have been beat.
  • Ultra high electric field initiated photodisintegration. When will the NCC-1701-D be upgraded with one of these?
    • you homed in on that phrase too! It feels like something gets destroyed every time I say that.

      Electric Field Initiated Photodisintegration -- take that!

  • Nice that we can create things hotter than the sun in a lab.
  • Where is the ZPM so we can use this at full power.
  • ok, so what is the website? I've got a few target of my own *cough* RIAA *cough*
  • ...bad news for pins everywhere :(

  • Now if we made a big mirror... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    how much popcorn could this thing pop when fired from space or a test aircraft?
  • I want to see records for
    * power for single-pulse laser, in watts
    * energy per pulse of single-pulse laser, in joules
    * power of continuous laser, in watts
    * average energy per second for single-pulse lasers firing as rapidly as possible, in joules
    • I'm sorry the article didn't contain all the information I included when I submitted it. ./ edited the shit out of it.

      the instantaneous power for a single pulse is in the range of 1 petawatt (million billion watts)

      the energy per pulse is a maximum of ~1 kilojoule for a petawatt pulse (1 picosecond) and 2-3kj for nanosecond pulses - we're limited by laser power damage thresholds for optics like 4 foot wide diffraction gratings etc.

      the laser cannot operate in CW mode

      the average energy is LOOOWWWWW, we can onl

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by davidwr ( 791652 )
        Actually, I was more interested in a web site that maintained an up-to-date records and maybe even "top-5" or "top-10" lists for all of those categories, with pointers back to the research labs that run the high-power and high-energy lasers.
        • I am unaware of a single website which has such a list though this [laserstars.org] used to maintain such a list, it hasn't been updated in ~8 years and is GROSSLY outdated and inaccurate now. Certain International Atomic Energy Agency papers in their journal of fusion research have moderately complete lists. Also, I have put together a list of most of the biggest / highest energy fusion related lasers (both historic and current) in wikipedia's pages though even that's getting a bit outdated now. [wikipedia.org]

          The top 5 highest energy la

  • The new OMEGA EP laser will be able to manifest power densities sufficient to examine Unruh and Hawking radiation-like phenomena in the laboratory
    Does it create a black hole? If not then it doesn't test for Hawing radiation. You can test for the Unruh effect and invoke the equivalence principle (check the wikipedia articles) but that is not the same as testing for Hawking directly. Pity. Creating a black hole would be the ultimate physics hack.
  • more powerful than the total energy consumption of all human activity on the planet

    In other news, Exxon cites laser testing as the reason for the increasing demand in energy. To quote an Exxon representative: "Total energy consumption has quintupled due to rising shark populations, and the need to attach this laser to their heads.

  • Yeah but will it be able to cook a house filled with popcorn?

  • In layman's terms (Score:3, Interesting)

    by LM741N ( 258038 ) on Saturday May 17, 2008 @12:02PM (#23446412)
    you take a car battery and discharge all of its energy in a picosecond or less, and for that split second, you are generating as much power as this laser.

    Big deal.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bh_doc ( 930270 )
      I'd like to see you discharge a car battery in a picosecond or less, let alone in a unidirectional single-wavelength coherent beam of infrared light. Good luck with that.

      It might not be a whole hell of a lot of energy in total, but it'll still burn a hole through your face.
  • Lazlo: "Looks at the facts: very high power, portable, limited firing time, unlimited range. All you'd need is a big spinning mirror and you could vaporize a human target from space."
    (Mitch glances at Chris.)
    Chris: "This is not good."
  • When can I buy it on thinkgeek? I need to melt some trashbags...



    from 1000 miles away.

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