• Worlds most powerfl laser fires most powerful blast
    64 replies, posted
The largest laser in the world was turned on for a fraction of a second last week -- and it unleashed the most powerful laser blast in history. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) -- a laser test facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. -- turned on its 192 laser beams for a brief instant on March 15, unleashing a record-setting 1.875-megajoule blast into a target chamber. The lasers were combined, gathered and focused through a series of lens into a 2.03-megajoule shot, said Ed Moses, NIF director -- a record for the facility. That pulse of energy lasted for just 23 billionths of a second, yet it generated 411 trillion watts of power, NIF said -- 1,000 times more than the entire United States consumes at any given instant. “It’s a remarkable demonstration of the laser from the standpoint of its energy, its precision, its power, and its availability,” Moses told Nature magazine. But it’s barely half the battle. NIF hopes to dramatically increase the power of the laser shots by the end of year, intending to ultimately use the facility to harness the energy reaction that occurs naturally within the sun: fusion. “This event marks a key milestone in the National Ignition Campaign’s drive toward fusion ignition,” Moses said. In fission, atoms are split and the massive energy released is captured. The NIF aims for fusion, the ongoing energy process in the sun and other stars where hydrogen and helium nuclei are continually fusing and releasing enormous amounts of energy. In the ignition facility, beams of light converge on pellets of hydrogen isotopes to create a similar, though controlled, micro-explosion. As the beams move through a series of amplifiers, their energy increases exponentially. From beginning to end, the beams' total energy grows from one-billionth of a joule to a potential high of four million joules, NIF said -- a factor of more than a quadrillion. And it all happens in about five millionths of a second. Because the laser is on for the merest fraction of a second, it costs little to operate -- between $5 and $20 per blast, said spokeswoman Lynda Seaver. But the potential is enormous. NIF’s managers hope by the end of the year to reach a break-even point, where the energy released is equal to if not greater than the energy that went into the blast. “We have all the capability to make it happen in fiscal year 2012,” Moses told Nature. Experts aren't so sure, citing challenges that NIF and other types of fusion have had in the past. Glen Wurden, a plasma physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, told Nature scientists should be wary of putting all their eggs in the laser basket. “It’s premature right now,” he told the magazine, citing the troubles that have plagued a competing approach to fusion and its flagship project in France. Source: [url]http://news.discovery.com/tech/world-most-powerful-laser-120322.html[/url] Holy shit this is awesome.
It's probably not safe to look at directly.
can I touch it?
Couldn't we then harness the energy the laser fired and use it to power stuff somehow?
[QUOTE=Maximo13;35246807]Couldn't we then harness the energy the laser fired and use it to power stuff somehow?[/QUOTE] That's what they are trying to do, make a stable fusion reaction specifically.
Not as powerful as hitlers farts
Is that the laser that were said to be able to rip through the fabric of space?
[QUOTE=Within;35246871]Is that the laser that were said to be able to rip through the fabric of space?[/QUOTE] No, that's not going to be completed until the end of the decade.
And then we shall accidentally all of space-time.
Link to source?
But can the laser blow shit up?
[QUOTE=Tippmann357;35247103]Link to source?[/QUOTE] Shit, forgot, ill put it up now.
So that's why my lights went off.
[QUOTE=Tippmann357;35247103]Link to source?[/QUOTE] [url]http://news.discovery.com/tech/world-most-powerful-laser-120322.html[/url]
[QUOTE=fluke42;35247054]And then we shall accidentally all of space-time.[/QUOTE] No.
Would it burn through a mirror?
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;35246727]It's probably not safe to look at directly.[/QUOTE] Somehow I think it would disintegrate you almost instantly.
[QUOTE=Dlaor-guy;35247400]Would it burn through a mirror?[/QUOTE] Imagine if it didn't, the laser is fired at some enemy ship and someone puts up a mirror, deflects the shot right back to the ship that shot it. :v:
Too bad Inertial Fusion sucks. (I am kidding, I will love any fusion capable concept they will get to work, but I wish Tokamaks to be the actual solution)
So does this mean we have the possibility of having fusion up before ITER does? [editline]22nd March 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Awesomecaek;35247536]Too bad Inertial Fusion sucks. (I am kidding, I will love any fusion capable concept they will get to work, but I wish Tokamaks to be the actual solution)[/QUOTE] Tokamaks are the most badass and futuristic things ever. I mean for God's sakes, they glow purple, PURPLE!
[QUOTE=ewitwins;35247543]So does this mean we have the possibility of having fusion up before ITER does? [editline]22nd March 2012[/editline] Tokamaks are the most badass and futuristic things ever. I mean for God's sakes, they glow purple, PURPLE![/QUOTE] They are also something that actually resembles a POWAH CORE, unlike inertial fusion which is sorta like an ignition engine with really really bitch to burn gas.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/1r5Vp.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/S8g1P.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/foyio.jpg[/img] I love these giant science machines like the LHC and the fusion Torus.
[QUOTE=nox;35247467]Imagine if it didn't, the laser is fired at some enemy ship and someone puts up a mirror, deflects the shot right back to the ship that shot it. :v:[/QUOTE] Mirror-armor suddenly becomes effective.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;35247543]So does this mean we have the possibility of having fusion up before ITER does? [editline]22nd March 2012[/editline] Tokamaks are the most badass and futuristic things ever. I mean for God's sakes, they glow purple, PURPLE![/QUOTE] Stellarators are much cooler, more feasible to achieve fusion, while looking cool and costing 10x as much as a Tokamak due to complex geometry.
“This event marks a key milestone in the National Ignition Campaign’s drive toward [b]fusion ignition[/b],” Moses said. So what's fusion ignition? Some type of an engine, for thrust?
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;35247680]“This event marks a key milestone in the National Ignition Campaign’s drive toward [b]fusion ignition[/b],” Moses said. So what's fusion ignition? Some type of an engine, for thrust?[/QUOTE] Fusion power plant, basically.
[img]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110308062910/fallout/images/8/8a/Fo1_laser_rifle.png[/img] One day...
[QUOTE=Dlaor-guy;35247400]Would it burn through a mirror?[/QUOTE] Well no mirror can reflect 100% of the light that strikes it, so yes.
[QUOTE=zombini;35247670]Stellarators are much cooler [/quote]Subjective, I say Tokamaks are significantly cooler.[quote] more feasible to achieve fusion[/quote]Unproven, neither principle really shown as feasible so far[quote] while looking cool[/quote]see higher[quote] and costing 10x as much as a Tokamak due to complex geometry.[/QUOTE]yeah
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;35247680]“This event marks a key milestone in the National Ignition Campaign’s drive toward [b]fusion ignition[/b],” Moses said. So what's fusion ignition? Some type of an engine, for thrust?[/QUOTE] Fusion is a chain reaction, just like fission. You need huge amounts of energy to start the fusion reaction, and that's where this laser comes into the picture.
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