English

Launching the world's strongest laser at a cost of 320 million euros

1079
2024-04-03 18:05:29
See translation

   Beijing, April 1st (Reporter Liu Xia) - The world's most powerful laser has been activated recently. On March 31st, the Physicist Organization Network reported that the system can enable laser pulses to reach a peak of 10 terawatts (1 terawatt=100 terawatts=1015 watts) within 1 femtosecond (1000 trillions of a second), which is expected to promote revolutionary progress in multiple fields from medicine to basic physics and space.

   The high-tech center to which this laser belongs is located in Romania, mainly funded by the European Union, with a cost of 320 million euros, utilizing the invention of French scientists such as Gerald Muru.

   Scientists have been committed to manufacturing more powerful lasers. In the mid-1980s, the Muru team invented Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) technology, which can increase the power of lasers while maintaining their intensity. Its working principle is to stretch an ultra short laser pulse in time, amplify it, and then squeeze it together again to create the shortest and strongest laser pulse to date.

   Mulu was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing a method for producing high-intensity, ultra short light pulses. This technology is expected to be widely applied in fields such as nuclear physics and particle physics, medicine, etc. In the medical field, this technology has promoted the development of cataract and refractive surgery.

   Muru pointed out that they will start with a tiny glowing "seed" with minimal energy, which will be magnified millions of times. They will use these ultra-high voltage pulses to generate more compact and cheaper particle accelerators to destroy cancer cells. Other possible applications include processing nuclear waste by reducing its radioactive duration, cleaning up accumulated debris in space, and so on.

Related Recommendations
  • Farnell provides its own branded 3D printing consumables

    Farnell stated that it will store a series of 3D printed filaments under its Multicomp Pro brand, targeting "design engineers, creators, and hobbyists."."With the growing interest and demand for 3D printing, we are pleased to provide our customers with a diverse range of 3D printer consumables aimed at meeting the quality standards required by engineers," added Steve Jagger Marsh, the company's pr...

    2024-06-03
    See translation
  • The estimated output value of the LiDAR market in 2029 is expected to reach 5.352 billion US dollars

    Market research firm TrendForce Consulting released an industry insight report today, stating that currently LiDAR is mainly used in the automotive market for passenger cars and unmanned taxis, while in the industrial market it supports applications such as robotics, factory automation, and logistics.The report points out that driven by Level 3 and more advanced auto drive system system and logist...

    01-22
    See translation
  • Researchers use lasers to measure and manipulate magnetic ripple interactions

    One vision for computing the future is to use ripples in magnetic fields as the fundamental mechanism. In this application, magnetic oscillators can be comparable to electricity and serve as the foundation of electronic products.In traditional digital technology, this magnetic system is expected to be much faster than today's technology, from laptops and smartphones to telecommunications. In quant...

    2024-03-05
    See translation
  • NSF funding for collaboration between researchers from Syracuse University and Cosmic Explorer

    Billions of years ago, in a distant galaxy, two black holes collided, triggering one of the most extreme cosmic events in the universe. The power of this phenomenon is so great that it distorts the structure of spacetime, emitting ripples called gravitational waves.These waves will eventually be detected on Earth by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory (LIGO) detector, and te...

    2023-10-13
    See translation
  • The ECSTATIC fiber optic project worth 5.1 million euros aims to prevent bridge collapse

    A new European research project is exploring whether the same fibre-optic cables that carry our internet could also serve as real-time sensors for hidden damage in infrastructure, including bridges, railways, tunnels and energy pipelines. The €5.1 million ECSTATIC project, coordinated by Aston University in the UK, is trialling this breakthrough approach in a major UK city, using a heavily-used...

    08-18
    See translation