Determine the world's most powerful laser can be more complicated than it seems. The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory announced a 1.25-petawatt shot in 1996. In March 2008, the "Texas Petawatt" reached the 1.1 petawatt. But now, Lawrence Livermore has returned to the attack with a shot that hit a power of 500 terawatts. The difference is that this laser combined total of 192 rays in a simultaneous firing, delivering 1.85 megajoules of energy, therefore, would be the most powerful in its class.

Obtain the appropriate conditions is critical to science. The limitations can take many forms, beyond the extraordinary advances in research and development. It took something as massive as the LHC to draw us as possible to the Higgs boson, yet will require a huge amount of analysis to determine with sufficient accuracy level whether or not the originally called "particle damn" . As for firing a laser beam, the scientists also need an enormous amount of both energy and power, and the reason for this is to start the ignition of hydrogen, or fusion. We have about sixty years trying to achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion, and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of Lawrence Livermore National Laborarotio has taken a big leap towards that goal.

This is the firing of a laser with a power of 500 terawatt, on a target of only two millimeters in diameter. Actually, the shot was composed of a total of 192 rays, and consistency between them was within the range of one percent, so that the laser is not only the most powerful in its class, but also more accurate. According to NIF director Edward Moses, the laser is "fully operational", while scientists are taking "important steps" toward the goal of ignition, which among other things, would allow access to a clean energy source clean.



The laser fired three shots from March. The first served as a "prelude" to deliver 1.8 megajoules and 411 terawatts of peak power. The second was held on 3 July, reaching a peak of 423 terawatts with an energy of 1.89 megajoules. The third was the "trip record" with an energy of 1.85 megajoules and 500 terawatts. The consistency between the energy values ​​is another indication of the stability of the laser, so that the NIF is close to reaching the goal that was displayed at the time construction began in 1997. As if that were not enough, this achievement will also accelerate the development of other laser systems with similar goals around the world.

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