University of Michigan creates most intense laser in the universe

Rest assured, we've seen some wicked frickin' lasers in our day, but apparently, even the two-kilowatt rendition that heats coffee in mere seconds can't hold a candle ray of light to HERCULES. Intentionally named in all caps by University of Michigan gurus in order to highlight its awesomeness, said laser contains 300 terawatts of power (or 300 times the capacity of the entire US electricity grid) and could "help scientists develop better proton and electron beams for radiation treatment of cancer." Still, we can't help but conclude with UMich's own description of this masterpiece: "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 [HERCULES]." Damn.

[Via Physorg]

[Syliss @ Feb 16th 2008 10:09PM]

Hella, I wonder when these will be on starships!

[Dave @ Feb 16th 2008 10:23PM]

Guess we know whats going to happen at the next Michigan Ohio State game!

[Andrew @ Feb 16th 2008 10:47PM]

HAI I WONDR IF IT PLAYZ TEH DOOM!

Sigh...I knew I should have just gone out to the bars tonight.

[Ignatius @ Feb 16th 2008 11:49PM]

I thought we had some kind of international law forbidding that we have weapons in space.

Though, it would be awesome to have something like this.

RED ALERT, FIRE PHASERS. :O

[Thinker @ Feb 16th 2008 11:50PM]

I want one!

[Tom @ Feb 17th 2008 12:21AM]

yeaaa .. deathstar laser.

[TavisJohn @ Feb 17th 2008 12:47AM]

@ Ignatius

I wonder if placing just a reflector in space, andbouncing a laser off of it would count as a weapon in space...

Loop Hole?

[mattbates @ Feb 17th 2008 2:12AM]

ignatius: we also signed international laws that say we wont torture people, wouldn't invade other countries unless they broke certain un resolutions, etc.

personally i would say the us DEFINITELY has lasers in space. you dont think reagan tossed a few up there during the whole sdi thing? i'm guessing he did.

[JLTate @ Feb 17th 2008 2:17AM]

LAYZSHUR EYE!!!



Sorry, saw Mystery Men the other day for the first time in forever.

[ben @ Feb 17th 2008 2:53AM]

Man, primaries are bringing out the crazies. You guys can politicize anything...

[a ham sandwich @ Feb 17th 2008 10:44AM]

@ dave

spread offense + hella wicked laser = awesome

[ShadowMaker @ Feb 17th 2008 11:11AM]

Michigan now has the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it.

[DSeaver @ Feb 17th 2008 1:30PM]

I wonder if the students put a giant Jiffy Popper in the Professor's house and then used a prism to spread the laser over said Jiffy Popper after hijacking the weapons test of the laser.









(I'm really surprised that there have been no Real Genius references)

[FOXHOUND @ Feb 19th 2008 10:12AM]

Hopefully the evil forces of COBRA(the enemy)don't get their scaley mits on this.

[amped @ Feb 16th 2008 10:10PM]

I think this deserves a solid, WoW. just wow. Now we can vaoprize people into nothing.

[Juice Daddy @ Feb 17th 2008 12:28AM]

100% agree

now they just need to attach it to a shark...

[Dillon @ Feb 17th 2008 1:37AM]

Now how can this possibly have anything to do with the World of Warcraft?

[Tiptup300 @ Feb 17th 2008 4:38AM]

Imagine just like shooting this at random things...

like apples, water, or even diamonds...actually I think the diamond would like make it go everywhere and kill everyone in the room.

[Chebwa @ Feb 17th 2008 12:21PM]

You spelled it "WoW" completely accidentally?

O_o

Dude. Shady.

Your wife is going to divorce you if you don't curb your obsession.

[Saad Rabia @ Feb 16th 2008 10:10PM]

Simpsons did it.

[Jamma @ Feb 17th 2008 6:41AM]

Don't Lase me bro, don't Lase Me!

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Feb 17th 2008 8:21PM]

What are they aiming it at in this test? If this thing is as powerful as "all the sunlight shining toward Earth [focused into] one grain of sand," wouldn't it burn a hole right through their lab, killing everyone outside the facility who crossed into the laser's line of fire?

[Rafer @ Feb 16th 2008 10:10PM]

Im just trying to clear this up. How does it contain that much power? I dont understand. Whos footing the bill?

[Dahk @ Feb 16th 2008 10:21PM]

Apparently the tuition of some of those poor students :S.

[Wwhat @ Feb 16th 2008 10:41PM]

"the pulsed laser beam lasts just 30 femtoseconds. A femtosecond is a millionth of a billionth of a second."

[alex @ Feb 17th 2008 12:34AM]

the tax payers of michigan whos economy is failing, U of M is a public university funded by the STATE OF MICHIGAN. Nice to know my tax dollars are hard at work building cool lasers and funding projects for other engineering students when im paying through the nose to go to a freakin community college.

[wslcrew @ Feb 17th 2008 1:26AM]

One of my prof. worked on this project. According to him, they use crystal lenses to condensate low intensity, large area rays into high intensity and small area ones. Then they collect the laser by trapping it between two mirrors. They repeat the process until enough photons are collected, then move onto next stage where they repeat the same process. It involves several stages and after each stage, the later becomes more and more intense.

[Rik @ Feb 17th 2008 3:30AM]

A common saying in laser literature is; "There are as much femtoseconds in one minute as there are minutes in the entire age of the universe." ;-)

And for everyone wondering, WTF, they have got to have huge condensator banks there, go search on how a laser works and remind yourself that power is energy per second :-P.

(Gee, I actually know this stuff... yes I work with "fricking lasers"... PROFESSIONALY (NOOOO I don't want to be a nerd! :-P))

[Liam @ Feb 17th 2008 5:59AM]

It's powered by lightning. There's gigawatts, then there's terawatts (which this needs 300 of), then there's jiggawatts, which as everyone knows is exactly the power given by a bolt of lightning. Does that clear this up?

[Ken @ Feb 17th 2008 5:39PM]

By my rough calculations, we're only looking at .3 joules per pulse assuming the pulse only lasts 1 femtosecond (1*E-15 s). 14 pulses would give 1 cal. At 1 pulse per second, this laser would take 2.87 days (247635.3 s) to heat up a 12oz (.355 L) cup of coffee (delta T = 50°C) also assuming no loss of heat due to evaporation and conductive leakage.

[whatishalo? @ Feb 16th 2008 10:11PM]

"which scientists theorize would generate matter by merely focusing light into empty space. "

Now THAT would be truly remarkable!

[Ignatius @ Feb 16th 2008 11:46PM]

That makes no sense at all.

Matter doesn't just appear in empty space. O.o;

[maveric101 @ Feb 16th 2008 11:49PM]

Ignatius: go back to school. you can turn matter into energy and energy into matter. e=mc^2. duh.

[Mike @ Feb 16th 2008 11:51PM]

Yes it does....ever heard of quantum mechanics? It is real, although very anti-intuitive.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Feb 17th 2008 12:08AM]

Yes, as everybody has had the chance to actually study quantum mechanics and physics. :P~

[n3rd @ Feb 17th 2008 12:27AM]

everyone that has finished public high school has had to learn about it.
so...
unless you're from a 3rd world country or prepubescent, you should know about it

[z3r0D @ Feb 17th 2008 12:28AM]

e=mc^2. is for mass into energy.

e/c^2=m is for energy into mass

[Penguin Warlord @ Feb 17th 2008 12:40AM]

@N3RD
Actually no they don't, if they take gr. 12 physics then sure but otherwise highschools don't tend to cover quantum mechanics. Although I do agree that people should know what one of the most famous equations in the universe means.

[Carbonize @ Feb 17th 2008 1:15AM]

Of course you can turn energy into matter. How do you think the holodecks on Star Trek work



Ok just shoot me now.

[bob @ Feb 17th 2008 3:02AM]

Matter is simply trapped energy. Shouldn't be that hard to do that...

Then again, I did get my picture taken on the bridge of the Enterprise D last night. And ordered tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

[carl @ Feb 17th 2008 3:22AM]

It happens all the time, and is called pair production. two particles--one matter, the other antimatter--spontaneously pop into existence. This is fine since their net mass is zero. If they collide (and they typically do, a short time later), they annihilate one another. You pretty much owe your existence to this behavior (big bang).

[MikeG @ Feb 17th 2008 8:19AM]

@ maveric

ever tried burning someting?

[applefreak @ Feb 17th 2008 9:53AM]

@ carl
the big bang theory is dying. You yourself said that energy=>matter equals one matter and one antimatter. If so, where is all the antimatter? Also, where is all of the population 3 stars which, according to the Big Bang, make up all of of the matter larger then He? THERE JUST ISN'T ANY

[amped @ Feb 16th 2008 10:13PM]

Wait I don't understand, if it puts out the power of 300 times our power grid or what ever, Then how the hell do you power the damn thing.

[Kamil @ Feb 16th 2008 10:20PM]

I guess they do it the same way they do with a particle collider, that is, fill up giant capacitors and wait till the thing gets full.

[Brian @ Feb 16th 2008 11:41PM]

It lasts ONLY 10^(-15) seconds.

At 300*10^(12) Watts for 10^(-15) seconds, it uses up 0.3 Joules.

This is equivalent to a 60W lightbulb being turned on for 0.05 seconds.

[Alex R @ Feb 21st 2008 3:55AM]

@ Amped
They might have made the solar panels in the 1950s and have been collecting it ever since. Or they might have been using the 'Trapped Wind' method of energy storage...[http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/05/excess-wind-energy-to-be-stored-underground-for-future-use/]

[Chris Anderson @ Feb 16th 2008 10:14PM]

Here's our solution to getting rid of that deorbiting satellite!!

[GB570 @ Feb 16th 2008 10:29PM]

Seriously....why not?

[Ignatius @ Feb 16th 2008 11:46PM]

It'd probably blow a tiny pin-hole in it.