A laser developed for radiation treatment, is also strong enough to break a record
Posted 02.19.2008 at 11:01 am
1 Comment
HERCULES laser
University of Michigan
“I don’t know of another place in the universe that would have this intensity of light.” That’s a quote from physicist Karl Krushelnick of the University of Michigan. It might sound a bit bold, but he and his team believe they’ve developed a laser beam with record-smashing intensity. According to the scientists, the HERCULES laser is so powerful that it’s roughly equivalent to concentrating all the sunlight heading towards Earth on a single grain of sand. The pulsed beam lasts 30 femtoseconds, each just a millionth of a billionth of a second.
The work should earn them bragging rights at engineering and physics conferences, but the group also says the laser could lead to better proton and electron beams for cancer treatment.
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A must-have item for any aspiring evil genius or world dominator! What's more, increase the intensity further and you can create matter from nothing! That means free stuff, right?
I gotta get me one of those...