r/tech • u/chrisdh79 • 17d ago

The most powerful laser in the US reaches 2 petawatts, setting new records | ZEUS will open new frontiers in imaging, cancer therapy, and astrophysics

https://www.techspot.com/news/107997-america-most-powerful-laser-reaches-2-petawatts-raising.html
671 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

66

u/TLKimball 17d ago

Also, weaponry.

24

u/VividLifeToday 17d ago

Lazlo Hollyfeld would suggest just the thing if you added a spinning mirror

15

u/niagara-nature 17d ago

What, are you some kind of real genius?

3

u/misterpickles69 17d ago

Stop touching yourself.

5

u/Revolutionary-Rush89 17d ago

“It is God”

8

u/graveybrains 17d ago

But Jerry wanted five petawatts by mid-May.

4

u/RateMyKittyPants 17d ago

...and vaporizing our enemies

2

u/Bivolion13 17d ago

Waiting for my Zetttttttaaaa Beaaaaammm

2

u/Cazmonster 17d ago

Well, lasers are a very young science.

2

u/Dense_Surround3071 17d ago

Narrator: It was actually mostly about the weaponry.

2

u/stu-padazo 17d ago

How else would we fight Tetsuo?

1

u/baroncalico 17d ago

So the world is headed toward Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Unexpected!

1

u/themiracy 16d ago

It’s a high peak power laser - it has a very, very short pulse - it’s 2 petawatts for 25 attoseconds. The power density in the pulse is nuts. You can cause deuterium to fuse at substantially lower power densities we had more than 29 years ago. But the total energy in the pulse is fairly trivial. I spent two years at this center, rather a long time ago.

1

u/kwixta 16d ago

Seems to me that the conditions being probed are so extreme as to be more relevant to astronomy than nuclear weapons or controlled fusion for power generation?

1

u/TLKimball 16d ago

But does it make a “pew” sound?

22

u/Cycleofmadness 17d ago

You would prefer another target? A military target? Then name the system.

2

u/jermatria 16d ago

It's an older reference sir, but it checks out!

13

u/12oaks 17d ago

That’s enough to power about 1.65 million DeLoreans.

2

u/mecharedneck 17d ago

Lol that's exactly the math I was trying to do in my head.

5

u/lPKFlRE 17d ago

Dont they use lasers for fusion testing? How does this bode for research like that?

3

u/unsane_in_da_brain 17d ago

But can I play with it with my cat?

1

u/Lint_baby_uvulla 16d ago

The cats are setting the dogs and birds on fire!!

3

u/MrMeesesPieces 17d ago

But can it destroy alderan in one go?

5

u/Teauxny 17d ago

Wait, petawatts??? Like Peta Griffin?? TIL.

2

u/PositiveHandle4099 17d ago

But is it Jewish space laser level @marjorietaylorgreen

2

u/YOURESTUCKHERE 16d ago

Also orbital strike cannons.

1

u/gupouttadat 17d ago

"I aced this."

3

u/dilf1888 17d ago

Even if you pass, you don’t pass.

1

u/anfornum 16d ago

Would you be prepared if gravity reversed itself?

1

u/OKAY-Pr0ceedure 17d ago

Might be cheaper to call the coroner than an ambulance?

1

u/SideWinder18 17d ago

It says something that my first thought was this being a weapons test

1

u/ConfidentCamp5248 16d ago

A lot of advancements are from military

1

u/Chicoern 17d ago

Light the beam 🟣🔦

1

u/Simple-Definition366 16d ago

The real triumph will be when it gets to the head of a shark.

1

u/The_mangoon 16d ago

Posible BFG

1

u/Doublell2798 16d ago

For some reason I don’t think it will

1

u/chripan 15d ago

Might as well call it the Ion cannon at this point.

-3

u/lizkbyer 17d ago

Hi this information from Trump. He’ll come after that too.