The intensity of the new most powerful laser is comparable to the light of the Sun falling on the Earth.

South Korean scientists have created the world's most powerful laser installation. The intensity of the installation pulses is equal to

to all the light of the Sun falling on the Earth,focused into a beam with a diameter of 10 microns. The colossal energy of pulses on a micrometer target will make it possible to carry out experiments that will help to penetrate into the essence of the interaction of light and matter, which will open the way for new directions in fundamental physics. Scientific discoveries will flow like a river.

For many years in a row with the most powerful pulsed laserthe installation in the USA remained - the titanium-sapphire laser HERCULES at the University of Michigan. At its peak, "Hercules" developed 1022 watts per cm2. Researchers at the Center for Relativistic Laser Science of South Korea (CoReLS) were able to surpass this achievement by an order of magnitude and reported the creation of a pulsed laser with a power of 1023 W / cm2.

A laser-matter interaction chamber to accelerate protons at the Center for Relativistic Laser Science in South Korea, where scientists have created the most powerful laser ever built.
Chang Hee Nam / CoReLS

“This high-intensity laser will allow usexplore astrophysical phenomena such as electron-photon and photon-photon scattering in the laboratory, says Chang Hee Nam, director of CoReLS and professor at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. “We can use it to test experimentally and gain access to theoretical ideas, some of which were first proposed nearly a century ago.”

Some of these ideas are related to quantumhigh-field electrodynamics, which is believed to contribute to the extremely energetic cosmic rays, while others tackle issues that are a little closer to home. Radiation therapy for cancer today involves high-energy protons produced by accelerators that require huge radiation shields. But using lasers to produce these protons will instead make the systems less expensive and therefore much more affordable.

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