US unveils world’s most powerful laser

04 Jun 2009

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The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US unveiled the world's most powerful laser last week, setting into motion the move into next stage of one of the country's greatest scientific assets.

Costing about $4 billion, which is nearly four times the original estimate, construction of the powerful laser, known as the National Ignition Facility, began in 1997 and is designed to safeguard the country's nuclear weapons stockpile and also study the heavens.

The NIF, which is housed in a 10-storey building covering three football fields, is the world's highest-energy laser system, consisting of 192 laser beams that will focus nearly two million joules of energy and create temperatures and pressures that exist in the cores of stars and giant planets.

By harnessing the massive power generated by its lasers, NIF will be able to create conditions and conduct a wide range of experiments never before possible on earth.

Funded by the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, the NIF was commissioned with three scientific missions in mind. Its first mission is to serve as a key component of the National Nuclear Security Administration's Stockpile Stewardship Program to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear deterrent without the need for nuclear testing.

NIF also offers the possibility of groundbreaking scientific discoveries in planetary science and astrophysics. By creating the conditions that exist in supernovas, in the event horizons of black holes and in the cores of giant planets, NIF will help unlock the secrets of the cosmos.

A large majority of these experiments will be unclassified and will provide a rich source of previously unobtainable data to the world-wide research community.
NIF's third mission, 'energy dependence' is considered the most exciting to global scientists.

Global energy demand, driven by population growth and the aspirations of the developing world, already is straining the planet's existing energy resources. Global demand for electricity is expected to double from its current level by 2030 and then double again by the end of the century.

At such a pace, as many as 10,000 new power plants will have to be built to keep up with this demand. Many of these plants will burn non-renewable fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas - and in the process release more carbon dioxide into the environment.

As part of the global race to satisfy the world's thirst for energy, NIF will advance a new form of green energy and is scheduled to begin ignition experiments in 2010 that will focus its lasers on a very tiny target filled with isotopes of hydrogen. The heat and pressures created by NIF's lasers will force the hydrogen nuclei to collide and produce a controlled fusion reaction similar to that found in the sun.

''More energy will be produced by this 'ignition' process than the amount of laser energy required to start it. This is the long-sought goal of 'energy gain' that has been the goal of fusion researchers for more than half a century.

NIF's success will be a scientific breakthrough of historic significance - the first demonstration of fusion ignition in a laboratory setting, duplicating on Earth the processes that power the stars,'' said Edward Moses, director, National Ignition Facility.

If the laser works in the field energy dependence, then it will radically reduce the dependence on oil as the current main source energy, which is controlled by a handful of nations.

One cubic kilometre of sea water has the fusion energy equivalent of whole world's oil reserves compared to the oil reserves sitting underground either on land or sea of some nations.

''This laser system is an incredible success not just for California, but for our country and our world,'' said California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. ''NIF has the potential to revolutionise our energy system - teaching us a new way to harness the energy of the sun to power our cars and homes. California was the home of the first working laser, so it is no surprise that the Golden State has produced the world's largest and most powerful one.''

Although the US is not a signatory to the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, it had pledged in 1992 to suspend testing nuclear weapons.

But with this new super laser, the US will be able to conduct subcritical tests without any nuclear detonations and computer simulations to determine the results from a real life explosion.

The laser will be able to do real life nuclear test and give their scientists enough information in the field of nuclear weapons but still be out of the pledge given by it to not carry out any nuclear test.

Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is America's national security laboratory, with a mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important issues.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

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