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Building the World's Most Powerful Laser

Posted by samzenpus on from the lazlo-would-not-approve dept.

Bill writes "Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories is attempting to create the world's largest laser. The NIF's goal is to focus the laser on a pea-sized hydrogen pellet and result in fusion ignition."

9 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Can't we use this in other ways? by solafide · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Like creating super-strong alloys? Demolition: melting the buildings instead of wrecking... Or in war: melting holes in enemy tanks. A lot more uses for that super-strong laser than fusion.

  2. Re:But can they turn it off? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Self-sustaining? Can they turn it off if it starts to get out of control? Amazing stuff, but to some degree a little scary.

    It's self-sustaining until it runs out of fuel. Just like a match.

  3. Re:Bias out the ass. by AndrewStephens · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation have a writeup on this facility.

    Quoting from the conclusion (my emphasis added):

    Livermore Lab is already on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Superfund" list of most contaminated sites in the country. NIF will generate toxic and radioactive wastes; even its 'routine' operation will create pollution for the surrounding communities. The situation could be exacerbated by newly-planned experiments and the addition of materials with long-lived isotopes like plutonium.
    Few scientists believe NIF will achieve its scientific objective of ignition, though it will reach energies, temperatures, and densities of interest to weapons designers. In essence, it's a machine to keep weapons designers busy at their deadly pursuits. NIF runs counter to the U.S.' disarmament obligation under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Many believe is violates Article 1 of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as well. From conducting laser fireball experiments, to providing detailed analyses of mix, to studying new fusion weapon concepts to creating a test bed for weapons effects, NIF will push the envelope of nuclear weapons physics - and demonstrate once again that the United States will not practice the disarmament it so sanctimoniously (and forcibly) prescribes for others.
    Who would have thought a giant laser could be used for war!
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  4. Re:military research, again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Actually, the military does need a laser this powerful. You see, it will allow them to remove a tiny sample from any one of our nuclear warheads and induce fusion in line with exactly what happens when the bomb is dropped.

    Got a better idea of how to make sure our cold-war aresnal is still functioning and capable of deployment without detonating a nuclear warhead every few years?

    And if you want to talk about expensive, just imagine scrapping every H-Bomb we have and making them all anew.

  5. Re:Companion Cloning/Bio-Engineering Project? by oc255 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok, ok. I totally got this reference right away. Which maybe dates me a bit (I'm under 30). But what makes that movie (and that scene) so special? Is it the fact that it was kinda weird and original way back when? I mean, you had the guy with the weird braces talking to god while popcorn while exploding all around him.

    Definitely stands out.

    Group think. Meh, original scenes make group think happen because the group remembers them.

    - Horse head in Godfather
    - Shark tank with Lasers on their heads
    - I know Kung Foo
    - I am your Father

    Most of these things were kinda catchy/shocking/surprising/rememberable in their originality, so does Group Think kinda feed of original ideas and then become cliche?

    Idea -> Reuse -> Cliche -> Rut -> Originality -> Idea

    I can't wait to get my first offtopic for this one, even though it's ontopic in a micro-scale.

  6. Re:military research, again by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, the military does need a laser this powerful. You see, it will allow them to remove a tiny sample from any one of our nuclear warheads and induce fusion in line with exactly what happens when the bomb is dropped.

    Why would they want to do that? Right now the equipment for a fusion reactor is massive, has to be carefully calibrated, and wouldn't really be effective for a bomb. In short, we're a LONG way from a pure fusion bomb. I can imagine that the military has a passive interest at the moment, but it's doubtful they'll take any more of an interest until the equipment is operating, proven, and many of the other issues have been worked out.

    Honestly, this design would be far more useful for a Dadelus drive than it would be for a bomb.

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  7. Mirror? by msheppard · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And I hear the Fermi labs are working on a mirror to aim this laser.
    M@

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    Krispy Cream is people
  8. Reel Geeks by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    _Real Genius_ was a landmark movie, that made geeks look cool. Not just Val Kilmer (later playing Jim Morrison), but even the really geeky geeks were heroic, and even got laid. It was totally sympathetic to geek passions, and funny enough to get normals to like the movie geeks. It was the geek _Blackboard Jungle_.

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    make install -not war

  9. Similar european project : the MegaJoule laser by Blaskowicz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    this looks much the LMJ (laser megajoule) we are going to get here in France. We also claim it will world's most powerful. I don't know which one is better, but we'll have 240 beams versus 192 beams on the US facility :D
    http://www-lmj.cea.fr/html/cea.htm