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Japanese Scientists Fire the Most Powerful Laser On the Planet

Posted by samzenpus on from the amazing-laser dept.

Sepa Blackforesta writes: Scientist from University of Osaka claim have fired the world's most powerful laser. The beam was intact for 2-petawatt, pulse lasted just one picosecond. While it produced a huge amount of power, the energy required for the beam itself is equivalent to that needed to power a microwave for two seconds. An associate professor of electrical engineering at Osaka University Junji Kawanaka says “With heated competition in the world to improve the performance of lasers, our goal now is to increase our output to 10 petawatts.”

5 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Re:disappointing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It only lasted for a picosecond...

    Longer than I usually do.

  2. Analogies? by marciot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Help me understand. Is a two petawatt laser being fired for a picosecond more like being sneezed on by a rhino with a cold or more like being shat on by an elephant with a bad case of explosive diarrhea?

  3. If I only worked for 1 picosecond... by SlithyMagister · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd get fired too

  4. The next step... by turbinicarpus · · Score: 3, Funny

    "We are currently working on mounting this laser on a giant robot," added Professor Kawanaka.

  5. Re:disappointing by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 4, Funny

    It only lasted for a picosecond...

    They couldn't risk cooking the shark it was attached to.