US Lab Debuts Super Laser

[Oneironaut]

Article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090530/ts_alt_afp/usitresearchmilitarylaser_20090530082418)

Video About the Laser (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmIHD6P3rdo)

Cool shit. :>

[Black_Eagle]

We are totally going to have fusion down before 2020.

Edit: I hate to do this to such a great moderator, but http://www.dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=78181

[slash112]

my god, where does the increase in energy come from? what happened to the law of conservation of energy. or did the extra energy originate from a different form? if so, what form?

i have another problem with this, but im not going to go into it because i dont know enough about fusion to be saying that, i would look like a fool.

[Xei]

I would imagine the energy comes from electricities and the electricities come from power stations. :l

[slash112]

no, it says that when the light goes through the amplifier the energy is increased.

well, i just remembered that it started as hydrogen, so i guess chemical energy to heat energy or something, but i still dont understand how the amplifier increases the energy, which is at the end, not when the fusion occurs

[Souperman22]

Holy shit. The guy said the laser gets over a foot in diameter.

[Licity]

no, it says that when the light goes through the amplifier the energy is increased.

well, i just remembered that it started as hydrogen, so i guess chemical energy to heat energy or something, but i still dont understand how the amplifier increases the energy, which is at the end, not when the fusion occurs

A magnifying glass amplifies light. If the same principle applies, then I would guess the laser beams are passed through a lens that concentrates the beam.

[slash112]

A magnifying glass amplifies light. If the same principle applies, then I would guess the laser beams are passed through a lens that concentrates the beam.

yes, it might focus the beam, but it wont increase the enegy of the beam. but it doesnt even do that anyway, the beam is split into smaller beams and amplified.

[Xei]

If you look at the Wikipedia article it details how the amplification is achieved by a method called 'optical pumping'. This of course requires as much energy as it releases, and the energy is indeed electrical energy from the grid, stored in capacitors.

The initial low-energy pulse is just used so that everything is synchronised.

[slash112]

If you look at the Wikipedia article it details how the amplification is achieved by a method called 'optical pumping'. This of course requires as much energy as it releases, and the energy is indeed electrical energy from the grid, stored in capacitors.

The initial low-energy pulse is just used so that everything is synchronised.

oh right, i get it now. thanks