The Korea Times close
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
Entertainment
& Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
Sports
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
Video
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • Site Map
  • E-paper
  • Subscribe
  • Register
  • LogIn
search close
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • Site Map
  • E-paper
  • Subscribe
  • Register
  • LogIn
search close
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
Thu, July 7, 2022 | 03:37
SCMP
Chinese breakthrough allows physicists to build the world's most powerful laser
Posted : 2021-07-02 20:12
Updated : 2021-07-02 20:48
Print Preview
Font Size Up
Font Size Down
gettyimagesbank
gettyimagesbank

gettyimagesbank
A research team in Shanghai has achieved a technological breakthrough to allow them to build the most powerful laser on the planet.

The leap means they could fire a 100-petawatt shot in about two years, a scientist involved in the project told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

That single pulse would be 10,000 times more powerful than all the electricity grids in the world combined.

In the incredibly brief but intensive flash of light, humans would witness materials coming from nothing for the first time.

Liu Jun, a member of the Station of Extreme Light (SEL) project with the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, said increasing the power of a laser beam was not easy.

A very high energy input could damage optical components such as crystals, lenses and mirrors.

To sidestep the burn issue, scientists would diffract the input beam to a broad spectrum of colours and pump into each colourful beam a relatively small amount of energy that the hardware could tolerate. Then they would compress them back into a single beam, now with its power dramatically amplified.

This compression has been an obstacle for scientists around the world for decades.

"The compressor will burn with so much energy coming in," Liu said.

In a 19-page paper published in the journal Optics Express in May, Liu and his colleagues proposed a high-powered laser design that broke the compression procedure into steps, which they said would cut energy intensity to a level safe for the compressor while radically increasing the laser device power output.

This breakthrough has given the SEL facility, which is under construction in Shanghai, a boost, according to Liu.

The $100 million project originally planned to employ four independent laser beams to reach the target power output. But with the new technology, one beam would be enough.

This would reduce the number of some large, critical components, such as diffraction gratings, and cut the cost of the project, said Liu.

"The fewer the beams, the simpler the device. The simpler the device, the more easily it can be built and run. The quality and stability of laser pulses will improve as well," he added.

When completed in 2023, the SEL facility could open a portal to a new world of physical discoveries, many physicists believe.

Though the laser beam eventually would be fired up in extremely short pulses ― with no risk of a blackout on Earth ― experts believe it would tear apart space-time for a brief moment to allow scientists to glimpse new physical phenomena that for now only exist in theories.

Einstein's famous equation E=mc2, for instance, explains that a small amount of matter can be converted to an enormous amount of energy. The atomic bomb proved it. But no one has shown how ― or whether ― it works the other way round.

The extremely powerful laser beam, when focused on an extremely small spot in a vacuum, can make a subatomic particle pop out of the blue, according to the prediction of physical theory. The SEL was designed to make this happen.

But the use of the facility will not be limited to satisfying physicists' curiosity. It could aid research in a wide range of areas, from new materials and drugs to nuclear fusion energy.

A laser scientist with the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said the new Shanghai laser facility would strengthen China's leading position in the high-power laser race.

gettyimagesbank
Chinese flags are waved during a rehearsal for a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing, July 1. AP-Yonhap

Some research teams in Russia, Europe and the United States have proposed similar projects, but none has received sufficient funding from their government, said the physicist who was not involved in the project and requested not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"China will almost certainly win," he said.

The current laser record is 10 petawatts using several beams. Producing a single laser beam 10 times as powerful is an ambitious goal. The design by the Shanghai team was like no others, the unnamed physicist said.

So there would be more challenges ahead, he said, adding that similar large-scale research infrastructure projects built in China had a good record for meeting deadlines, nonetheless. He said many physicists in the world were tracking the Shanghai project.

"Even competitors wish for their success," he said.


 
LG
  • Seoul gov't promotes veganism to fight climate crisis
  • Woman gets 1-year imprisonment for assaulting elderly man on subway train
  • First lady thrust back into spotlight over unofficial aide
  • Kakao falls victim to Google's in-app payment policy
  • Korea's new COVID-19 cases up for 2nd day amid resurgence concerns
  • Yoon orders military to swiftly punish North Korea in case of provocations
  • 'Stable environment needed to nurture Korean mathematicians': June Huh
  • President Yoon's approval rating falls: poll
  • Appeals court upholds prison term for father for fracturing infant son's skull
  • Court upholds ban on rallies in front of ex-president's home in Yangsan
  • Lee Jung-jae, Jung Woo-sung reunite after 23 years for Lee's directorial debut, 'Hunt' Lee Jung-jae, Jung Woo-sung reunite after 23 years for Lee's directorial debut, 'Hunt'
  • 3 black-and-white photo exhibitions offer testament to 20th-century world history 3 black-and-white photo exhibitions offer testament to 20th-century world history
  • Jecheon festival to present film concerts Jecheon festival to present film concerts
  • BLACKPINK to drop new album in August BLACKPINK to drop new album in August
  • [INTERVIEW] 'Money Heist: Korea' writer feels satisfied to expand series' franchise [INTERVIEW] 'Money Heist: Korea' writer feels satisfied to expand series' franchise
DARKROOM
  • Afghanistan earthquake killed more than 1,000

    Afghanistan earthquake killed more than 1,000

  • Divided America reacts to overturn of Roe vs. Wade

    Divided America reacts to overturn of Roe vs. Wade

  • Namaste: Yogis to celebrate International Yoga Day

    Namaste: Yogis to celebrate International Yoga Day

  • Poor hit harder by economic crisis

    Poor hit harder by economic crisis

  • Roland Garros 2022

    Roland Garros 2022

The Korea Times
CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Location
  • Media Kit
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Service
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • Mobile Service
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Policy
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • 고충처리인
  • Youth Protection Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group