Scientists from the University of Michigan are going to start the most powerful laser in the country. With a maximum of 3 petawatts, it will be able to simulate a laser a million times more powerful.
Scientists are about to turn on a new laser that will be the most powerful in the USA. The University of Michigan has just completed the construction of Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System (Zeus), who is the successor you laser Hercules with a power of 0.5 petawatt.
Contrary to what its name indicates, the maximum power of Zeus is 3 petawatts (or three million gigawatts). However, it will be used to simulate a power of one zettawatt (one million petawatts) by aiming a high-energy beam of electrons directed in the opposite direction. Researchers are particularly interested in basic research on plasma physics and particle accelerators.
The new Zeus laser is the most powerful in the United States. (In English, turn on automatic translation of subtitles.) © University of Michigan
A first study on a new technology for X-rays
Zeus emits ultra-short pulses, of the order of 15 femtoseconds, or 15 millionths of a nanosecond. The first study will only use one percent of the total power you laser, or 30 terawatts. Scientists plan to send infrared laser pulses into gaseous helium to transform it into plasma. From there they can create extremely short pulses of X-rays, which should make it possible to perform X-rays with doses x-ray far inferior to current techniques.
Other projects should follow, gradually increasing the power of the laser. Scientists have notably planned to increase to 500 terawatts at the end of the fall, and then to full power by the fall of 2023.