Europe approves powerful research lasers
Brussels (UPI) Apr 25, 2011 The European Commission says it has approved plans to build new lasers that will dwarf the power of existing lasers for research into particle physics. Three new lasers, each costing about $400 million, will be constructed -- one in the Czech Republic, one in Hungary and one in Romania, NewScientist.com reported Monday. The lasers, set for completion in 2015, will be capable of firing pulses that reach a power of 10 petawatts. Each of the lasers will be different in its design details, allowing each to perform different high-energy physics experiments, including accelerating particles using the laser pulses, studying atomic nuclei, and generating fleeting pulses to study the dynamics of extremely fast events in atoms. The project, called the Extreme Light Infrastructure, will pave the way for an even more powerful laser capable of generating 10 beams, each twice as powerful as any one of the three ELI lasers, researchers said.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Space Technology News - Applications and Research
Better Lasers For Optical Communications Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Apr 14, 2011 Long-distance, high speed communications depend on lasers. But when information is transmitted down fiber optic cables, it's critical that the signal be clear enough to be decoded at the other end. Two factors are important in this respect: the color of the light, otherwise known as the wavelength, and the orientation of the light wave, known as polarization. A team from EPFL and the Swiss ... read more |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |