Super Laser at the National Ignition Facility - KQED QUEST

It's the largest laser beam in the world and it's being built in the Bay Area. The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will shoot tremendous bursts of energy at an area the size of a pencil eraser. The goal? To recreate fusion -- which powers the sun and some nuclear bombs -- perhaps harnessing a new source of clean energy for the 21st century.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• kqed
• quest
• laser
• nif
• science
• fusion
• llnl

[jehmen]

but will it blend??

[jnthnbush]

Can we uses these lasers and concentrate them into one beam to destroy those pesky Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, or even a disrespectful planet?

[omg123596]

We still don't have it :(

[wxyzabcd]

To quote Stephen Colbert: "WE HAVE A DEATH STAR!!!"

[jasonchuu]

the output of this laser complex is in petawatts about 1billion times the energy of nuclear plants...

[bencinurts]

where is this thing now??

[bencinurts]

This thing looks like a "way too big" nuclear bomb!! DON'T TURN IT ON!!!!

[BobRoberts1492]

The next phase of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC), a series of experiments and simulations to prepare NIF for fusion ignition tests in the coming months, began last fall. Shortly after the dedication of the NIF facility in May of 2009, NIC began conducting test shots to fine-tune the performance of NIF's lasers, calibrate its diagnostic equipment, and verify the sophisticated computer simulations that help to guide the design of NIF's fusion targets.

[BobRoberts1492]

A world record for neutron yield was set by the National Ignition Campaign on Oct. 31, 2010, when 121 kilojoules of ultraviolet laser light was fired into a glass calibration target like this one filled with deuterium and tritium (DT) gas.

[robby123ism]

@pugfugly1989 is disproved even a word?

[shaerkhan82]

without carbon there wont be life in earth

[mammothmeat]

"normal" nuclear weapons are fission bombs yes, Hydrogen bombs on the other hand are fusion bombs.