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A laser with more power than all the world’s electricity plants combined?
When you think about it; that’s a hell of a lot of energy. To put it in perspective an average incandescent bulb uses about 40 watts, give or take. The laser at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory delivers 1,000,000,000,000,000 watts, also known as a petawatt.
The Department of Energy has plans for the laser to be used in medical applications, imaging, or colliders. In the image see about a simulation was run in which the laser drove a very compact particle accelerator called laser wakefield acceleration, boosting electrons to a very high energy. As the laser carves through the gas in the simulation it boosts the electrons, accelerating them to almost the speed of light. (x)
(Source: throughascientificlens)
