A team of British and Czech scientists say they have successfully created the world’s first ‘super laser’, which is a sentence that is in no way concerning.
Named “Bivoj”, after a famous Czech strongman, it is a staggering 10 times more powerful than any other laser of its kind on the planet.
What makes Bivoj particularly special is that unlike other high-energy lasers, this one can be operated for sustained periods of time making it practically very useful.
Weighing in at around 44 tonnes, the Bivoj reportedly cost a mere 44 million euros and was able to set the world record in December 2016.
According to AFP device was created by a partnership between the British Central Laser Facility (CLF) and HiLASE (High average power pulsed laser), a Czech R&D organisation.
So what can we use the world’s most powerful laser for? Well you’ll be pleased to hear that it won’t be attached to any small moons, nor will it be used for crushing any rebellions.
Instead this breakthrough laser will be used in commercial applications such as aeronautical manufacturing.
While it boasts the highest average output of any laser in the world, Bivoj isn’t the most powerful laser we’ve ever seen.
That accolade goes to the Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) in Japan.
The LFEX boasts a power output of 2-petawatts or two quadrillion watts (2,000,000,000,000,000 watts).
The problem here though is that it takes such a colossal amount of energy to produce this that the LFEX can only be fired a few times every day. Bivoj on the other hand manages to be both incredibly powerful and yet economical enough that it can be put into almost constant use.
So while Japan might have the hardest punch out of the two, it’s Bivoj that’s going to win the round.
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