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ANN ARBOR, Mich – In an effort to improve US competitiveness in high intensity laser research, the Ministry of Energy created LaserNetUS, a $ 6.8 million initiative involving the University of Michigan, one of the pioneers of the field.
High intensity lasers have many applications in basic research, manufacturing and medicine. The new network, made up of six universities and three national high-intensity laser labs, has networks that can exceed 1 billion trillion watts.
Petawatt lasers generate light with almost 100 times the power of any plant in the world, but only in the shortest possible time. Using technology developed by two of this year's Nobel laureates in physics, called pulsed pulse amplification, these lasers trigger ultra-fast flashes of light lasting less than a tenth of a trillion seconds.
The U-M initiative will receive $ 1 million as part of this initiative to donate time to the HERCULES laser, the reigning world champion in laser intensity at 20 sextillions (2×1022) watts per square centimeter. The HERCULES laser undergoes a power upgrade from 300 trillion watts to 500 trillion or a petawatt. It should also double or triple its intensity.
"Although the experiments with HERCULES have made many discoveries over the last decade, the facilities are not working as well as possible." LaserNet will help expand this growing field of research by enabling scientists outside the University from Michigan to access HERCULES, "said Karl Krushelnick, director of the Center for Ultrafast Optical Science.
One of the newest Nobel laureates is Gerard Mourou, founder of CUOS, and Emeritus Professor Emeritus of D. Moore University, professor emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering at U-M University. He proposed HERCULES to the National Science Foundation in 2000 and started the construction of the laser.
High intensity lasers such as HERCULES and other machines in the network have many applications in basic research, manufacturing and medicine. For example, they can recreate some of the most extreme conditions in the universe, such as those encountered in supernova explosions and black holes. They can generate high-energy particles for physics research or intense X-ray pulses to probe ultra-fast processes, such as those occurring inside atoms. They are also promising to generate intense neutron explosions that could image aging aircraft components, accurately cut materials, or provide highly targeted radiotherapy to cancerous tumors.
The United States was the dominant innovator and user of high intensity laser technology in the 1990s, but today, Europe and Asia have taken the ahead, according to a recent report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine entitled "Opportunites in Intense Ultrafast Lasers: Achieving the brightest light."
Currently, 80 to 90% of the world's high-intensity, high-speed laser systems are abroad, and all the highest-power research lasers currently under construction or already built are also in operation. 39; abroad. The authors of the report recommended creating a national network of laser installations to emulate successful efforts in Europe.
LaserNetUS institutions were created specifically for this purpose. The network will organize a national call for proposals for access to its facilities. Proposals will be reviewed by an independent committee. This call will allow a US researcher to gain time on one of the high-intensity lasers at LaserNetUS host institutions.
The LaserNetUS institutions are UM, the University of Texas, Ohio State University, Colorado State University, the University of Nebraska, the University of Rochester, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The funding comes from the DOE Fusion Energy Sciences program within the Science Office.
The National Science Foundation is funding the HERCULES upgrade. Krushelnick is also a professor in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, electrical engineering and computer science, as well as physics.
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