British scientists are planning to construct the world’s most powerful laser, capable of emitting a beam a million, billion, billion times brighter than the sun.
Anticipations are that the Vulcan 20-20 laser, to be built in Oxfordshire at an £85 million cost, will drive advancements in nuclear fusion, renewable energy, and batteries.
A laser discharge lasting a trillionth of a second from the new machine will deliver more energy than the entire National Grid.
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Furthermore, it will be twenty times more potent than the current dominant laser, Vulcan, primarily used for plasma physics research.
Scientists hope the laser to improve their understanding of supernovae and solar flares after six years of building.
Experts suggest it could also investigate a new particle acceleration procedure for potential cancer radiotherapy treatments.
Science Minister George Freeman stated: ‘Reestablishing Britain as home to the world’s most powerful laser is an exciting opportunity to explore the uncharted in astronomy and physics, progress toward new clean energy sources for the benefit of our planet, and much more.’
The STFC Central Laser Facility in Harwell will build the laser.
UK Research and Innovation, a government-supported scientific funder, has awarded the facility £85 million.
The first project phase has just commenced: disassembling the Vulcan laser to create space for its replacement.
Professor Mark Thomson, executive chair of the STFC, commented, “The Central Laser Facility has been a catalyst for discoveries advancing our understanding of a wide range of topics, from the fundamental properties of matter under extreme conditions to star formation.”
