University of Michigan has created a laser that produces 300 TerraWatts of power (which is a large number). It only produces it for a millionth of a billionth of a second in an area 100th of the diameter of a human hair. The laser takes 10 minutes to charge which is quicker than any of Hercules’ predecessors.
There are multiple applications that researchers are targeting with these lasers include replicating the fusion that occurs in stars, combining atoms to make larger particles. Could lasers provide the modern version of the philosophers stone?