The Vulcan laser is an 8-beam 2.5 kJ per (~2 nanoseconds) pulse infrared neodymium glass laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's Central Laser Facility in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Vulcan is also capable of operating in frequency doubled mode where it can deliver to a target about 1 kJ at 532 nm in 2 ns pulses. One of Vulcan's beams is also available as an ultra-short pulse (~700 Joules in ~700 femtosecond) ultra-high intensity beam using chirped pulse amplification called the "Vulcan petawatt". Main uses for Vulcan and Vulcan petawatt are the investigation of high-intensity light–matter coupling experiments and inertial confinement fusion experiments including the investigation of the "fast ignition" scheme of target implosion. In 2005 the Vulcan laser was the highest-intensity focused laser in the world, capable of producing a petawatt laser beam with a focused intensity of 1021 W/cm2.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ VULCAN in the Guinness Book of World Records for Second Year Running (CLF, Laser website)
External links
