192 Laser Beams Combined To Form One Megajoule Laser Shot

The folks at the national Ignition Facility decided to demonstrate fusion by focusing the energy of 192 super powerful lasers onto a tiny target. Well, they certainly proved their concept by producing a one megajoule laser shot. Yeah, that’s pretty powerful.

This demonstration is being proclaimed as a “key step towards nuclear fusion” by the National Nuclear Security Administration. After all, this is apparently the first time such a level of laser energy was reached. More experiments will occur in the summer of this year, but you can start with the pewpew jokes now. [Physorg]

Laser beam pictured is not the 1 megajoule beam, instead it’s a picture by Daily Galaxy