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The most powerful laser in the US recently produced 2 quadrillion watts of power
(news.engin.umich.edu)
this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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Edit 2: Eheran pointed out I screwed up the math. Correct total energy output is 13μWh. A very, very, very small amount of energy.
(2x10^15^ W) * (25s/1x10^18^) * (1 h/ 3600 s) = 13μWh
Previous bad math:
spoiler
~~The key thing here is the burst lasted for "25 quintillionths of a second long". Meaning it had a total output energy of 180 W/h, or how much energy a standard US space heater (1.5KW) outputs if it was on for 7.2 minutes.~~
~~That is a pretty impressive amount of power coming in instantly to a small spot. Would leave basically zero time for it to dissipate into surrounding materials.~~
~~Edit: Fixed the math. (I hope)~~ ~~(2x10^15^ W) * (25/1x10^18^ s) * (3600 s / 1 h) = 180W/h~~
You multiply seconds with seconds per hour and somehow get "per hour" as the final result? But even ignoring that error, what is W/h supposed to be? Rate of change of power?
You multiply seconds with seconds per hour and somehow get "per hour" as the final result? But even ignoring that error, what is W/h supposed to be? Rate of change of power?
Also, it is a small k for kilo and you don't write it as 4.310^18^[unit]. Just 4.310^18 [unit]. Or 4.3E18 [unit].
Crap, you are right, units should be in Wh not W/h and as a result I put the conversion to hours backwards. Well, that turns the whole thing from an impressive amount of energy to basically none!
That's 25 attoseconds, no?... If so, that's impressive.
The power record holder right now is the Măgurele laser in Romania, at 10 PW, but it lasts a thousand times longer, at 25 femtoseconds I believe. I can't find clear info on pulse duration anywhere. They do intend to decrease pulse durations it seems.
could this boil one molecule of water?