World’s most powerful laser could ‘tear apart the vacuum of space’

World’s most powerful laser could ‘tear apart the vacuum of space’




2011 11 17


By Andrew Couts | DigitalTrends.com



Scientists have plans to build a laser so powerful it could boil the
fabric of space and, in doing so, possibly reveal extra-dimensions.

In today’s installment of potentially catastrophic science experiments,
scientists have plans to create a giant laser that can emit a beam with
an amount of energy equivalent to all of the power the Earth receives
from the sun combined, reports Richard Gray in the Telegraph. It is
believed such a laser will have the ability to rip apart the vacuum of
space — literally boil the underlying fabric of the universe.

This veritable death ray won’t be used to further the aspirations of an
evil genius — at least, that’s not its purpose. Instead, scientists hope
to prove the existence of tiny bits of matter, pairs of molecules known
as “ghost particles,” that are believed to hide in the vacuum of space,
but have so far been undetectable by any other means. In addition,
scientists hope the laser can help prove the existence of other
dimensions.

“This laser will be 200 times more powerful than the most powerful
lasers that currently exist,” said Professor John Collier, a leader of
the project, and director of the UK’s Central Laser Facility. “At this
kind of intensity we start to get into unexplored territory as it is an
area of physics that we have never been before.”

Dubbed the Extreme Light Infrastructure Ultra-High Field laser, or ELI,
the project is expected to be completed within the next 10 years, at a
cost of about $1.6 billion. The location for the ELI laser has not yet
been decided.