Highest power
With the pulsed operation of lasers, a power orders of magnitude greater than anything we have known before can be achieved. This is made possible through the concentration of laser power to very short femtosecond pulses.
Average global electricity generation in 2022 was 3.3 terawatts (3.300,000,000,000,000 W).
The generated peak light power at the ELI - Extreme Light Infrastructure in Romania is about 3,000 times larger: 10 petawatt
What is the peak power of a laser?
This is the light output at the moment when the laser flashes for a very short time (femtoseconds!). Such high-intensity light pulses can be achieved about once per minute.
Although the record peak power is only available within short light flashes, they enable unique experiments, only possible with photonics.
A very warm thank you to all the companies and institutes that made this publication possible.
PHOTONICS - THE BOOK
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Text and research: Wenko Süptitz, SPECTARIS
Graphic: Schwochow Visual Stories GmbH
Scrollytelling: Jan Schwochow, Scrollytelling GmbH
- 01Video: getty imageshttps://www.gettyimages.com
- 02spectaris.dehttps://www.spectaris.de/
- 03thalesgroup.comthalesgroup.com
- 04energyinst.orgenergyinst.org
