Korean team unveils laser system

A laser that generates enormous energy in the blink of an eye has been developed by a Korean research team. In language evoking the movie “Star Wars,” the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said yesterday that it has succeeded in developing a laser that generates 10 terawatts of energy in 30 femtoseconds. A single terawatt equals 1 trillion watts and a femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second. But the laser system producing this tremendous energy is just 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) by 3 meters. “The newly developed system has improved on the previous method, which wasted a large amount of energy by using a huge system to create laser beams,” said Lee Yong-joo at the research institute. With the development of the new laser system, Korea has elbowed its way into a laser market that was previously dominated by developed countries such as the United States, Britain, Japan and France. The laser generates neutrons in a microscopic space; neutrons are produced in the process of nuclear fusion. For this reason, the laser will also be used in studying the working of neutrons, the research team said. by Park Bang-ju