Scientists discover path to ‘extreme light intensity’ enabling super-powerful laser weapons and advanced technology

An international team of physicists has announced a “significant advance” in laser science that provides engineers with a practical path to extreme light intensities that can dramatically increase the intensity of high-power laser light.

The team of physicists behind this breakthrough suggested that ultra-powerful lasers created using their approach could allow scientists to probe fundamental laws of physics by interacting directly with light in the quantum vacuum. More powerful lasers could also lead to advances in fusion power generation and even more powerful anti-missile combat lasers, such as those found on Israel’s Iron Beam system.

Powering Einstein for extreme light intensity and ultra-powerful lasers

First, project leaders Professor Peter Norleys and Dr Robin Timmis from the University of Oxford worked with Professor Brendan Dromey and Dr Mark Yong from Queen’s University Belfast to investigate the theory. The team then turned to scientists with access to the Gemini laser at the Council for Science and Technology Facilities’ Central Laser Facility (CLF).

The team used Gemini to generate extremely bright ultraviolet light in what they described as an “unusual process,” according to a statement announcing the study. After setting up the experiment, they fired the facility’s powerful lasers at a cloud of charged particles, also known as plasma. The researchers said that during the experiment, the high-energy collisions caused the plasma to behave “like a rapidly moving mirror.”

“This can be compared to shining a flashlight into a mirror that is moving towards you at high speed,” they explained.

Rather than losing energy, the reflected light is compressed and increases in energy. The researchers said this combined effect is similar to the pitch of a siren rising and falling as an ambulance passes by. But in the CSF Laser Facility experiment, the “mirror” is moving so fast that the laser’s power increases even more, an effect quantified by Einstein’s theory of relativity. The research team said this well-known effect is called “relativistic harmonic generation.”

Further output improvement with “Coherent Harmonic Focus”

In addition to using Einstein to boost an already powerful laser, the team’s experiments successfully demonstrated a way to focus this compressed light even further, a method they dubbed “coherent harmonic focusing.”

Unlike laser light focusing methods based on the theory of relativity, the researchers likened the coherent harmonic focusing effect to a magnifying glass that focuses sunlight into a small, strong point that can ignite paper. However, instead of sunlight, laser light of many wavelengths is focused into a very small area, resulting in a large concentration of energy.

While the extreme light intensities produced by this approach could enable more powerful laser weapons or ignition lasers needed to start fusion reactions, the researchers noted that it could also provide an important tool for exploring a theory of light and matter called quantum electrodynamics (QED). Previous experiments have required beams of high-energy particles to be directed at powerful lasers, and researchers have had to switch between multiple viewpoints to interpret the results.

“[It’s]a bit like trying to understand a car accident by switching between multiple moving cameras,” they explained. “Because everything is done inside the laser system itself, scientists can directly observe the results without the need for complex frame-by-frame transformations. This should make interpretation of future experiments much easier.”

Fusion of laser technology, plasma physics, and ultrafast materials science

Discussing the implications for the path to the extreme light intensities needed for ultra-powerful lasers, lead author Dr. Timmis described the discovery as “interesting,” but added that the research team is only beginning to understand “the rich and complex physics of this mechanism.”

“Simulations suggest that we may have created the most powerful source of coherent light ever,” the researchers explained. “We hope to have the opportunity to return to Gemini soon to confirm this, but also to take what we learn to larger facilities that can produce brighter light.”

Professor Norries echoed his colleague’s enthusiasm, highlighting Dr Tim’s “mastery of the subject”, which enabled him to create the precise experimental conditions needed to solve a mystery that has eluded scientists for decades.

In summarizing the far-reaching impact of their research, Professor Dromey noted that achieving such important advances requires diverse disciplines to work together.

“This research is a fine-tuned blend of laser technology, plasma physics, and ultrafast materials science to resolve persistent discrepancies between theory and experiment that have plagued the field for more than 20 years,” the professor said.

The research “Efficiency-optimized relativistic plasma harmonics for extreme fields” nature.

Christopher Plain is a science fiction and fantasy novelist and head science writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him ×, To learn about his books, plainfiction.comor email him directly christopher@thedebrief.org.