5 ms·
NIF's laser works for only 1microsecond, took over a decade to build and the price was over 3.5 bln. "Peak current for the system exceeds 100 million amperes an
by 6d6b73 3y ago
NIF's laser works for only 1microsecond, took over a decade to build and the price was over 3.5 bln.
"Peak current for the system exceeds 100 million amperes and the peak power exceeds 1 terawatt (1 trillion watts)"
https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/how-nif-works/power-conditioning https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/how-nif-works/power-conditioni...
- jessriedel 3y agoPeak NIF power is actually only ~a nanosecond. And I acknowledged that Starshot would be a global undertaking that dwarfs NIF. I'm just saying that it's wrong to say this is going to require 100 GW of industrial power plants.