Jefferson Lab laser sets power record (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Jefferson Lab laser sets power record

The U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility says it has made the world's most powerful tunable laser even more powerful.

Officials at Jefferson Lab, as the facility is called, said last week that its Free-Electron Laser set a record Oct. 30 by producing a 14.2 kilowatt beam of laser light at an infrared wavelength of 1.61 microns. The laser set the previous world's record of 10 kilowatts in 2004.

Officials said the research is working toward development of a high-power free-electron laser that will serve the Navy as part of a ship-based weapon system.