Omega and Omega EP, not the watches

by Sapna Shroff

Written by Sapna Shroff, Guest Blogger - Imaging Lightly
 

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics, established in 1970, has been involved in major engineering efforts to build high power lasers. They conduct research on high energy density phenomena,  matter interaction, implosion and plasma physics. The OMEGA and OMEGA EP (extended performance) are two such major laser systems used to study matter under high power laser pulses. The OMEGA system delivers 40K Joules of energy from 60 focused UV laser beams to the target.

The OMEGA EP (extended performance) system delivers pulses with petawatts of energy used for x-ray and proton radiography.

Optics comes in all scales and sizes. Here were systems that required the construction of entirely new, custom buildings and dedicated power, air, cooling and resource management, which can make matter implode! At another extreme are nano and micro level optical systems fabricated on tiny chips, self powered and sometimes even disposable! 

Engineering can accomplish marvels!

Posted: 17 Oct 2012 by Sapna Shroff