laser Archives – The Green Optimistic

New Chance for NIF to Develop Nuclear Fusion

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:51:18 +0000

A series of lasers built to study nuclear fusion reactions at the US National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory aims to replace uranium-based nuclear fission with cleaner, safer fusion reactions to provide energy to power plants. Despite the fact the world’s biggest laser did not make a key target date on the […]

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ARPA-E Funds Laser-Drilled Geothermal Energy Project

Leigh Hutchens — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:25:07 +0000

The US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) has provided funding to Foro Energy to develop inexpensive, high-powered lasers that may be able to tear through rock to drill for oil. This would eliminate the need to bore through the Earth using giant metal drills in the quest for resources. Using […]

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Laser-Powered Micro Stirling Engine Invented by German Researchers

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:50:10 +0000

You know how Stirling engines work, don’t you? If you don’t you can make an idea by imagining a cylinder with a fixed quantity of gas inside that expands when hot and compresses as it loses heat, creating movement and perhaps moving a piston (just like in the picture). That’s a 200-year-old idea, but now […]

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Very Efficient Ceramic Sunlight-to-Laser System Unveiled in Uzbekistan

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:51:43 +0000

A team of researchers from the Scientific and Production Association in Uzbekistan have succeeded transforming sunlight into laser light in a fashion that outperforms all the other similar projects that had been doing the same thing in the past. The team brags a 35 percent efficiency, versus one of maximum 2 percent obtained by others. […]

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Laser-Powered Spark Plugs Closer to Reality, Toyota Interested

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:05:10 +0000

Conventional gasoline engine makers may one day replace spark plugs with lasers, as Japanese researchers have designed and prototyped laser devices that are powerful enough to ignite the fuel and small enough to fit into the engine cylinder head (9 millimeters in diameter and 11 millimeters in length).

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LIDAR: Predicting The Wind By Using Smart, Laser-Equipped Wind Turbines

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:17:11 +0000

The researchers from Riso DTU completed the first test on a wind turbine with a laser-based anemometer built into the spinner to increase electricity generation.

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Todd Ditmire’s Petawatt Laser: One Step Closer to Nuclear Fusion

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:53:27 +0000

Todd Ditmire, from the University of Texas, has invented a laser device that can produce petawatt power through a process of chirping, that takes a short light pulse (150 femtoseconds) and stretches it out in time, amplifies it to higher energy and then recompresses it to about 100 femtoseconds in time, obtaining 190 joules of energy.

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New Method of Guiding Light Through Polymer Helps Solar Cells Get Cheaper

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:21:58 +0000

New research is paving the pathway towards better and more efficient solar cells, as University of Florida chemists have invented a method of "hacking" the molecular structures of the materials the solar cells are made of, in order to gain a maximum transfer efficiency from them.

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XX55: Military Designed Methanol Fuel Cell Lasting for Weeks

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:26:14 +0000

The company that produced the XX25 methanol fuel cell we talked about last year, Ultracell, came up with an improved version of it, the XX55. This fuel cell outputs 55watts at 4 amps (10-30 volts), and can last for days or even weeks on a single methane cartridge.

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