HIGH-POWER LASERS: USING LIGHT TO CREATE THE HOTTEST MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE, PRODUCE ENERGY, AND HELP SECURE THE NATION

Three-Week Course

Dates: Three Tuesdays, February 19–March 4
Time: 6:30–8 p.m.
Location: See Course Locations and Parking page
Course Fee: $85 (discounted to $68 for select groups)

Todd Ditmire, Ph.D., Physics, UT Austin

With modern technology, we can now construct lasers that produce pulses of light with trillions of watts of power. This has led to research around the world on an unprecedented scale. Driven by many possible applications, including controlled nuclear fusion, high-power lasers hold great technological promise that could change society in profound ways. Learn how lasers work, how such high powers can be achieved in the laboratory, and how we can manipulate such intense pulses of light to simulate some of the most exotic conditions in the universe, aiding scientists in their understanding of many important scientific puzzles. Finally, learn how high-power lasers may very soon be used to create controlled nuclear fusion, a process that has important consequences for national security and that some day may provide a virtually limitless source of clean energy.

1st class: How does a laser work?

Fundamental physics and technology behind laser operation; different kinds of lasers; techniques for producing very high powers with lasers.

2nd class: Creating hot plasmas with laser light

What is a plasma, and what do we know about the properties of this fourth state of matter; how lasers create and interact with plasmas; using laser plasmas to reproduce enigmatic astrophysical events, such as supernovae, in a lab.

3rd class: Using lasers in the quest for fusion energy

Principals and promise of nuclear fusion; how to make fusion in the lab with lasers; the role of high power lasers in national security problems

Todd Ditmire is Professor of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin where he directs the Texas Center for High Intensity Laser Science. Professor Ditmire earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and is the chair of the Optical Sciences Division of the Optical Society of America. Under his direction, the National Nuclear Security Administration awarded the University with one of only four Stockpile Sciences Academic Alliance Centers of Excellence. Professor Ditmire's research focuses on the development of ultra-high peak power lasers and the use of these lasers to create and study extreme states of matter. His current project is the building of the Texas Petawatt laser at UT Austin.

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