A University of California, Irvine professor is being tasked to help design the most powerful laser in the world.
Franklin Dollar, a professor of physics & astronomy at UCI, is part of the effort to build the laser called the EP-OPAL (Optical Parametric Amplifier Lines).
The National Science Foundation awarded an $18-million grant to build the laser at a university in New York. EP-OPAL will house it at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester.
The laser will open the door for more research in astrophysics and the medical field, from telescopes to medical imaging.
EP-OPAL could also develop radiation techniques to help treat cancer patients.
Plus, it could lead to new developments in nuclear physics, particle acceleration and quantum mechanics.
The instrument has two separate 25-petawatt lasers and will fire in a millionth of a billionth of a second.
Dollar’s team will focus on particle acceleration and light sources.
I talked to Dollar’s team about the laser and how he’s mentoring the next generation of plasma physicists. Watch the video above to see more.
Franklin Dollar, assistant professor of physics and astronomy (Photo by Steve Zylius/UCI)
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