The Royal Institution
1 HN recommender · recommended in 3 months, 2018–2020
59:19 · 859K views · Jun 10, 2015
Royal Institution lecture by Dr Kate Lancaster on the most powerful lasers in the world and the extreme conditions they create. It includes live demonstrations and covers applications from industry to fusion.
Recommended as an accessible, well-delivered lecture on high-intensity laser physics.
3 comments from Hacker News
Here's a great Royal Institution Lecture by Kate Lancaster talking about Ultra Intense Lasers from 2017 :) this video
Fusion may be difficult but math and physics say we should be able to do it. Just because it's difficult and with a long time horizon doesn't mean you should throw it in the bin with "perpetual motion". (Cold Fusion however, you may throw in the bin) Just saw a talk [0] where they talk about using lasers to create fusion. The current puck used to kick start the process costs $1M, (paraphrased) "it needs to cost 20 cents before Fusion is viable. But hey, we're in the research phase!" [0] this video
What physics needs is a revolutionary (not evolutionary like the SSC or the LHC) particle accelerator. There are promising works with high-powered lasers, for example: this video But it seems the "spin particles really fast in a very long circular tube" is reaching the end of its life.