What is the most powerful laser made by man?

Answer 1

I'll start the bidding at 3 Megawatts.

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_ABL,,00.html


125 trillion watts!!! Are you kidding?

Oh, ok:
"Although the shots exceeded by more than 1,200 times the entire electrical generating capacity of the U.S., they lasted less than half a picosecond (a trillionth, or 10-12, of a second). In that exceedingly fleeting moment, nearly 10,000 times shorter than the typical Nova laser shot, only enough energy (about 600 joules) was generated to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for about 6 seconds"

http://www.llnl.gov/str/Petawatt.html

Answer 2

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you...it's a secret. But you can imagine what it would take to destroy a launching intercontinental missle as it emerges from its launch pad.

And that's what the airborne laser (ABL), being jointly developed by Lockheed and Boeing, does. I can say, the range of the ABL was supposed to reach "across the Korean peninsula" according the the DoD's statement of work. The laser itself is being developed by Lockheed. The platform and fire control stuff are being developed by Boeing and subcontractors.

For more on the ABL, check out the source and /or type in "Boeing airborne laser project" to browse the web. There is a lot there, but no power specification as you might imagine.

PS: Before Lockheed, I worked at the Lawrence Livermore Lab, cited by the answer above. They had an entire building devoted to applying laser technology to creating controlled fusion. The laser system was about a long as a football field, and it contained dozens, if not hundreds, or laser amplifiers (boosters). So I have no doubt they've done some really powerful lasers; but I continue to think the ABL, for its range alone in air, has to be the most powerful.

By the way, the fusion and ABL applications rely on the particulate nature of light to do the work intended. Light quanta have impulse (a real force) and that's what sets off the LiD target in the fusion project and punches a hole in the missile for the ABL project.

PPS: floodti has hit the photon on the head, the duration of these high powered gizmoes is generally fleeting. Which was one of the difficulties with the LLL laser project and one of the major concerns of the ABL project. In the ABL project, we were concerned with how long we could keep the flashlight lit and how long we could keep the flashlight shining on one point of the missile long enough to punch through it.

Answer 3

According to Wikipedia, the world's most powerful laser is 1.25 petawatts (PW), "claimed on 23 May 1996 by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory".

According to "Science & Technology Review," this laser (located at the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory) will be a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 700-Terrawatt Laser. It is "designed to study the physics of matter at extreme densities, pressures, and temperatures."

Answer 4

I know that NIF (National Ignition Facility) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab is working on completing a system by 2009 that will be able to focus 1.8 MJ of energy onto a target in a few billionths of a second.

Assuming 3 * 10e-9 sec. that would be about 500-600 TW.