Knowledge of a laser beam's shape and output-power distribution is critical for optimizing laser performance. Neil Savage summarizes the latest beam-profiling products on the market. People using ...

Spectacular increase in brightness and decrease in pulse duration of X-ray beams are now foreseen owing to the progress made in laser–plasma interactions. At the frontier between plasmas and ...

An initiative called Breakthrough Starshot wants to explore another star system using ultra-powerful laser beams and wafer-thin spaceships. It's a goal that sounds so fantastic, you'd be forgiven ...

In this area researchers have now demonstrated a way around this, by using curved channels for the laser beams (paywalled paper) which inject the laser beam into the continuous cavity. Schematic ...

The electrons in the beam interact with the electrons bound to the metal atoms to create X-rays," he said. "At NIF, we use the high-power laser beam instead of an electron beam to make the X-rays ...

[Jesse]’s modification doesn’t affect the laser beam itself; it is an improvement on the air assist, which is the name for a constant stream of air that blows away smoke and debris as the ...

Laser beams can also hit targets swiftly and silently, being hard to detect and evade. They don’t require conventional ammunition — meaning you don’t have to carry a constant stream of ...