Hundreds of weak laser beams, after passing through a line of glass, the energy will be amplified by 1 trillion times. Eventually, they will converge to one point and ignite the artificial "little sun"-the laser inertial confinement fusion device, which is expected to realize the ultimate dream of human beings continuously obtaining clean energy. To get this powerful laser pointer that is sufficient to initiate nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes, it is necessary to develop neodymium glass that can deliver energy to the laser, which is the "heart" of the high-power laser pointer. A group of scientists at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences worked silently for half a century to realize this dream.
Today, they are the only team in the world that masters the entire process of making large-size high-performance laser neodymium glass. Neodymium glass "energizes" the laser enough to initiate fusion reactions. After half a century of research on neodymium glass, it has undergone 4 technological iterations and has gone out of two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Team members always have a belief: No matter how difficult it is, we must do it!
1 Joule of energy can make a 1 watt light bulb shine normally for 1 second. 1 nanojoule, only 1 billionth of a billion, is very weak at this energy level. However, after one or two thousand pieces of energy-absorbing neodymium glass "energize", this beam of light will be powerful enough to initiate a fusion reaction.
"Neodymium glass is very peculiar. Under the irradiation of xenon lamps, neodymium ions will absorb the energy of light and transition from a low-energy state to a high-energy state." Hu Lili, project leader of the neodymium glass and researcher of the Institute of Optomechanics, explained that when the laser passes through the full energy When neodymium glass is absorbed, it will absorb the energy in the glass and become stronger. "Thousands of laser neodymium glass in the device repeatedly'relay' the laser, and finally let the laser meet the needs of scientists."
This powerful green laser pointer can help scientists conduct basic research on high energy density physics and create a world record of laser instantaneous output power. The Pudong Zhangjiang ultra-strong ultra-short laser device also uses a neodymium glass array; laser neodymium glass can also be used for In fusion research, China's "Shenguang" device is one of the best performing fusion "ignitors" in the world.