Lasers that pulsate at fantastically fast speeds have applications in engineering, computing and medicine.
Even the blink of an eye is nowhere near fast enough. To get an idea of how quickly the latest ultra-fast lasers operate, try an F-16 fighter. With the throttles fully open at supersonic speed the jet would barely traverse an atom in the same time as a pulse from one of today’s fastest lasers.
Instead of emitting a continuous beam, a pulsed laser concentrates its energy into brief bursts. An ultra-fast laser produces fantastically short bursts in which the intensity and power of the pulses can reach mind-boggling levels. Because the pulses happen so quickly, the effects are concentrated in time. This gives ultra-fast lasers valuable properties that their slower predecessors do not have.
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