What if the iconic lightsaber from Star Wars wasn’t just a sci-fi fantasy but a glimpse into our technological future? Thanks to groundbreaking advancements at the University of Michigan, that possibility no longer feels so far-fetched. In a facility, a team of researchers just fired the most powerful laser in the United States, which may bring us closer to realising the energy weapons we once saw in movies.
Called ZEUS, short for Zettawatt Equivalent Ultrashort laser pulse System, this laser recently reached an astonishing peak power of 2 petawatts, or 2 quadrillion watts. That’s over 100 times the power used by the entire planet, unleashed in a pulse that lasted just 25 quintillionths of a second. Although fleeting, the implications are intense; this laser doesn’t burn through materials; it opens portals to new understandings of plasma physics and high-energy particle acceleration.
ZEUS isn’t exactly forging glowing swords just yet, but its ability to generate and manipulate plasma, the same superheated state of matter imagined in a lightsaber, offers a compelling parallel.
The laser system is designed to split its beam, creating a channel and then accelerating particles within it, akin to focusing energy into a coherent and guided stream. Later this year, the ZEUS team plans to reach 3 petawatts, setting the stage for a laser-electron collision that, from the electron’s frame, would simulate a zettawatt-scale pulse, earning ZEUS its futuristic name.
While the lightsaber may remain symbolic for now, ZEUS is a powerful reminder that yesterday’s science fiction often becomes today’s science. With continued upgrades and over a dozen experiments already underway, ZEUS is not just breaking barriers; it’s redefining what’s possible in energy manipulation. The Force, it seems, is becoming a little more real.
