World's Brightest Laser Could Pave Way for Lower-Radiation X-Rays

Using the brightest light ever produced, University of Nebraska-Lincoln physicists

obtained this high-resolution X-ray of a USB drive. The image reveals details not visible with ordinary X-ray imaging. Credit: Extreme Light Laboratory|University of Nebraska-Lincoln The world's brightest laser — which is so powerful that it can produce light pulses that are 1 billion times brighter than the surface of the sun — can "transform" visible light into X-rays, making the shape and color of objects appear different, new research shows. These X-rays could be much less harmful than current computed tomography (CT) machines and provide much-higher-resolution images, the researchers said. In the new study, published online June 26 in the journal Nature Photonics, a team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln led by physicist Donald Umstadter described an experiment they had conducted using their superpowerful Diocles laser, named after an ancient Greek mathematician. [The 18 Biggest Unsolved Mysteries in Physics]