One petawatt equals 10 to the 15th power watts. This represents a staggering amount of power, far exceeding the continuous electrical output of the entire planet. Engineers achieve petawatt power levels in the laboratory by firing high-energy lasers in ultra-short pulses lasting only a few femtoseconds.
Heard on the job
The new laser system delivers a peak power of 1.5 petawatts by compressing the pulse down to 30 femtoseconds.
Insider tip
Petawatt lasers do not consume massive amounts of total energy. They simply release a modest amount of energy in an incredibly short timeframe to achieve high peak power.