The National Nuclear Security Administration's multibillion-dollar National Ignition Facility project achieved on May 30 another milestone by producing 10.4 kiloJoules of ultraviolet laser light in a single beam line, a world record for laser performance, the agency announced this week. Fired for just a few nanoseconds, that beam line produced as much light energy as a "million billion" laser pointers switched on for the same length of time, NIF physicists say. Approximately 10 Joules are the equivalent to 2 calories...
