Highest intensity laser beam

The highest laser pulse intensity is 110 zettawatts per square centimetre (1.1 x 10^23 W/cm2), an intensity achieved by the Center for Relativistic Laser Science (CoReLS) in Gwangju, South Korea. The results of this experiment were published in the scientific journal Optica on 6 May 2021.

The record intensity was achieved by focusing the output of the four-petawatt CoReLS laser onto a spot just 1.1 micrometres wide in a 19.6 femtosecond burst. (A micrometre is a millionth of a metre, or a thousand times smaller than a millimetre; a femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second). This focusing of both duration and size was achieved with a complex system of parabolic reflectors, diffraction gratings and lenses.

The intensity of this laser beam was compared by senior researcher Chang-hee Nam to all the sunlight across the planet compressed into an area around the size of a red blood cell.