Laser bay

A look straight down a laser bay at the National Ignition Facility. In just 5 millionths of a second, the system transforms one-billionth of a joule of laser beam energy to 4 million joules, an increase of a factor of more than 1 quadrillion. (According to Wikipedia, a joule is defined as the work required to continuously produce 1 watt of power for one second.)

Read more in our related article: "Harnessing a star's power for clean energy"