VOA科学技术2024--In Romania, Europe Builds a Powerful Laser

In Romania, Europe Builds a Powerful Laser

　　Engineer Antonia Toma works at a research center in Romania that holds one of the world's most powerful operating lasers.

　　Recently, Toma studied the controls responsible for starting the laser.

　　"Ready? Signal sent!"

　　The engineer spoke¹ to the French News Agency about her work at the center near the capital, Bucharest.

　　"I will not lie. From time to time, things can get a little stressful," the 29-year-old said.

　　"But it's also very joyful² to work here. And we are very happy that we have results" as teams of international researchers come to the center, she added.

　　‘Incredible odyssey³'

　　European scientists hope the technology used in the laser will bring improvements to fields like health and space.

　　The French company Thales operates the laser.

　　The laser is so powerful because of technology that was awarded the 2018 Noble Prize in Physics. Gerard Mourou of France and Donna Strickland of Canada were among three who shared the award that year. The Nobel Academy noted⁴ that improving laser technology offered new ways "for deepening our knowledge about the world and shaping it."

　　Mourou spent 30 years working in the United States. Then he went to Europe to complete the laser project. The effort began in the 2000s as part of the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure⁵ (ELI) project. ELI is a research group with two other high-powered lasers, one in the Czech Republic and one in Hungary.

　　The 79-year-old Mourou said the laser starts with a small amount of light with very little energy. But it is designed to amplify⁶, or increase, its energy millions of times.

　　Scientists have aimed to create more powerful lasers for many years. The devices fire extremely powerful beams of light, which can be used for medical, industrial and military purposes.

　　By the mid-1980s, however, scientists had reached a limit. They could not increase the power of the laser without destroying part of the system.

　　Mourou and his then-student Strickland invented a technology called Chirped-Pulse Amplification⁷ (CPA). They developed the technology at the University of Rochester in the American state of New York.

　　CPA increases the laser's power while keeping the system safe. The method is complex. It works by stretching a short laser pulse with optical parts. Then, CPA uses special materials to amplify the pulse millions of times. Finally, the pulse is compressed, so that it lasts for an extremely short period: as short as one millionth of one billionth of a second.

　　Today, doctors use the same technology to correct people's eyesight with laser surgery. Mourou said it could also be used in medicine to destroy cancer cells.

　　The age of the laser

　　Mourou predicts that the 2000s will be the century of the laser. Additional scientific uses for CPA could include direct observation of the motion of atoms, reducing radioactivity of nuclear waste and removing debris⁸ from space.

　　Franck Leibreich is a managing director at Thales. He said it took hundreds of metric tons of equipment to build the laser in Romania at a cost of about $350 million. The EU helped pay for much of it. Thales said the laser is the largest investment ever made in scientific research in Romania.

　　Countries including France, China and the United States are also developing their own projects to build even more powerful lasers.

　　Words in This Story

　　stressful –adj. something that causes mental or physical pressure or tension

　　pulse –n. a short, regular beat or surge of sound, electricity or material in a system

　　optical –adj. related to the part of physics that relates to the nature and properties of light

　　compress –v. to make shorter or smaller by a physical method such as force

　　surgery –n. a medical operation

　　debris –n. the remains of structures or materials that have broken down or fallen apart

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

3 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

7 amplification   

n.扩大，发挥

参考例句：

• The voice of despair may be weak and need amplification.绝望的呼声可能很微弱，需要扩大。
• Some of them require further amplification.其中有些内容需进一步详细阐明。

8 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。