France's Thales to develop 60 mln euro laser in Romania

French engineering and technology company Thales signed a 60 million euro ($78.1 million) contract to develop a high-intensity laser system in Romania, it said.

The system, which will be the world's most powerful laser, will be located at the Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering in Magurele, near the capital Bucharest, Thales said in a statement on Thursday.

The contract is part of the Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) programme with a total value of of 293 million euro, it added.

The laser will generate a power level of 2 x 10 petawatts (10E15 watts) in ultrashort pulses. It is expected to become operational in 2017.

The company will deliver the laser on a turnkey basis and will also train Romanian engineers and technicians to set up and operate the system.

"This type of lasers paves the way for a new generation of extremely powerful particle accelerators, which will be smaller and less costly, for fundamental research in materials physics and for medical applications," the statement added.

The European Commission has allocated 180 million euro for the first phase of the ELI-NP project.

Thales develops technological solutions for the defence, security, aerospace and transportation sectors.

($ = 0.7685 euro)

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