Petawatt
The petawatt is equal to one quadrillion (1015) watts and can be produced by the current generation of lasers for time-scales on the order of picoseconds (10−12 s). One such laser is the Lawrence Livermore's Nova laser, which achieved a power output of 1.25 PW (1.25 × 1015 W) by a process called chirped pulse amplification. The duration of the pulse was about 0.5 ps (5 × 10−13 s), giving a total energy of 600 J, or enough energy to power a 100 W light bulb for six seconds.[13]
Based on the average total solar irradiance[14] of 1.366 kW/m2, the total power of sunlight striking Earth's atmosphere is estimated at 174 PW (cf. Solar Constant).
