One of the highest power lasers in the world sits on a table. It emits pulses that last approximately 16 fs, and contain 103 mJ of energy. "fs" indicates a femtosecond, which is 10-15 seconds. When the beam exits the laser, it is approximately 30 mm in diameter. Molecules begin to ionize when applied electric fields reach approximately 8.680e+09 V/m. To what diameter must the beam be focused to reach this electric field strength?

One of the highest power lasers in the world sits on a table. It emits pulses that last approximately 16 fs, and contain 103 mJ of energy. "fs" indicates a femtosecond, which is 10-15 seconds. When the beam exits the laser, it is approximately 30 mm in diameter. Molecules begin to ionize when applied electric fields reach approximately 8.680e+09 V/m. To what diameter must the beam be focused to reach this electric field strength?