Atmospheric Lens

I wonder what the altitude constraints and power requirements are for this concept.
 
I have more than a little skepticism whether this idea could work. They are trying to heat a patch of air with a precise lateral gradient profile in order to change the index of refraction and bend the light in a controlled manner. Time constants for transverse mixing and the long focal cone of the light from the source to the plane of the lens would make it difficult to constrain the heating at a specific range. I wonder if the marketing folks got ahead of the R&D department. I haven't heard of anyone demonstrating this concept in a lab test.
 
Hi.

This really is a very interesting concept.

It draws upon several ideas and concepts initially devised by AVCO Everett R&D head, A Kantrowicz, in the late 1950s within the framework od project GLIPAR (at a time when lasers were not known yet but ray beamery as fashionnable as it was in the mid-1930s).

This concept aims at creating something like a patched ionospheric artificial mirror (AIM) at other select altitudes. There are many constraints.
- IR optical windows
- thermal blooming

However this does not seem infeasible it this technology uses "combined discharges", i.e. a very smart combination of self-focussing laser beam WITH microwaves.
The laser beam would be used to seed (create) the optical discharge while the MW would be used to keep it "alive" minimizing energy costs, and avoiding O2 attachment phenomena (recombination) over a larger illuminated (weakly ionized) atmospheric volume. What is required is a glow discharge.

Possible ways to achieve the intended technology would use nanosecond or femtosecond pulse discharge lasers (very short pulses) with many risks of optical discharges and/or blooming along the path which makes this technology very differnt if it is based on the ground or up the skies.

Interesting anyway.

A.
 
fredymac said:
I have more than a little skepticism whether this idea could work. They are trying to heat a patch of air with a precise lateral gradient profile in order to change the index of refraction and bend the light in a controlled manner. Time constants for transverse mixing and the long focal cone of the light from the source to the plane of the lens would make it difficult to constrain the heating at a specific range. I wonder if the marketing folks got ahead of the R&D department. I haven't heard of anyone demonstrating this concept in a lab test.
Click to expand...

Soviet researchers & engineers went pretty far in testing related "plasma weapons" technologies in the 1980s at TsNPO Vympel (ex OKB-30, later renamed MRTI) using MW technology, under Academician Rimili Avramenko. Vympel collaborated a lot with Strella (Almaz Research and Production Association) on what appeared to be the Soviet response to SDI, the so-called "Fon-2" program. This is history but still bears a lot of interest in the present context. Plasma weapons. Plasmoids. AIMs (Artificial Ionospheric Mirrors)… Combined discharges…

A.
 
antigravite said:
fredymac said:
I have more than a little skepticism whether this idea could work. They are trying to heat a patch of air with a precise lateral gradient profile in order to change the index of refraction and bend the light in a controlled manner. Time constants for transverse mixing and the long focal cone of the light from the source to the plane of the lens would make it difficult to constrain the heating at a specific range. I wonder if the marketing folks got ahead of the R&D department. I haven't heard of anyone demonstrating this concept in a lab test.
Click to expand...

Soviet researchers & engineers went pretty far in testing related "plasma weapons" technologies in the 1980s at TsNPO Vympel (ex OKB-30, later renamed MRTI) using MW technology, under Academician Rimili Avramenko. Vympel collaborated a lot with Strella (Almaz Research and Production Association) on what appeared to be the Soviet response to SDI, the so-called "Fon-2" program. This is history but still bears a lot of interest in the present context. Plasma weapons. Plasmoids. AIMs (Artificial Ionospheric Mirrors)… Combined discharges…

A.
Click to expand...

I have a book I haven't seen in ages called "Beam Weapons". I think it was put out by the Dept of Energy back in the 80s. Talked about plasmoids, generating huge power spikes with nuclear weapons, etc.
 
Reminds me of an old (80s IIRC) project called Combat Eye. Saw a video of it years ago, but seems to have vanished.
 
Official Link:
http://www.baesystems.com/en/article/directed-energy-atmospheric-lens-could-revolutionise-future-battlefields
 
sferrin said:
antigravite said:
fredymac said:
I have more than a little skepticism whether this idea could work. They are trying to heat a patch of air with a precise lateral gradient profile in order to change the index of refraction and bend the light in a controlled manner. Time constants for transverse mixing and the long focal cone of the light from the source to the plane of the lens would make it difficult to constrain the heating at a specific range. I wonder if the marketing folks got ahead of the R&D department. I haven't heard of anyone demonstrating this concept in a lab test.
Click to expand...

Soviet researchers & engineers went pretty far in testing related "plasma weapons" technologies in the 1980s at TsNPO Vympel (ex OKB-30, later renamed MRTI) using MW technology, under Academician Rimili Avramenko. Vympel collaborated a lot with Strella (Almaz Research and Production Association) on what appeared to be the Soviet response to SDI, the so-called "Fon-2" program. This is history but still bears a lot of interest in the present context. Plasma weapons. Plasmoids. AIMs (Artificial Ionospheric Mirrors)… Combined discharges…

A.
Click to expand...

I have a book I haven't seen in ages called "Beam Weapons". I think it was put out by the Dept of Energy back in the 80s. Talked about plasmoids, generating huge power spikes with nuclear weapons, etc.
Click to expand...
Lots of interesting stuff in there:

Robert W. Seidel, "From Glow to Flow: A History of Military Laser Research and Development," Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, Vol. 18, No. 1 (1987), pp. 111-147; https://www.jstor.org/stable/27757598?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

S.C. Linn and A. Kantrowitz, "Electromagnetic Induced Implosion as a Weapon for Ballistic Missile Defense", AERL Report#61-824, Contract AF# 19(604)758, October 1961. (Classified) mentioned in the report below on page 16 as ref.#6:

(Avco) Investigation Of The Effects Of High Intensity Electromagnetic Waves On The Transport Properties And Phenomena Of Ionized Gas At Elevated Temperatures, Avco-Everett Research Laboratory, Final Report#AFCRL-63-127, etc. http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/407346.pdf

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A.
 
Hi. Contextual info.

Nick Colossimo, patent author, lectured here:
https://live.newscientist.com/nick-colosimo/

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Hi.

BAE SYSTEMS's Atmospheric Lens patent found!
33 page long! Happy reading. :)

A.
 

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Somehow, this might be of interest:

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/2178214/china-and-russia-band-together-controversial-heating-experiments

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