Solid State Laser News

Very interesting.

The article states "What was novel about the demonstration of AIM Defence’s Fractl counter-drone system was the operator was sitting at a booth at the Indo Pacific 2023 International Maritime Exposition in Sydney, and the target drone was 900 kilometers away at a range in Melbourne. The system used the convention center's Wi-Fi to connect with the targeting and laser hardware that shot down the drone."

I hope they just use commercial Wi-Fi for demos and don't plan to use commercial Wi-Fi for the real system deployment since it would be too susceptible to jamming or hacking.
 

nLight agrees megawatt laser weapon deal​

07 Nov 2023

US Department of Defense award doubles value of existing contract to $171 million.
https://optics.org/news/14/11/9

"The high-power diode and fiber laser manufacturer nLight says that it will now receive $171 million from the US military to develop a megawatt-scale laser weapon - double the total originally awarded.

Back in May the Camas, Washington state, company announced details of an $86 million contract with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD), for its High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative (HELSI) project.

Additional options in the original award have now been triggered, with the second phase of the project aiming to scale the coherent beam combined architecture from 300 kilowatts, which was achieved in the initial phase, to 1 megawatt.

“This laser will be delivered in a rugged conex-compatible form factor with optional space allocations to upgrade with precision long-range tracking and adaptive optics technology,” announced the firm.

Jeff Barchers, the president of nLight’s defense systems business unit, added: “Our technology’s ability to scale power and correct for atmospheric turbulence enables nLight to deliver high-intensity beams that are precisely directed to long-range targets, maximizing the effectiveness of the laser."
 
It's finally getting to the level where 'game-changing' options become available.
If megawatt class laser output power is achieved with fiber laser weapons within the next few years, which seems likely, then at long last we'll be on par with the output power achieved with the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) in 1980, but in a deployable form factor.

That will be 'game-changing' for tactical applications, but I think at least another order-of-magnitude increase in output power above that will be needed to be 'game-changing' for strategic defense applications.
 
On the small end
Chip-scale mode-locked lasers are certainly interesting and useful, but I don't understand Guo's statement in the article "'It could also enable futuristic chip-scale atomic clocks, which allows navigation when GPS is compromised or unavailable'" since chip-scale atomic clocks have been commercially available for many years - see for example https://www.microsemi.com/product-directory/embedded-clocks-frequency-references/5207-space-csac .

From Wikipedia: "The first CSAC physics package was demonstrated at NIST in 2003,[1] based on an invention made in 2001.[2] The work was funded by the US Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with the goal of developing a microchip-sized atomic clock for use in portable equipment...At least one company, Microsemi, produces a version of the clock."

I could understand if Guo said they may enable more stable chip-scale atomic clocks (CSACs), since according to NIST "CSACs have found numerous applications in underwater oil and gas exploration, military navigation, and even telecommunications. However, the clocks’ timekeeping tends to drift when temperatures shift and the gas surrounding the atoms degrades.

'The CSAC is low-power and has high performance given its size. It’s a wonderful device, but it does drift after running for a few thousand seconds,” said William McGehee, a physicist at NIST.'" However, NIST also states, "Using microfabrication techniques learned from the CSAC, the group fabricated a chip-scale atomic beam device using a stack of etched silicon and glass layers. This device is a highly miniaturized version of the chambers that have been used in atomic beam clocks like NIST-7 and is about the size of a postage stamp...Right now, this chip-scale beam device is a prototype for a miniature atomic beam clock. Initial tests of the chip-scale beam clock showed performance at a level slightly worse than existing CSACs, but the team sees a path toward improved stability. The researchers hope to push their precision by another factor of 10, and to exceed the stability of existing CSACs by 100 times over week time scales." See https://www.nist.gov/news-events/ne...uld-bring-stable-timing-places-gps-cant-reach
 
The article states, "The laser weapon portion of the IFPC system is being developed by Lockheed Martin and the Army awarded a contract to Lockheed last month to deliver two 300-kilowatt-class laser weapon systems for the IFPC prototypes program with an option for two additional units." (IFPC stands for Indirect Fire Protection Capability which is a U.S. Army program.)

Since the article mentions US-based RTX having worked with Israeli-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, it strikes me as strange that the article does not also mention that Lockheed Martin has already been involved in the Iron Beam development program for nearly a year as indicated by the following article: https://www.timesofisrael.com/lockh...eed Martin,and shoot down smaller projectiles.

The article dated 5 Dec 2022 at the link above states, "US defense contractor Lockheed Martin on Monday signed an agreement with the Israeli Rafael weapons manufacturer to join the development of a high-powered laser interception system, dubbed Iron Beam.

In a statement, Lockheed Martin said the cooperation would be geared toward developing, testing, and manufacturing a variant of the Iron Beam system for the American market as well as others."
 
From phys.org

"Laser pulse compression by a density gradient plasma for exawatt to zettawatt lasers."

So that's what tibanna gas is for ;)
 
There's a 1MW one in the mix too.




It's coming....

 
There's a 1MW one in the mix too.




It's coming....

While interesting, those articles are rather old with the first one dated 11 July 2022, the second one dated 15 August 2018, and the third one dated 2 April 2019.

I agree that 1 MW class laser weapons are coming, but the question is when.

The article from 2018 said the U.S. military's goal was to have a megawatt laser by 2023, which has not happened.

My earlier post with a link to a more recent article about nLight receiving funding to develop a megawatt-scale laser was dated 7 November 2023, and states "According to a recent US Congressional Research Service report on laser weapons, the US military's goal is to demonstrate a 500 kW system in 2025, and a megawatt-class system the following year. "Lasers of 1 MW could potentially neutralize ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons," states that report."

We shall see if the 1 MW laser weapon by 2026 goal is achieved or if there will be further delays. Time will tell.
 
Hearing scuttlebutt of Israel getting a hit from it's laser anti-missile system.

Monday's phys.org:
"High-power fiber lasers emerge as a pioneering technology."

The power seems to have tripled.
 
Hearing scuttlebutt of Israel getting a hit from it's laser anti-missile system.

Monday's phys.org:
"High-power fiber lasers emerge as a pioneering technology."

The power seems to have tripled.
Although the results achieved thus far in the research reported in the paper referenced in the phys.org article are impressive and promising, there are several further steps that need to be demonstrated.

The experiments were conducted at relatively low CW powers of less than 10W, so demonstrating scaling to higher powers needs to be done.

The experiments were conducted in passive fibers without optical gain, so demonstrating the SBS suppression and near diffraction limited output in fibers with high optical gain needs to be done.

The paper states, "The SLM patterns need to be constantly adjusted to stabilize the beam profile against temporal drift and fluctuations of the fiber...The wavefront optimization currently takes ~12 min," which was sufficient for stabilizing the beam profile for the fiber in the lab environment on an optical table for which the temporal drift was on the order of 0.5 to 3 hours according to the paper, but this would be insufficient for the operational environment of a fielded system. Thus, faster wavefront optimization needs to be demonstrated.

Typically research at the stage of that reported in this paper takes at least about five years to transition to military fielded systems assuming that sufficient funding for the remaining development and testing is provided over that time period.
 
Hearing scuttlebutt of Israel getting a hit from it's laser anti-missile system.

Monday's phys.org:
"High-power fiber lasers emerge as a pioneering technology."

The power seems to have tripled.
Is the "scuttlebutt" newer than the discredited reports already discussed in this thread starting on 16 Oct 2023?

See https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefiel...ailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dfn-dnr
20th Nov 2023:

 
https://optics.org/news/14/11/44

nLight wins another laser weapon contract​

29 Nov 2023

US provider of high-energy sources selected for $34.5M project to integrate 50kW laser on combat vehicle.
"The 18-month award will see nLight’s lasers used in a 50 kilowatt-class weapon that is due to be integrated on board a “Stryker” combat vehicle, where it could eventually be used to destroy or disable threats such as drones, mortars, rockets, and other projectiles."
 
I apologize if this is considered a disturbing question but with all these stories of lasers of Xkw power I’m curious what could they do to a human say standing a hundred yards away?

Like the scene from the Bruce Willis movie the Jackal but using a laser could you cut someone’s arm off with 50kw? 100, 200kw? What would happen with a head shot?

Sorry I’m morbidly curious
 
I apologize if this is considered a disturbing question but with all these stories of lasers of Xkw power I’m curious what could they do to a human say standing a hundred yards away?

Like the scene from the Bruce Willis movie the Jackal but using a laser could you cut someone’s arm off with 50kw? 100, 200kw? What would happen with a head shot?

Sorry I’m morbidly curious
Depends, and my math skills are terrible, so I couldn't calculate, but google "pyroclastic flow" and "Pompeii" for a rough idea of what higher energy levels would do.

 
I apologize if this is considered a disturbing question but with all these stories of lasers of Xkw power I’m curious what could they do to a human say standing a hundred yards away?

Like the scene from the Bruce Willis movie the Jackal but using a laser could you cut someone’s arm off with 50kw? 100, 200kw? What would happen with a head shot?

Sorry I’m morbidly curious
Various projections abound for different beam widths:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJF9k1R0bPc&t=157s


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwolS_efkwc&t=100s

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e75PSP8O8yA


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17TiEiAiXlk&t=300s
 
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On the other hand...



That was a fundamentally different device. He survived because it was extremely tightly focussed. The beam was like a needle.

A laser weapon doesn't need to be like that. Don't think of it as a kind of projectile weapon or lightsaber but something that pumps more energy into its target than it can cope with. The kind of narrowness in the beam to cut limbs off is unnecessary. You don't need to blow it up or cut it to pieces; just heat up the target until it suffers a catastrophic loss of structural integrity.

Think of the target as a thermal Mr Creosote (warning: NSFW).

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxRnenQYG7I&t=122s

There are refinements, I've heard, such as pulsing the laser so that thermal expansion comes in waves and the resulting vibration breaks up the target.
 
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Various projections abound for different beam widths:

The 1986 "Invaders from Mars" had really nice haloed beams

In the news
 

 
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I apologize if this is considered a disturbing question but with all these stories of lasers of Xkw power I’m curious what could they do to a human say standing a hundred yards away?

Like the scene from the Bruce Willis movie the Jackal but using a laser could you cut someone’s arm off with 50kw? 100, 200kw? What would happen with a head shot?

Sorry I’m morbidly curious

For a back of the envelope estimate, the fluence of a laser is F = P*t_dwell/A_b, where P = laser power at the target, t_dwell = dwell time on the target, and A_b = beam area at the target.

Assuming P = X kW = X kJ/s, t_dwell = 1 s, r_beam = 1 m so that A_b = pi*r_beam^2 = 3.14 m^2, yields

F = X kJ/3.14 m^2 = (X/3.14) kJ/m^2 = 0.1*(X/3.14) J/cm^2 = 0.03*X J/cm^2.

For X = 1 kW, F = 0.03 J/cm^2

For X = 10 kW, F = 0.3 J/cm^2

For X = 100 kW, F = 3 J/cm^2

For X = 300 kW, F = 9 J/cm^2

For X = 500 kW, F = 15 J/cm^2 (first degree burns - see below*)

For X = 1 MW, F = 30 J/cm^2 (second degree burns - see below*)

For X = 2 MW, F = 60 J/cm^2 (third degree burns - see below*)

For X = 5 MW, F = 150 J/cm^2 (all ignitable materials will flame - see below*)

For X = 15 MW, F = 450 J/cm^2 (exposed flesh flashes into steam, flaying exposed body areas to the bone - see below*)

One can use the above equation to get results for other laser powers, dwell times, and beam areas.

Note that if just the dwell time is changed to 5 seconds, then first degree burns start at a power on target of between about 67 kW and 134 kW. For 10 second dwell time, first degree burns start at a power on target of between about 33 kW and 67 kW.

If the beam were focused to a 0.1 m spot radius for a beam area of 0.0314 m^2 = 314 cm^2, then between about 3.2 kW and 6.3 kW dwelling for 1 s would be sufficient to produce first degree burns, and if the dwell time at those power levels were about doubled, then second degree burns could be induced.

* See http://panoptesv.com/SciFi/LaserDeathRay/Antipersonnel.html , which states

"The NATO HANDBOOK ON THE MEDICAL ASPECTS OF NBC DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS AMedP-6(B) PART I - NUCLEAR lists the radiant flux for various yields of nuclear explosives needed to ignite various fabrics, and notes that 'where the radiant thermal exposure exceeds 125 Joules/sq cm, almost all ignitable materials will flame.'

Details on the radiant intensity needed to cause burns to skin can be found in the Nuclear Weapons Frequently Asked Questions website. For flashes lasting between a fraction of a second and several seconds, between 35 J/cm2 and 50 J/cm2 is the threshold for third degree burns (burns which destroy the full thickness of the skin) while between 20 J/cm2 and 35 J/cm2 is the threshold for second degree burns (burns which destroy a partial thickness of the skin). The threshold for first degree burns is given as between 10 J/cm2 and 20 J/cm2. The same web page notes that at irradiances of roughly 400 J/cm2, the thermal radiation is sufficiently intense to "cause exposed flesh to flash into steam, flaying exposed body areas to the bone.'"
 
A step up in power

"By adding a 2×2 coherently tiled titanium:sapphire high-energy laser amplifier in China's SULF or EU's ELI-NP, the current 10-petawatt can be further increased to 40-petawatt and the focused peak intensity can be increased by nearly 10 times or more," says Leng.
The method promises to enhance the experimental capability of ultra-intense ultrashort lasers for strong-field laser physics.


Against crows

Imaging and lasers
 
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