67-Kilowatt Laser Unveiled

s31523 writes "Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California has announced they have working in the lab a Solid State Heat Capacity Laser that averages 67 kW. It is being developed for the military. The chief scientist Dr. Yamamoto is quoted: 'I know of no other solid state laser that has achieved 67 kW of average output power.' Although many lasers have peaked at higher capacities, getting the average sustained power to remain high is the tricky part. The article says that hitting the 100-kW level, at which point it would become interesting as a battlefield weapon, could be less than a year away."

Comments

May cause som collateral damage

[viking2000]

The article does not mention that any reflection off whatever the laser is aiming at is many kW as well. A small polished piece of steel would reflect 80% in some random direction, and the beam will go until it reaches something. Only a few milli Watts would be sufficient to damage the eyes of civilian spectators, so a reflection could easily permanently blind everyone in a football stadium of 50000 people.

Yanks developing more weapons

[vandan]

Can't say I'm surprised really. The funny thing is that no other nation sees the need to spend anything like the US military budget. I suppose the argument goes that there are people around the world who hate freedom, and since the US is the 'most free' nation on Earth, well, they're prime targets. Problem is that the US isn't the 'most free' nation on Earth - not by a long shot. Scratch that theory. The alternate argument goes that there are a lot of people around the world who hate US foreign police. This argument seems far more sensible. So for US citizens, the correct path would be to change foreign policy, right? Problem is, US citizens don't live in a democracy, so can't affect the foreign policy of their ruling class. Think I'm wrong? Think again. They just voted out the Republicans in an absolute landslide which is largely recognised as being a rejection of Republican foreign policy, but you watch just how much that policy changes, both now AND when they get rid of Emperor Dubya.

For those who see these laser protecting them from the terrorists' attacks on their homes, I think this is being a bit naive. This laser is to protect military equipment on the battlefield, and the ruling class at home. Just look at how the military didn't lift a finger to stop 9/11, even though they had precise warnings from multiple credible sources. The only thing the US government did was to protect Bin Laden's family after 9/11, flying them back home to safety.

Re:Yanks developing more weapons

[vandan]

In fact, 25 nations spend a higher percent of their GDP on the militairy than the US does.

This is wrong for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I didn't mention spending as a percentage of GDP; I was talking about absolute spending.

Next, comparing spending / GDP with other nations with incredibly low GDPs isn't really giving a clear picture of what's going on. For example, who the hell is Eritrea, the so-called No 1 in military spending in the world? You see, if these countries have a very small GDP, the figures are going to look distorted even if they only buy a couple of grenades.

Next, the US hides massive amounts of its military spending. The figure they used in that CIA table was the official maintenance cost of the US military. This is the amount that would be required just to keep the military at home. But they're never at home! Things like the wars aren't counted by the US, for some reason. These are 'extra' costs. The trillion dollars that Dubya has asked for to cover the next year in Iraq, well that's not counted. The budget of the CIA, with their military coupes against democratically elected governments and such, well that's not counted. And research on weapons such as this laser. That's not counted either. So you see, if all these things were counted, then the US would be at the top of the list in terms of GDP as well. They're already at the top of the list in absolute terms, which is the point I was originally making.

Really? Where did you read this? I thought it was a big conspiracy by the tin foil companies.

That's because you're either in denial, or you'e completely fooled by the propaganda. It's YOU who needs a tin foil hat :)

Re:Yanks developing more weapons

[vandan]

Hey. At least I know about it. I'm an Australian ... and I know about things happening in other people's countries, because I'm interested in the world I live in. The fact that I don't remember exactly what they called the 9/11 commission ( and I do believe I had it right, I was just not 100% sure ), is proof that the media has tried to bury the findings of an extremely importing investigation. But if you want to know exactly what it's called, why don't you go look for yourself? You're not exactly denying anything I'm saying, are you? Is that because you don't know, or because you DO, know ... ie know that I'm correct?

I find that people are throwing these mindless 1-line responses around as AC a lot recently ... surely the 'coward' part of 'anonymous coward' rings true. A question to all the ACs out there: if you disagree with me enough to respond, why not actually take me up on some of my points? Perhaps it would require a brain and some understanding.

Re:Yanks developing more weapons

[iPaul]

As I said, your yardstick may differ. For example, being able to own a gun is more important to you than not having your phone calls tapped without warrants, or having a "sneak and peak" search conducted on your house, or being detained indefinitely and without the right to challenge the detention in court (habeas corpus) because of an arbitrary designation that you are an enenmy combatant*. According to your definition, the Swiss are the freest people on Earth, since they get to keep their military weapons (I'm talkin' full fledged machine guns - none of this semi-auto crap) after they leave their service.

Jose Padilla is US citizen picked up in Chicago.

Re:It will vaporize your head... Unless...

[fyngyrz]

It says that the laser wavelength is 1 micron (into the infrared). Since glass isn't transparent to that wavelength, you can't reflect it with a mirror.

You need to put the reflective surface on the intercept side of the substrate, glass or otherwise. That way, it is the first thing the laser hits. And of course, you'd better make sure that the efficiency is high enough that the laser doesn't manage to ablate the coating. Maybe coatings aren't that good an idea in the first place. Maybe thick, mirror-polished armor that can direct heat away from the surface really quickly is more what you want. Of course, a little dirt on there, you have a localized heat event, and all of a sudden things aren't as reflective as they should be, and zonk, you have a hole right through the armor.

100 KW for a battlefield laser, eh? Personally, I'm thinking being in front of one of these is a very, very bad idea.

Re:Shortly after introduction 100kW battlefield la

[OverlordQ]

Insightful how? Making mirrors that can withstand 100+kW of energy you can't exactly go down to your hardware store. Insurgents have nowhere near the facilities or technology to create anything close to withstanding 100kW.