Lasers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Nov. 18, 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] in May demonstrated the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to perform a unique mission: track and destroy small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

During the U.S. Air Force-sponsored tests at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, Calif., the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX), which was developed by Boeing under contract to the Air Force Research Laboratory, used a single, high-brightness laser beam to shoot down five UAVs at various ranges. Laser Avenger, a Boeing-funded initiative, also shot down a UAV. Representatives of the Air Force and Army observed the tests.    » read more »

Call for Stricter Guidelines

14 October 2009 -- In October 2006, the military affairs journal Jane's Intelligence Weekly reported that U.S. Army officials detected a “sudden decline” in the effectiveness of some its spy satellites throughout the fall as they passed over China.

Before receiving an explanation from the Chinese military, initial fears were that the country had intentionally aimed ground-based lasers at the U.S. satellites to temporally disrupt their ability to collect information, or worse, materially damage them.

Was this a hostile attempt by the Chinese to test its laser anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, obstructing U.S. military reconnaissance missions in Low Earth Orbit?    » read more »

TEWKSBURY, Mass., June 9, 2009 -- The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a 12-month contract to develop the preliminary design of a 100 kilowatt experimental Free Electron Laser for the U.S. Navy. This preliminary design is the first of a three-phase ONR Innovative Naval Prototype program worth more than $150 million.

"Free Electron Lasers use superconducting electron accelerators to produce high-power laser beams," said Michael Del Checcolo, vice president of Engineering for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "In the future, such high power lasers could be used to instantaneously engage targets at long ranges, enhancing the U.S. Navy's ability to combat enemies and threats at sea."    » read more »

05/29/2009 -- Celebrating the economic, energy and research advances that will come from the world’s largest, highest-energy laser system, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today returned to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to join in the dedication ceremony for its National Ignition Facility (NIF). After 12 years of construction and preparation, this research facility can create temperatures and pressures found only in the core of stars, giant planets and inside nuclear weapons.    » read more »

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 24, 2009 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has successfully demonstrated its Re-Deployable High-Energy Laser System (RHELS) by quickly relocating the prototype weapon system from its Albuquerque development site to a test range, where it tracked ground and airborne targets and fired at a ground target.

RHELS integrates a solid-state, thin-disk laser; an acquisition, pointing and tracking capability; beam control, fire control and thermal management systems; and a weapons operator console into a modified 40-foot-long shipping container transportable on a semitrailer.    » read more »

January 22, 2009 -- What could prove to be a significant breakthrough in the ultra-miniaturization of lasers has been achieved with the creation of a plasmonic microcavity based on the phenomenon of whispering galleries.

The principle behind whispering galleries – where words spoken softly beneath a domed ceiling or in a vault can be clearly heard on the opposite side of the chamber – has been used to achieve what could prove to be a significant breakthrough in the miniaturization of lasers. Ultrasmall lasers, i.e., nanoscale, promise a wide variety of intriguing applications, including superfast communications and data handling (photonics), and optical microchips for instant and detailed chemical analyses.    » read more »

August 29, 2007 -- A father-son research team working from separate laboratory benches across the country has discovered a new use for lasers — zapping viruses out of blood. The technique, which holds promise for disinfecting blood for transfusions, uses a low-power laser beam with a pulse lasting just fractions of a second.    » read more »

Los Alamos ChemCam to vaporize rocks on Mars to determine composition

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 21, 2007 -- Mars mission Job One: Get there. Job Two: Find rocks and zap them with your laser tool. Now learn the nature of the debris by spectrographically analyzing the ensuing dust and fragments. It’s every kid’s dream, vaporizing pebbles on other planets, and thanks to a team at Los Alamos National Laboratory, it’s going to happen.    » read more »