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Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy’s Death Ray Laser - Peter Lemkin - 15-03-2011
On its Way to Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy's Death Ray Laser Breaks Another Record
13th March 2011
By Rebecca Boyle
Popular Science | February 19, 2011
Photo: Naval Lasing Raytheon's prototype ship-borne laser system has effectively shot down UAVs from the deck of a ship. The Navy wants a more versatile free electron laser weapon to perform a variety of security tasks, including target designation, tracking, andof coursetarget elimination. Photo via Raytheon.
The Navy's death ray weapon keeps burning through laser records, on its way to the ultimate goal of searing through 2,000 feet of steel per second.
The Free Electron Laser's latest milestone involved running its electron injection system for eight hours at 500 kilovolts. That will help the laser become more powerful and more deadly, as Wired's Danger Room reports.
The FEL will be a multiple-wavelength weapon that can be altered to account for all the variables it would encounter at sea, like aerosols and moisture in the air. The laser doesn't use any crystals or inverted prisms or any other materials to focus its light it works like a particle accelerator, moving electrons around a racetrack to speed them up.
To make it more powerful, you would add more electrons, and the electron injector takes care of that. The latest achievement proves that lots and lots of electrons can be injected over a long period of time, meaning it's possible to make the laser much more powerful.
It currently produces a 14-kilowatt beam, and it needs to reach 100 kW to become a viable defense weapon. The ultimate goal is a 1-MW laser.
In December, ONR researchers said they proved their injection system is capable of producing the necessary electrons to fuel a megawatt-class laser beam, and they're months ahead of schedule.
Via Danger Room. This post originally appeared on Popular Science. This post originally appeared on Popular Science.
http://io9.com/#!5765053/on-its-way-to-ultradestructive-megawatt-power-navys-death-ray-laser-breaks-another-record
Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy’s Death Ray Laser - Magda Hassan - 15-03-2011
For some reason this does not make me feel safe. :noblesteed:
Ultradestructive Megawatt Power, Navy’s Death Ray Laser - Peter Lemkin - 15-03-2011
I wonder why..... I have been thinking of this all day.....where is there a 2000 ft thick piece of steel?....none exist anywhere; but such a device could obviously cut through rock or anything at nearly .5 Km/sec or so.....frightening. I'm afraid it will be humans who destroy homo sapiens on planet Earth....rather sooner, than later. :nosmilie:
Such a device would easily be able in microseconds reposition the beam, i.e. cutting a swath through an army, city, anything. The kind of weapon a Hitler would have loved - and now his heirs have one and will build many.....as will their adversaries. Welcome to Star Wars.