[Laser] U.S. Navy Breaks LASER Record

[bernies at netaxs.com]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/18/navy-breaks-world-record-futuristic-laser-getting-real/?intcmp=prn_baynote-js_Navy_Breaks_World_Record_With_Futuristic_Free-Electron_Laser

Navy Breaks World Record With Futuristic Free-Electron Laser

By Kelley Vlahos

Published February 18, 2011 | FoxNews.com

The Navy just set a new world record, a test blast from a new type of  
laser that can shoot cruise missiles from the sky in seconds with a  
deadly accuracy that simply doesn't exist in the military?s vast  
arsenal today.

And that new record moved them one step closer to proving the "holy  
grail" of laser guns is real.

To create incredible power requires incredible energy. After all, the  
more power one puts into a laser accelerator, the more powerful and  
precise the light beam that comes out on the other end. During a  
private tour of the Jefferson Lab in Newport News, VA., on Friday,  
FoxNews.com saw scientists blast unprecedented levels of power into a  
prototype accelerator, producing a supercharged electron beam that can  
burn through 20 feet of steel per second.

Scientists there, in coordination with the Office of Naval Research  
(ONR), injected a sustained 500 kilovolts (KV) of juice into a  
prototype accelerator where the existing limit had been 320 kV -- a  
world?s record, the scientists explained.

?This is brand new -- it has not been done before, in the world,? said  
Carlos Hernandez-Garcia, director of the injector and electron gun  
systems for the FEL (Free Electron Laser) program, who added that  
Friday?s breakthrough was the culmination of six years of development.

But what does this mean to the Navy, and to war fighting in  
particular? Quentin Salter, program manager for ONR, said the test  
steps up the transition to newer, more powerful laser technologies.

?It?s huge in regards to upgrading the laser power beam quality,? he  
said. According to ONR officials, that laser beam will eventually  
perform at a staggering ?megawatt class,? a measure of the laser's  
strength. Right now, the accelerator at Jefferson Lab is performing at  
just 14 Kilowatts.

Next up for the tech: additional weaponization. The Navy just awarded  
Boeing a contract worth up to $163 million to take that technology and  
package it as a 100 kW weapons system, one that the Navy hopes to use  
not only to destroy things but for on-ship communications, tracking  
and detection, too -- using a fraction of the energy such applications  
use now, plus with more accuracy. Saulter said they hope to meet that  
goal by 2015.

?We?re fast approaching the limits of our ability to hit maneuvering  
pieces of metal in the sky with other piece of flying metal,?  
explained Rear Admiral Nevin P. Carr Jr., Chief of Naval Research, in  
an interview with FoxNews.com. That?s why he calls free election laser  
technology or ?directed energy? tech ?our marquee program.?

While Carr acknowledges that this is not ?something that we are going  
to wave a wand at and it?s going to appear? -- in fact, the Navy  
doesn't expect to hit the ultimate megawatt goal until the 2020s --  
there have been several incremental victories that have pushed this  
project ahead of schedule that have scientists and program managers  
excited.

?With every single milestone, [the naysayers] have been proven wrong,?  
said Dr. George R. Neil, associate director of the FEL program at  
Jefferson Lab. Neil pointed to a bottle of champagne in the control  
room -- that one was for when they met the 10 kW threshold four years  
ago, nearly a decade after the Navy began funding the development of  
the FEL accelerator at the Newport News facility.

Today, Neil and others have shown that they have the ability to  
harness super-conducting electron power.

The military already uses lasers across the spectrum. What make this  
technology different (and its potential so extraordinary) is its power  
source.

The military now uses solid-state lasers that use crystals and glass,  
as well as chemical lasers that use often dangerous liquid materials.  
The FEL is different. It requires only electrons, which can be created  
from matter inside the injector with energy that is constantly  
recycled. In other words, it uses less shipboard power than current  
weapons systems. ?It won?t slow down the ship,? Saulter said.

In addition, according to Navy officials, the FEL laser can perform at  
different wavelengths, meaning it can operate at lower and more  
powerful levels so that it can be used for different applications,  
which other laser technology cannot. It is also not vulnerable to  
atmospheric conditions, as solid-state lasers are, making them wane in  
power depending on the weather.

?The fact that you can tune the wavelength, that?s what makes it  
different. You can optimize the beam for the conditions of the day --  
that?s really powerful,? said Adm. Carr. ?So in a warfighting sense,  
the FEL?s ability to do that on a ship makes it much more attractive?  
than other laser technology.

The scope of the project from start to finish is impressively  
daunting. It's outfitted with enough piping, conductors, cables and  
other material to fill a small gymnasium, and they do this all at the  
lab.

The Navy must not only figure out a way to harness the electron beam  
into a light ray, but to shrink the accelerator down to size so that  
it would fit neatly on a Navy destroyer.

But for now, researchers take each milestone as proof they are moving  
in the right direction. The Navy has asked for $60 million for its  
directed energy budget for 2012. As for Friday?s 500 kV breakthrough,  
they say it?s a big one.

?This will shorten the timeline for the Navy to get to the Megawatt?  
league, Saulter said. Clearly, the day's events were a feather in  
everyone?s cap.