Jul 30, 2008 7:59 AM

Upgrading Ray Gun Components

Spray-on laser shields are just the start. The Air Force is moving ahead with a slew of research projects, to get laser weapons (and their component parts) ready for prime time. They include: America’s Next Top (Laser) Model. With electric-powered ray guns quickly gaining in strength, the Air Force needs better computer models, to figure […]

Spray-on laser shields are just the start. The Air Force is moving ahead with a slew of research projects, to get laser weapons (and their component parts) ready for prime time. They include:

America's Next Top (Laser) Model. With electric-powered ray guns quickly gaining in strength, the Air Force needs better computer models, to figure out how all that energy and all that heat is going to effect components.
Airborne Ray Guns Give Me the Jitters. Mechanical and acoustic disturbances in a laser's beam control system -- so-called "jitter" -- wreaks havoc on ray guns. Especially if the lasers are mounted in noisy, bouncy planes. The Air Force wants new techniques to characterize and correct for jitter.
__Laser Combo Platters. __"One of the most promising" emerging methods for making high-energy blasters is to combine lots and lots of smaller fiber lasers. But beam-combining technologies need to be better understood, the Air Force says.
Mirror, Mirror, on the Blaster Wall. All lasers rely on sets of mirrors, to bring together their beams. But those mirrors can get overheated -- and deformed -- under all that laser stress. How can the heat be handled better?

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