The hollow laser + Electron stream

This idea would only work reliably in a vacuum if it would even work at all. I seen how a ruby laser works and I'm sure this can be adapted to gas lasers as well as semi-conductor lasers with a bit of tweaking.

I read an article on how an electron stream wont "ride" inside an laser beam(for reasons I now forget). But what if you drilled a hole in the center of the optical material. put an electron gun in the center and had them both going at the same time. Would this do the trick? Or would this outright fail for some finicky technical reason. Again, this would be happening in a vacuum, at least for now .

Interesting idea.. It may partly still depend on the beam profile. I profile in the shape of a doughnut could have some interesting power distribution patterns. I'm guessing that a regular gaussian profile with a hole in the middle, would still have most of it's power originate from the inner diameter of the ring. But to make a laser cavity in the shape of a doughnut is a different story. The power distribution could easily end up being greatest in the middle of the radius, or the entire radius. But I've never made doughnut lasers before.

A doughnut laser? mmmmmm

More info, please?

I grant that this is just a rough concept brought up, but what other parameters would better define this idea?

I would think that if you put reflective coating (non-conductive) on the inside radius of the lasing material it would help to better equally distribute the light energy.

How about this for a thought. Have the hollow-laser fire a quick pulse (in the ms or less range) to heat the air and thin it out. then an instant later shoot a strong electron stream out in the center of the laser-tube while the air is still thin enough to allow free electron travel down the path.

Granted this will have to happen very fast between when the hollow laser is fired and the electron stream is produced. This system can allow for pulsing back and forth between the laser and electron stream firing in succession to make a beam than can melt/cut anything as long as you have enough power as well as cooling for the laser/electron components.

Is this feasible or just a bunch of quackery?

ElektroFreak said:

A doughnut laser? mmmmmm

Click to expand...

That's right, you can't stop me. :na:

You need a femtosecond pulsed laser of high power, and the distance is a meter or two at best, so far.

Steve

So this idea does have some merit. awesome. If there was a way to make the distance at least 5 meters, this can have some real potential. Perhaps trying different spectral colors will improve your estimate.

As far as power requirements go, I hear that carbon-fiber nano-batteries are showing real promise for holding lots of power.

Actually you can create exactly this effect by use of a TEA-CO2 laser and focus it to create air breakdown.
This idea is portable now and is being used for the electro-laser concept.