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The super-capacitor is the real breakthrough in laser weapons. The lasers, especially high brightness multiplexed, direct diodes and fiber lasers are capable of extremely high power to weight ratios and high efficiency. It is the batteries and the peaking energy storage that add so much bulk...

These fiber lasers stimulate the sodium atmospheric layer approx 90 Km up. Back when the first guide star lasers were deployed it was usually a dye laser and they actually had a human spotter to confirm that they weren't aiming at an aircraft. I wonder now with this "pointing everywhere"...

OK, fair enough. Lighten it up with what IS going well. I have heard there is a display, green fiber laser in Europe that is putting out over 300W. And, when you are talking fiber laser and not fiber pigtail-ed then diffraction limited divergence is typical. The days are getting noticeably...

I like this description Dr Padilla gives, of the grouping of these theories based on ever more and more abstract ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3TDO1AA1Sw I think Tom Campbell gets too detailed about what remains a theoretical concept. . It's a little like focusing on just one...

I just noticed this thread. Interesting and frightening. You can indeed see 808nm light. When I built a DPSS laser I powered it with a pair of 14 W, fiber coupled, 808nm diode modules. The 200um fiber had large divergence (I didn't measure it), but it was easy to manage for near field...

I agree. Just like the feds want a remote shut down for newer cars. The tank is very strong, but it is useless if it is completely blind to visible, IR and GHz radio. They also have huge cooling requirements that would suffer from FG and foam. I don't expect any tanks up my road soon, but...

I think we might be OK here. There are some pretty marginal vehicles out there and by the time a substantial fraction of these older cars can be compelled to be retrofitted the government will probably be fighting for survival. Such retrofits will also be much easier to hack, even if the hack...

I disagree strongly. My post above references shoulder fired missiles that were known, in the mid 1990's, to be able to take down aircraft at 26,000 feet. There is no way I would believe that the current capability would not be able to reach higher. The technology that was not reviled in the...

My very point is that they should have been aware. Were you aware of this precaution prior to boarding this flight? If so, then you are supporting my point and you're one of those that will be ready to begin this return to sanity. If not, then you are playing Russian roulette with real...

Benm, I too am saddened by the loss of life. What concerns me is the willingness of the passengers to trust the governments and the airlines. Let me suggest this idea. Assume that you are smarter than the people that run the airline and the military and the government. You will be willing...

I see it as axiomatic. By using the word value the assumption is that we are making an anthropomorphic judgment. If people want OR need something, anything, then it has value. This are why gold prices have stagnated despite the real inflation in currencies that has occurred over the last...

Yes. Even if it was valued for a purpose then that purpose is only as valuable as we say it is. It is the limited supply that matters. This is where gold shares or "paper gold" is a joke. If you invest in gold get real gold and deal with the inconvenience.

I get the joke, but it reminds me of the idea of a limited resource. I own several "perfect diamonds" They were not very expensive because thy were CVD grown. They are used as raman shift crystals. 20 years ago they would have been worth a fortune, but they are basically just carbon, lined...

I think this is a pretty good assessment. I am not so sure about the rebound in oil prices. The wars in the middle east need funding and will likely encourage each side to continue with production at all costs to provide revenue. Europe will fracture. The UK will withdraw from the EU and...

There is a neat clamping technique that might help. Make a new aluminum block and drill and tap a small hole from face to face near one edge and 1/2 way from the front to the back. Now, carefully drill the 12 mm hole as you did before. Finally, take a saw and cut the block parallel to this...

I use water cooling in all my projector projects. In some, I will interface a TEC between the laser diode housing and the water cooling block in order to super cool the laser diode to well below zero. This is most useful with the red diodes because the wavelength shift (0.25nm/degree) and the...

What is this focus on "rep"? If a point is valid or invalid this can be debated, supported, corrected or even ignored. The rep of the individual that presents some information should not be used as a surrogate for evidence or reason.

The temperature shift in florescence wavelength is probably due to the increasing viscosity of the solvent and the effect on vibrational states that are in turn based on the flexing of the dye molecule...

You can substantially alter the lasing wavelength by simply changing the solvent polarity ie hexane to methanol. Ph will shift some dyes and temperature will shift all of them. The solvent is realy part of the dye system. I have never understood the push to solid state. There are usually...

The hole in the Styrofoam or a notch along the part that inserts will have a positive flow keeping room air out.