Gamma Ray laser breakthrough?

[MrBurns]

Just ran across this article, seems they've found a possible way to use antimatter as a gamma ray source for new lasers... Could be interesting.

http:// technology.newscientist.com/article/mg19526216.000-antimatter-molecule-could-lead-to-ultrapowerful-laser.html

 

[solar00]

Thats a coincidence
I was wondering today if other lasers than near UV IR and visible light existed
Like Gamma, Xray and Microwave lasers. and after a little googling it seems it does(not for consumers though)

 

[philguy]

Well "microwave lasers" do exist, calles "maser", they were the predecessors of the laser.

An X-Ray-Laser is being worked on, but so far it seems that its size and weight will lean towards those of a building.

And Gamma Ray lasers, well, sounds pretty cool (although portability might be another issue...)

 

[AJ_Dual]

X-Ray lasers have been possible for some time. However it was a lasing apparatus with, er… a nuclear bomb as a "pump diode" of sorts.

Strictly a one-shot affair as it would put out an intensely powerful X-Ray laser pulse, but the lasing apparatus would be vaporized by the exploding nuclear device behind it a nanosecond after firing.

 

[Cyparagon]

What applications would a gamma laser have?

 

[shikari_rock]

What applications would a gamma laser have?

Popping baloons, lighting matches, etc.. jk
Nuclear testing, something with neutrons and heavy water, etc.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

The gamma ray laser won't be available to experimenters like us for a while. The shortage of dilithium crystals is still a problem here on earth

Mike

 

[AJ_Dual]

What applications would a gamma laser have?

1. It would be a very destructive weapon. It would be extremely penetrating. At high powers it would vaporize most anything. At low power or a wide low-density beam, it could still be a "death ray". It would act like a neutron bomb which kills with radiation, but would be highly selective instead of an area effect. It could ionize living tissue, denature all your protiens, and break up all your DNA, and do it right through bunker walls or tank armor. If you didn't just lose conciousness and die instantly from all the neurotransmitters in your body being screwed up by having their electrons knocked about in their orbitals changing their chemistry, you'd probably still pass out for a while, or get the shakes, convulsions etc. then you'd die from intense radiation poisoning, puking and shitting your guts out as your body reacted to massive systemic cell death.

2. It would also be a very useful medical device, doing the above but to tumors, with the beam moved very quickly like a girl twirling a baton, with tumor at the center where her fingers are, or focused from a wide safer beam to a narrow point so only the tumor got the lethal dose, and sparing healthy tissue as much as possible. (They do this now, called a "gamma knife" for some kinds of inoperable brain tumors, but a gamma laser might make it even easier.)

3. It would probably be useful in all sorts of industrial applications, nanotechnology fabrication and for computer chips. The smaller the wavelength, the smaller the structures they can cut or create. Right now I think they use UV photolithography to make high-end chips because the short wavelength allows the shadow mask to make smaller details on the sillicon. X-ray or Gama-ray laser light would allow for even tinier structures, faster chips, higher density RAM etc.

 

[a_pyro_is]

Mike,
I've got several kilograms of 2(5)6 dilithlum 2)l diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide ore. Do you have the processing equipment?

 

[likewhat]

I am sure there are lots of nuclear spectroscopy applications it could be used for. Also high energy physics applications, probing of warm dense matter perhaps.

 

[ArcAngel]

Sounds eerily like some work Nikolai Tesla was working on before he died (at the age of 84). Supposedly he had developed a device (with many sub components dispersed at more than 30 locations) which could destroy flying vehicles and personnel by the hundreds or thousands. He also stated that it had a range of over two hundred miles and could only be used within horizon line of sight. HMMM, what travels line of sight???? OH YEAH a LASER. Except he also stated that this device was a vaccuum tube with one end sealed and the other open to the atmosphere. So what would a standard CRT do? That's right, it emits Gamma radiation (which is a whole body penetrant unlike alpha and beta radiation). So he also stated that the voltage was close to 10-25 million volts! and it could be run off a stand alone power station. In his mind, the portability of the device could only be on a battleship where it's power could be mounted and transported and could shoot down approaching airplanes and other ships within, again, line of sight. So if you can imagine, voltage is merely the potential that a electrical device has. At >10 million volts, that would be a very strong gamma beam, whereas he says he could attenuate to approx 1 CM at 250 miles!!!! Can you imagine?

I believe now that he was talking about a Gamma Laser.

 

[flying_fish]

Well "microwave lasers" do exist, calles "maser", they were the predecessors of the laser.

An X-Ray-Laser is being worked on, but so far it seems that its size and weight will lean towards those of a building.

And Gamma Ray lasers, well, sounds pretty cool (although portability might be another issue...)

It does seem logical that lasers outside of optical wavelengths wouldn't really be called lasers, assuming that the L really does stand for "light"! That is, if you want to get technical. Although CO2 lasers are pretty far into the IR with something like ~10um wavelength, right? But I'm guessing that is still close enough to still use semi-traditional optics. This is almost a good situation to look up the definition of "light" on wikipedia, but not really...

Personally I wonder if this might be useful for initiating controlled fusion reactions. I've heard about how they need a rediculously high energy density to cause fusion to occur, and that being one of the limitations that has prevented "net energy" from being formed in a controlled fusion reaction.

 

[Razako]

A powerful gamma ray laser would be the sickest weapon since the Hydrogen bomb. Able to selectively irradiate buildings/planes/ships/armies/other. And up close it would vaporize just about anything. Stick it on a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and you would have an insane weapon....I wonder if the government isn't already trying to develop them for this purpose?

 

[philguy]

So far, I'd say don't worry. Let them first become successful at mounting a "visible" laser capable of destruction onto an airplane, before you start talking about mounting a hypothetical laser consuming huge amounts of powers on a possibly unmanned plane.

Also, I don't think the advantages of focused, coherent gamma radiation would outweight its extremely huge cost (development and to keep it running), as opposed to a gamma ray burst from a nuke.

I'd say, a nuke, or take a neutron bomb if you wish, is more efficient than a gamma ray laser, the same way an incoherent, unfocused microwave will heat your water way quicker than any highly sophisticated laser will.
Sure, one can't shield oneself from it (properly), and were it possible to design a gamma ray gun, doom over the enemys of that soldier. Yet for saturation bombing or anything the like, a nuke (i.e. 360°-exposure as opposed to narrow beam) is way beyond such.


Nevertheless, I'd prefer for these lasers to stay a) indoors, and b) out of the hands of military people (inevitable?!?).





In that context, I love this quote from Albert Einstein, when asked about the third world war:
"I don't know with which weapons we will fight the third world war. But I know with which we will be fighting the fourth - with sticks and stones!"