Laser Technology Advancements (at least from my easily impressed perspective)

[madmacmo]

CLHSonline.net | January 8th, 2016 | by simieljc
Breakthrough in Laser Technology

Lasers have many roles in different peoples’ lives. A Northwestern University team, led by Walter P. Murphy Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, integrated a mid-infrared tunable laser with a chip attached that acts as an amplifier. With this setup it allows wavelength output, modulators, and amplifiers to work together in the same place! Also with this set up there is more order-of-magnitude output power being produced than any other one that has been made.

This all may seem unimportant to some and not make any sense, but it is a breakthrough in science that many people will be able to use! This breakthrough may allow the government and military to detect hazardous chemicals or explosive bomb threats. Another use of this single-chip laser is that it could keep people away from potentially harmful areas. Last but not least, this laser may also help with free space optical communications and aircraft protection.

 

[madmacmo]

Laser Technology Angela Laguipo | Jan 10, 2016 02:18 AM EST
Chinese Scientists Develop Star Wars-Like Laser Guns

China is well-known for investing in technological advancements – from space explorations to military warfare. In its latest groundbreaking invention, soldiers are now in possession of Star Wars-like laser guns

This breakthrough technology can blind sensors of missiles, drones, satellites and robots of the enemies. Photo | China Photos | Getty Images

This laser gun could soon have the ability to attack heat-seeking sensors on missiles, satellites and other warfare using breakthrough portable-laser technology. When the laser comes in contact with infrared missiles, their sensors become disabled, rendering them useless.

A team of Chinese researchers, led by Professor Zhi-Yuan Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Physics, decreased the size and mechanism that produces high-frequency laser down using a portable device the size of a suitcase. These can be easily mounted on tanks, aircrafts and can be used by the soldiers themselves.

 

[madmacmo]

Okay, I know this isn't Laser related . . . but it is a fascinating technology accomplishment in it's own right.

LiveScience.com by Tia Ghose, Senior Writer, March 1st, 2016
Watch a Swarm of Drone 'Lightning Bugs' Swirl Overhead

A swarm of dazzling drones lit up the sky and swirled around in a twinkling, orchestrated dance at a TED2016 conference in February.
The drones, which weigh no more than a slice of bread, were just part of a menagerie of futuristic flyers whose "aim is to push the boundary of what can be achieved with autonomous flight," Raffaello D'Andrea, a professor of dynamic systems and controls at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, said in his talk.

Historically, researchers have relied on external cameras (or, in the older days, remote control) to help position the drones in space. Now, however, D'Andrea and his colleagues at Verity Studios have built an internal localization technology that does away with this equirement.

"There are no external cameras, each flying machine uses onboard sensors to determine its location in space and onboard computation to determine what its actions should be," D'Andrea said. "The only external commands are high-level ones such as 'takeoff' and 'land.'"
Futuristic flyers

The team has developed a fleet of strange flyers that completely redefine what a traditional plane should look like. For instance, their flattened tail sitter drones can fly forward and hover efficiently. Historically, one big gust of wind could completely disrupt traditional tail sitters. Using their new localization and stabilization technology, the team has developed tail sitters that can be thrown any which way and somehow recover their original position.

 

[madmacmo]

Washingtion Post | Feb 2, 2016
Cosmic breakthrough: Physicists Detect Gravitational Waves from Violent Black-Hole Merger

Scientists announced Thursday that they have succeeded in detecting gravitational waves from the violent merging of two black holes in deep space. The detection was hailed as a triumph for a controversial, exquisitely crafted, billion-dollar physics experiment and as confirmation of a key prediction of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it!" said David Reitze, executive director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)

GO survived years of management and funding turmoil, and then finally began operations in 2002. Throughout the first observational run, lasting until 2010, the universe declined to cooperate. LIGO detected nothing.

But then came a major upgrade of the detectors. LIGO became more sensitive. On Sept. 14, in the predawn darkness, LIGO heard something — a clear, compelling signal of two black holes coalescing, the observatory scientists said.

These black holes were each approximately the diameter of a major metropolis. They orbited one another at a furious pace at the very end, speeding up to about 75 orbits per second — warping the space around them like a blender cranked to infinity — until finally the two black holes became one.

The pattern of the resulting gravitational waves matched what scientists expected based on Einstein's relativity equations. The physicists knew, from supercomputer calculations and theoretical models, what gravitational waves from merging black holes ought to look like — with a rising frequency, culminating in that chirp, followed by a "ring-down" as the waves settle.

Gonzalez revealed images of the waves picked up by the two detectors and then played an audio version of the same signal.

"Did you hear the chirp? There's a rumbling noise, and then there's a chirp," she told the Press Club audience. "That's the chirp we've been looking for."

This cosmic chirp was picked up by both the Louisiana and Washington state detectors. It was such a strong signal that everyone knew it was either a real detection of a black hole merger, or "somebody had injected a signal into the interferometers and not properly flagged it into the data set. It turned out that fortunately that wasn’t the case,” as Reitze put it in advance of the news conference.

No one had ever seen direct evidence of “binary” black holes – two black holes paired together and then merging. The Sept. 14 signal came from about 1.3 billion light years away, though that's a very approximate estimate. That places the black hole merger in very deep space; the signal that arrived in September came from an event that happened before there were any multicellular organisms on Earth.

 

[madmacmo]

Reuters.com | Thu Jan 14, 2016
Sciton Forms New Business Unit and Launches diVaTM January 2016; A Breakthrough Hybrid Fractional Laser for the Treatment of Vaginal Tissue | Reuters

diVa, the first Hybrid Fractional Laser (HFLTM) for laser vaginal therapy, will be launched January 2016. diVa utilizes the revolutionary HFL technology developed for HaloTM, the world’s first and only hybrid fractional laser, to provide independent levels of ablation and coagulation, as well as varying levels of density. This allows the provider to customize the treatment based on the patient’s desired results.

"Patient's Desired Results" ??? for "ablation and coagulation" ???

 

[Trendkilla254]

You know you're a baller when you have more rep than posts.

 

[madmacmo]

You know you're a baller when you have more rep than posts.

Not necessarily when a lot of old worthless posts have evaporated

 

[RedCowboy]

Laser Technology Angela Laguipo | Jan 10, 2016 02:18 AM EST
Chinese Scientists Develop Star Wars-Like Laser Guns

Yea, blinding missiles and inanimate stuff, that too.

We need the thermal camera goggles with a pouch full of disposable modules to swap out in the field. Actually auto protecting shields like welders helmets that auto darken would be a good innovation because once all the mech soldiers and drones are down fall back will be grunts and this is why I was telling someone the other day that our high level of military spending is necessary as technology is perishable and must be constantly refreshed and replenished.

Unlike days of old the next war will be a come as you are deal, there won't be a lot of time for fallback and buildup, we will need to be ready and have redundancy, hopefully have a few un stolen secrets tools on hand.

 

[paul1598419]

It seems to me that every war this country has gotten involved in came with unexpected and unforeseen problems and we have always played catch up in every case. The more we get involved in warfare, especially the kind when we are the aggressors, there have been unforeseen consequences because of it. I doubt the Chinese lasers are going to be that great a threat to our security. I'd be more worried about cyber attacks. Like Eisenhower said about the industrial military complex, I think we could find better uses for our money than to build expensive crap that doesn't work the way we think it will in the first place.

 

[madmacmo]

Stephen Chen | binglin.chen@scmp.com
Published : Tue, 22 Dec, 2015 | Updated : Wed, 23 Dec, 2015
China Moves a Big Step Closer to ‘Star Wars’ Laser Weapons

Mainland scientists claim they have developed the world’s most powerful supercapacitor, which could lead to advanced ‘Star Wars-type’ laser weapons.

Prototypes of directed-energy weapons such as laser cannons and railguns have been developed in many countries, but few have made it out of their laboratories due to their size and weight.

The Boeing YAL-1 airborne laser test-bed system had to be mounted on a 400-tonne Boeing 747 simply to kill a small drone. The project was cancelled in 2012. Laser scientists say it is not their fault. After decades of effort, the actual laser weapon has been reduced to the size of a suitcase. But the enormous power supply needed to supply has remained prohibitively large.

The Yal-1 laser cannon requires a power output of one megawatt. A capacitor required to meet that power demand, using conventional technology, would weigh more than 10 tonnes.

Now, a research team from Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences led by professor Huang Fuqiang has reported a breakthrough in capacitor technology. In a paper published in the latest issue of the journal Science, they describe how the power density of their supercapacitor can reach 26 kilowatts per kilogram, or 130 times that of lithium-ion batteries.

Huang’s team’s new supercapacitor, in theory, would weigh 40kg.

A new laser cannon, which has been developed by Chinese scientists. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Huang’s supercapacitor broke the traditional limits of ordinary capacitors with an ability to store 41 watt-hours of electricity per kilogram. Though lower than a lithium battery, it was equivalent to lead-acid cell batteries used in cars today. It was the first time that a capacitor could store as much energy as a mainstream battery.

“A significant weight loss in the power unit can reduce the overall mass of a laser system. It can extend the application of laser weapon to fighter jets or even spacecraft,” said professor Zhu Heyuan, an expert of laser technology at Fudan University in Shanghai, who was not involved in the research.

“If the new technology really works and wins a nod from military, a Star Wars weapon may not be very far from us.”

 

[Razako]

Outside of the laser applications, I'm drooling at the thought of those super capacitors in electric cars. IMO Li-Ion electric cars have always been a dead end(There's just not enough lithium for large scale production). We might finally see VIABLE electric cars come about if this is for real.

 

[paul1598419]

Thanks again, Mac. I'll always look at anything you find interesting in this field. + rep.

 

[hakzaw1]

Aside from all above there id always a ton of new stuff (like laser headlights which with some luck we will be able to drive at night as easily as we do by day) in a trade mag most would LOVE to get & its free too.


Photonics Spectra has almost nothing to do about handhelds or even laser shpow projectors BUT lots of other things.
it free and you can subscribe to get it digitally here:

www.photonics.com/mpnpwbmg.com

and more info at www.phontonics.com

some of the awesome inventions are headlights that know where the oncoming driver is and creates a cone on no laser light to their eyes AND it 'sees' items by IR we cannot such as pedesterians or animals by the road before we can see them. this is a display that projects onto your windshield.


Great Thread Mac- don't know why I never zaw it before--+7

hak

 

[Benm]

Those are different technologies though. Night vision projected onto the windshield is perfectly possible, but a passive system. It relies on either a passive infrared camera and/or visible light amplification. Urban light pollution is enough to provide a pretty good image using the latter.

Headlights with adaptive beam patterns are pretty good as well - they basically allow the illumination of highbeams but cut out in areas where they'd hinder other drivers. It basically relies on seeing their headlights and creating a dark spot in the output around them.

As for lasers used to defend against target seeking missiles: this could be very effective. Lasers can be used to knock out heat seaking sensors, visible and ir camera's rendering the missile essentially blind and easy to outmaneuver. A handheld gun probably isn't the best application for it, but when fit onto aircraft it could actually be something that takes out enemy technology for a large part. No more shooting over the horizon for jet fighters!

 

[planters]

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 and limit the application to mounted systems on large vehicles.

I assume they meant 26Kj/Kg.

 

[RedCowboy]

Yes and the same material science will allow the ultra high efficiency needed in the high speed controls to deliver bursts of pulses to manage the huge energies without the devices destroying themselves.

I'm still impressed with the powdered metal pressed connecting rods in our modern car engines, material science makes so much possible.