Pulse Laser Rifle: Fiction-Theory-Reality?

[Tech_Junkie]

as long as it doesnt pose a hazard to others - which sounds fair enough.

You can do anything in Holland as long as it doesn't pose a hazard to others LOL. I like the liberal attitude in your country, but I dont like the softness of the police, and judicial system.

 

[rev0]

How ridiculous would it be to try to build one of these? Electrolaser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sounds like something that could do a fair bit of damage, and if we're talking about building a ruby laser, can't be much more outlandish than that, right?

What sort of power and wavelenth laser would be needed to ionize air? I've seen discussion about the 1064nm light from right after a KTP crystal being able to break down air? (http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9273/lpf1.jpg)
After that, it's just a matter of creating the very high voltage power source (10^8 to 10^9 volts, crazy-high, probably a typo) as stated in the article.

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

Finally someone is searchin for the key words I post:

As mentioned in one of my threads: Guess you need VERY short pulses...and good beam-shaping-options.
Someone told me not even a big Excimer-laser could do that trick. So the only other laser capable of creatin a tunnel of ionized air would be the femtosecond-laser....Ti:Sapphire for example. Not sure bout that. They wont tell you what they used for this kind of laser I guess.

 

[HIMNL9]

UV, especially far-UV range, can cause some discrete ionization in the path ..... but at the power required for estabilish a stable and efficent conductive channel, probably the laser itself do more damages alone .....

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

Its hard to get a good beam from mst UV lasers.
Thought about a MarxLaser...round spot, but the pulse seems too long. Even if fired with 125kV.

USP lasers arent that popular...not that many infos on the net...not that cheap...not really small, even if their pulses are....

We could as Applied Energetics how this damn thing works

 

[HIMNL9]

Uhm, perhaps that none of you took in consideration another little, insignificant detail, about electric guns .....

You don't need only a "channel" for transmit the electricity (that, theorically, can be made, with an UV beam or an electron beam) ..... but, for have an efficent electric weapon, it must CLOSE A CIRCUIT, between you and the target ..... if the shooted energy is high enough, you can still use the ground return, for close the circuit ..... but you need a ground connection between your weapon and the ground that must not be your body, if you don't want to suffer the same damage of your target

Probably, you need to wear totally conductive dresses, made with metallic fabric, or maybe just with ThorShield conductive fabric (that polyester fabric bonded with conductive material produced in 2006 as defense from tasers for the police ..... sort of "faraday cage", when weared ), with metallic shoes connected to the ground of the weapon with cables ..... not exactly easy

But, who know ? ..... maybe the next year, going around with aluminium clothes can become the new mode

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

I started a thread for Ti Sapphire lasers somewhere...we can discuss there if you want.

Actually I am aiming for such an application. Electolaser...so damn cool.

BUT: If I would have to shoot at grounded targets.....totally uncool man. I want a straight lightning in mid-air!!!

 

[rev0]

I started a thread for Ti Sapphire lasers somewhere...we can discuss there if you want.

Actually I am aiming for such an application. Electolaser...so damn cool.

BUT: If I would have to shoot at grounded targets.....totally uncool man. I want a straight lightning in mid-air!!!

Well I was always just imagining that you would make 2 pulses, either by splitting that laser or using 2 lasers, kind of like how a taser shoots 2 leads. No grounding needed, as long as both beams hit the target, and as long as they're far enough apart that they don't just arc in front of the weapon, but maybe I'm wrong

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

Actually the idea isnt that bad...but you still have to generate a conductive tunnel for both lasers. Its like you were shooting rubber-leads and hope your taser will still do the job. Know what I mean?

 

[rev0]

Yeah, I imagine it would be pretty hard to tell whether or not it was working, I sure can't think of any way to measure the conductivity of an ionized air channel. I guess that's why the article quotes such ridiculously high voltages.

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

Actually it would be pretty easy to tell. The current would have to travel up and down both channels...
Looks like a straight lightning-bolt!

 

[rev0]

Well I just Googled "electrolaser", and actually came up with a link on this forum about it:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/1...00-volts-godly-weapon-electrolaser-44803.html

No joke, 1 billion volts! And a 100kW laser! Definitely out of our reach by a huge margin.

Here's a few videos of an electrolaser in action though:
Video Gallery - Applied Energetics

That last video is awesome (just like something you'd find in a videogame)! I wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that beam.

Here's also a discussion of the physics behind one:
http://echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=31116

And here's a video of a laser causing dielectric breakdown of air:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HHJhpStza0&feature=related
(There's a few other similar videos, and in fact there was a "hologram" generator made that used exactly this phenomenon.)

 

[HIMNL9]

100 KW laser ? ..... heheh, you don't need the 1 billion Volt "add-on", if you can handle just the laser at that power ..... :eg: :eg: :eg:

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

USP lasers can cut without heating the material up! Interesting indeed.

I want a single-shot electrolaser...no matter how...I WANT ONE!!!!

 

[dieselmarine]

XD nice post...actually you are absolutely right, but: I think he want something LOOKING like a gun with a lot of power. We arent taking about some papercraft, but we arent going to end up in Irak either ;-)

Its IraQ not Irak lol

 

[AnselmoFanZero]

Stop crying. In German its Irak...