"Spectral Beam Combining" leading to laser weapons??!!!

[bbshamsa]

Just came across this while browsing Dvice...

... Spectral Beam Combining could make laser guns a reality | DVICE

Inverted prisms, who'd ha' thunk it eh?

 

[Cyparagon]

I've combined lasers this way before, and the angle between them is very small even for 405 and 660:

 

[RA_pierce]

I still think the biggest hurdle to jump is the compact power source.
Until we can cram an enormous amount of electrical power into a compact cell, we won't be seeing any portable laser weapons regardless of the rest of the advancements.

Also, putting hundreds of kW into a prism sounds tough to accomplish. You'd need some really sturdy optics for that much power. 1% absorption from 100kW is still 1kW. I'd love to see what they are doing to accomplish this.

However, to avoid being too pessimistic... I do think today's technology is on the brink of some major breakthroughs.
It's only a matter of time.