Documents / Report
The Defense Intelligence Agency produced this reference document, dated 31 March 2010, under its Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It reviews the state of the art and likely evolution of high-energy laser weapons, including chemical, solid-state, fiber and free-electron lasers, as well as beam control and the history of DoD laser research. It concludes that electrically powered lasers could make megawatt-class weapons practical and that spacecraft laser weapons are conceivable within 20 years. It also recommends ways to protect spacecraft from laser damage.
“The Advance”10 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/ /P9R: 9PPll!ltlit '1181! tH•tY Contents Summary .................................................................................................................v Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Basic Attributes of Kinetic Energy and HEL Weapons ......................................... 1 Elements of an HEL weapon ............................................................................... 2 Laser Devices ......................................................................................................... 3 Laser Fundamentals ........................................................................................... 3 Chemical Lasers ................................................................................................. 5 Solid-State Lasers .............................................................................................. 6 Rod and Slab Lasers ........................................................................................... 7 Fiber Lasers ....................................................................................................... 8 Ultra-Short Pulse Lasers .................................................................................. 10 Free-Electron Lasers ........................................................................................ 11 Beam Control and Atmospheric Propagation of Laser Devices .............................. 12 Brief History of DoD Laser weapon Research ....................................................... 16 Laser-Material Interaction ................................................................................... 20 Vulnerability of Spacecraft to Laser Radiation ...................................................... 22 Projection of Future HEL Weapon Capability ........................................................ 23 Recommendations ................................................................................................ 25 Sources of Further Information ............................................................................ 26 Figures Figure 1. Utility of KE and HEL Weapons ................................................................ 2 Figure 2. Elements of an HEL Weapon System ........................................................ 3 Figure 3. Basic Laser Concept ................................................................................. 4 Figure 4. Cylindrical Gain Generator for HF Chemical Space Based Laser ............... 5 Figure 5. Common Solid-State Lasers and Their Wavelengths ................................ 6 Figure 6. Incoherent Combination of Single Mode Lasers at the Target .................. g iii UNCLASSIFIED//P8"1 8PPll!l"'I! l!l!il! 8111!¥
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 31 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.