What you see above is a laser beam striking and tracking a point at the front of a rocket to destroy it mid-flight. The beam is from Lockheed Martin’s newly developed ADAM high energy laser (HEL) system which is taking out that rocket from a range of 1.5 km, as you will see in the video below.

The rocket is completely destroyed as you can see in the image:

ADAM or Area Defense Anti-Munitions is a system capable of nullifying attacks from unmanned aerial vehicles or rocket attacks from the ground. It can track short-range target from a distance of 5 km to destroy it when it’s in a range of up to 2 km. It could be very useful for protecting assets like military bases near the battlefield.

The video shows an ADAM prototype destroying a “Qassam-like” rocket. You will be able to clearly see the laser striking and tracking the rocket to eventually take it out.

It’s, of course, being developed to protect humans and military stuff from missiles, but why should they fire a rocket in the first place. It’s sad to remember that this will deal mostly with war. Why don’t they develop and keep this tech for some good use in the future, like helping NASA and Harry Stamper to take care of an extra-terrestrial threat.

[Source]

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Treatment for addiction to illicit drugs such as cocaine includes several processes like detoxification, medication, behavioral therapy, relapse prevention and all these take time. But a new study is suggesting that cocaine addiction can be switched on and off by the application of laser light to the brain. The research was done at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco.

Via genetic engineering researchers inserted rhodopsins (light-sensitive proteins) into the neurons of the prefrontal cortex of rats. Then through implanted fiber optic cables they activated those neurons by using pulses of laser light. The result was that the drug-seeking behavior in cocaine-addicted rats was turned off. This happened because the prefrontal cortex deals with impulse control and it is less active in addicted rats (and addicted humans).

Meanwhile, when they switched off the light to deactivate the neurons addicted behavior was switched on in non-addicted rats.

According to the scientists, these same effects can be brought about using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The folks over at NIH will soon start treating the prefrontal cortex of cocaine-addicted humans with TMS. Check out the video to know more about their research.

[Source]

[Image Source]

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In our modern world everyone certainly wants to send and receive wireless data as fast as they can, and NASA is no exception. NASA has confirmed that they will be testing a prototype laser communications system called OPALS (Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science) this October from the International Space Station (ISS).

The thing about the OPALS system is that it can transmit laser beams that are a 100 times narrower than radio waves between Earth and space. This will allow higher data rates.

NASA will be carrying out the tests from the ISS by sending video data via one of the OPALS lasers to a ground receiver located in Wrightwood, California (a distance of 250 miles). They will be doing the tests for a period of three months with each test beam lasting two and a half minutes.

But don’t expect such a communications system from your wireless carrier. Besides the data rate, the reason that they are using laser is that they won’t have to use any bandwidth being used by others. And the transmission will be very secure since to intercept the sent info one will have to be directly in the beam of laser. And also although the system sounds simple NASA says that it should be very precise as it will be like “trying to use a laser to point to an area that’s the diameter of a human hair from 20-to-30 feet away while moving at half-a-foot per second”.

Just in case you didn’t know, back in January Russian astronauts aboard the ISS transmitted data using laser to Earth.

[Source]

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We’ve all been told that it’s dangerous to shine a laser pointer straight into someone’s eye, but that’s just with the laser pointers you can pick up at your local dollar store. Now, imagine far more powerful laser dazzler weapons–using multiple wavelengths–that boast enough energy to pop a balloon. This can cause pilots not only to get distracted or temporarily blinded, but they could even suffer from more permanent eye damage. In fact, the US FAA says that there are over 2,000 incidents each year where pilots have lasers pointed at their planes.

Protecting pilots against one wavelength at a time just isn’t good enough, so the UK MoD turned to Thin Film Solution, based out of Glasgow. The resulting prototype has a composite structure where the polycarbonate layer has a special light-absorbing dye. When bonded with the glass lens, the wavelengths can then either be filtered out or reflected out, helping those pilots retain their optimal vision. They’re still working on it, but I can see how these laser-filtering goggles can become standard issue for at least all military operations.

[Ministry of Defence via Source]

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From Star Wars blaster rifles, to lightsabers, and photon torpedos, the idea of using a laser as a weapon has certainly been popular in the realms of science fiction. In reality though? The idea has always been one that scientists have been receptive of, but too many limitations have, up until now, kept it from truly being used beyond medicine and industry.

Now military contractor Northrop Grumman has test-fired its nex-generation Firestrick solid-state laser, called Gamma. This test was to get a better idea of the potential of “Gamma” as a weapon and was conducted at the company’s Redondo Beach laboratory. The test showed that a laser could burn through the skin and critical components of a target drone that they used to represent an anti-ship cruise missile, the kind that often threatens US navy ships.

Basically, Gamma operated during the test at 13.3 kW for a number of shots that were conducted over a one-and-a-half hour period with stable performance. With only a 13.3 kW output, you might be thinking, “Okay, that can’t do a whole lot though”, but the test was merely to measure the ruggedness, stability and power of the Gamma laser concept. The beauty of the system is that it is designed to be “chainable,” meaning, that you can link together several of these little guys to create a big guy capable of 100 kilowatt shots and weighing just 1.5 tons.

While I wouldn’t expect a bunch of powerful Gamma-equiped tanks and battleships to flood the US military anytime soon, it is clear that the time for change is coming and that ideas that have long been stuck in the realm of science fiction, like lasers, are becoming closer than ever to reality. Perhaps my dream of owning a real light saber may someday still come true. In the mean-time, I could always use one of the unique light sabers we saw just a short while ago.

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Scientists seeking energy solutions have been working relentlessly to find a means to harness an untapped area – the energy source of the stars. Fusion, or Hydrogen fusion to be specific, the secret of longevity of our sun and the stars, could be the answer to the world’s energy crisis, which is struggling between the bleak scenario of dwindling fossil fuel reserves and the moral dilemma of using dangerous nuclear technology.

But for fusion to happen so that unlimited energy can be released, large, rather a really large, quantity of energy is to be supplied for the ignition procedure. Researchers of The United States’ National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California might have found a means to solve that situation.

They recently managed to fire the most powerful laser in history, a whopping 2-megajoule blast which is a new record and the world’s first 2-megajoule ultraviolet laser.  The laser, which was designed to reach 1.875 megajoules, surprised everyone involved when it touched the 2 mark and set a new world record and that too without damaging much of the hardware and optics involved.

Illuminating indeed!

At the research facility, 192 laser beams were combined to form the single blast, which reached 1.875 megajoules to start with but by the time it crossed the last focusing lens, the laser output read 2.03 megajoules.  The final shot is the end result of an elaborate process which begins with a single laser which traverses through a maze of optical equipments and reflectors arranged in an area roughly the size of three football fields.

The single laser is split into 48 separate beams which are then redirected using mirrors into amplifiers. After four bounces, the beams are split again into 192 rays and as they travel through the maze they get amplified exponentially.

And finally, the moment of light, literally: A tiny laser is transformed into 2.03 million joules of ultraviolet energy, which is 1000 times the energy of all the power plants in the United States combined, even though it’s only for a fraction of a second.

The next big step for the researchers will be to fire the laser on to a target. The facility, supported by US Nuclear Weapons Complex, will use the laser to try to achieve ignition in its first nuclear fusion experiment. The laser will be fired into a frozen hydrogen fuel cell which will be enclosed in a gold-plated cylinder called a hohlraum, kept inside an ignition chamber with a diameter of 32.8 feet.

Researchers will use the laser to trigger a tiny fusion reaction in the ignition chamber creating a small star.

Well, the research is at the nascent stage though and one just can’t celebrate with “free energy” hippie songs as of now. The “small star” researchers might create in the facility will need to produce more energy than the energy required for triggering it. Then there is the issue of controlling and containing the energy.

If those things are sorted out we may indeed be witnessing the dawn of a new era.

Let there be light, or rather laser!

[National Ignition Facility via Nature via Physorg]

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3D printing is becoming more and more popular these days and the researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have come out with an interesting development. Their new high-precision 3D printer can create nanometer-sized objects and that too in record breaking speeds. As you can see above, they have 3D printed a nanoscale racing car perfectly.

With their nano 3D printer, which is capable of creating objects no bigger than a sand grain, they have precisely created complex structures including a racing car, a model of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, and the London Tower Bridge. That’s impressive considering the size of these objects.

The technique that they are using for making objects at this scale is known as two-photon lithography. Using a series of mirrors, the team directs a laser through a liquid resin. The laser beam hardens the liquid resin at precisely the correct spots. What you get will be a “polymerized line of solid polymer”.

The 3D printer is capable of printing 100 layers (200 lines per layer) in just 4 minutes. That’s about five meters of polymer printed in a second, which is reportedly a world record. Their biggest hurdle in the printing process was controlling the movement of the mirrors for making sure that the laser was directed precisely.

And what’s the future of all this, you ask? The researchers have started to experiment with bio-compatible resins. That means in the future, they might be able to create biological parts, which can be used in human bodies, via a 3D printer. And the technique can be used to create large 3D objects with precision and without spending too much time.

Check out the video to see the nano printing process.

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To be fair, the NASA tractor beam is still in the very early development stages and the initial models won’t be really good enough to pull in rogue spaceships. Instead, the goal is to use these tractor beams to more efficiently and effectively capture space particle samples.

There are three approaches that they are considering. First, there is an “optical vortex” wherein two counter-propagating beams of light create a geometry that confines the particles to the dark core of the overlapping beams. The air around the particles are heated and the beam moves along the ring’s center. However, this requires an atmosphere, so it won’t work on, say, the moon’s surface.

Another possibility uses electromagnetic effects with optical solenoid beams. The intensity peaks spiral around the axis of propagation, creating a force that drives particles in teh opposite direction of the source of light beam. And third, they’re considering a Bessel beam, inducing electric or magnetic fields in the path of the object, pulling the object against the movement of the beam itself.

The video below shows us how they can theoretically “make it so.” Oh, and if you’re wondering why there is no sound, it’s because no one can hear you scream in space.

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The odyssey of Wicked Laser goes on as they created a new type of laser that is now green and twenty times dangerously brighter than the blue laser, and twenty times as awesome as the ones sold before. For what purpose are you ever going to use this product? Your imagination is the only limitation.

Maybe you can set up a PowerPoint presentation and project it on a humungous white screen that rotates around the Earth, then use Wicked Laser’s S3 Krypton to point out important details on your report. Another thing that you can do is to turn on the laser, point it into the sky and hope that you can spot some aliens wandering around the Solar System and blind them with this gadget. You can buy two pieces, give a piece to your child and let the Star Wars begin! Or you can just purchase one and display it in one of your living room’s shelves and have friends marvel over it. Seriously, there is no one single use for the Wicked Laser S3 Krypton. You can use it anyway you want. Just please don’t point it at anyone’s eyes.

Wicked Laser S3 has a pending status at the Guinness Record for its astounding 86 million lux that is visible from up to 85 miles away, and that is way beyond the planet’s atmosphere as the manufacturing company claims. Sensors and microprocessors are placed in the 85-mile laser’s aircraft grade aluminum chassis to regulate the amount of current in the gadget and to keep the aluminum tube from overheating and burning your hands. The beam might also hurt the skin so be careful when using the laser.

The makers of the laser also claim that the Wicked Laser S3 can be operated 24/7 without any damage to the laser’s diode. Another feature of the S3 is the Smartswitch that can hinder unauthorized users and has nine operation modes—the SOS (Hi/Low), Beacon (Hi/Low) and tactical Hibernation.

Top end models, as well as lower-powered versions of the Wicked Laser product are now available in the market. The former costs around $1000 and the latter around $ 300. As stipulated in its own safety manual, you cannot do anything with this gadget. It is starkly and paradoxically useless, but if you really want to have one for yourself, put on your goggles and pray to God you don’t hurt anyone.

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Boeing might be a company better known for developing all kinds of aircraft, but they do other things, too. For instance, Boeing partnered up with BAE Systems to develop an advanced laser weapon system for the United States Navy. The net result is this: The Mk 38 Mod 2 Tactical Laser System.

What makes this different from other laser weapon systems is that it combines both kinetic and directed energy weapons capabilities. This latches on to existing shipboard command interfaces and works in tandem with the widely used M242 Bushmaster 25mm Chain Gun. They get 2.5km of range and selectable rates of fire with this bad boy. The laser part provides incredible precision and accuracy against both surface and air targets.

While BAE Systems and Boeing have been working together for two years on developing a Tactical Laser System, BAE was only awarded the initial $2.8 million contract from the US Navy in March 2011.

Reading this story, I couldn’t help but to think of air quotes and Doctor Evil. That said, I’m sure it’ll cost way more than (pinky finger to lips) one million dollars by the time they’re done. There are also no sharks involved, unless they do decide to strap these frickin’ laser beams to their frickin’ foreheads.

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