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A simple single-pass configuration results in very poor efficiency (0.1 to 2%). This is because the lasing medium only absorbs a small portion of the entire blackbody spectrum. In simpler terms, if we shine everything from 100 nm to 10,000 nm onto a lasing medium, it will convert 0.1 to 2% of that light into a laser beam and turn the rest into waste heat.
This works well with a zone plate on the order of 1km and a target swarm which is perhaps 1m wide during the acceleration phase and 1km wide during the cruise phase (4.3 light years away). They could simply be small thruster units attached to the shields. This lets you space the armor much further away from the spacecraft, which can be useful for defending against incoming missiles or obscuring the true location of the main spacecraft. But what I am just noticing is that those sheet beams are ideal for countering anti-laser armor schemes, angling has it issues when facing multiple opponents, or even mirror drones. However, he goes on to note that in order to boost electrons to the velocities required for an X-ray free electron laser, you will need an acceleration ring approximately one freaking kilometer in diameter.
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Another method of achieving a similar effect is the use of Jello. Strange as this may sound, it is used by current BMD systems to discriminate decoys and damage optics. The jello is released into space and the water flash-boils out, leaving a mass of fine, very hard, sharp granules. The efficacy of this approach compared to the use of sand as described above is unknown. The material properties of the particles become less important at higher velocities, and the water that is lost would probably be a significant mass penalty.
The particle sizes are so small that they are ineffective against anything not requiring a precision surface. A very similar, and perhaps more effective, option for a shoot-through anti-laser lens would be a polarized covering. All lasers are inherently polarized, and the chance of an enemy’s laser having the same polarization is miniscule. This, however, suffers from the same problems as the previous solution.
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A web of fibres, inspired by the designs for electric sails, could have exceedingly high beam capture areas for their mass. For a spherical macron, surface area to volume ratio increases at the same rate as radius decreases. A sphere with a radius 10 times smaller has a 10 times better surface area to volume ratio. After exiting an accelerator, macrons can be neutralized by passage through a thin plasma, and at the highest velocities, by a charged particle beam of the opposite charge. The tiny, rapidly cooling particle will become nearly impossible to detect or deflect until it hits a target.
Even better, good intelligence on the enemy and their equipment. A very wide beam would have to be handled by equally large beam optics, which become very heavy when scaled up. For example, the Huge Accelerator would produce a beam about 1 meter wide at a distance of 60,000 km.
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The implication is that particle accelerators can produce and handle beams with performance equal to lasers with extremely short wavelengths. The beam radius can be increased through the use of beam optics. Increasing the radius of a beam with low emittance will lead to a very low divergence. Just like beams of light that can be bent, focused or defocused by lenses, particle beams can be manipulated using electrostatic or magnetic lenses. A high divergence means that the beam spreads its energy over a large area within a short distance, making it hard to use for purposes such as power transmission or propulsion. A low divergence allows it to be focused onto a spot small enough to become a damaging weapon.
Thirdly, while the spot size is small enough to be lethal at distances up to several light-seconds, the light lag and the sheer distances makes accurate pointing and hitting a challenge. Secondly, the entire contraption is hard to point, it would be possible to do some minor beam pointing by moving and angling the seed XFEL, and also deflect the electron beam slightly in combination with also rotating the pump undulator. But this would require macroscopic actuators with micrometer precision. Whereas optical lasers can rely on several adaptive optics and even phased array techniques to move their beam point much more easily.
That laser “set a world record for [weapons-grade] solid-state laser efficiency, in excess of 40 percent,” claims Adam Aberle, lead of the command’s high-energy laser technology development and demonstration. Such high efficiency greatly eases the problem of thermal management. With that efficiency, a laser system whose beam is at 100 kW generates less than 150 kW of waste heat. Compare that with more than 400 kW of waste heat, which is what Northrop Grumman’s 2009 nonfiber laser put out while delivering a beam of the same power.
Betatrons are an example of this design, and they are a type of cyclotron. The acceleration gradient is about 1MV/m, but it quickly falls when the particles start reaching relativistic velocities. Van de Graff accelerators are the primary example of this design. Currently, the maximum voltage is roughly 25 million volts , with the acceleration gradient averaging 0.5 MV/m. It works by applying a strong voltage difference between an anode and a cathode, separated by a gap.
As it turns out, the US Air Force has a solution created for their Airborne Laser project. A fiber laser is essentially an optical fiber with some important modifications. It has a central core with a slightly higher refractive index than the surrounding glass cladding. A telecom fiber uses that structure to guide optical signals from laser transmitters through its central core, which is made of extremely pure and nearly lossless silica.
Particle beams can be generated by linear accelerators or circular accelerators (AKA "cyclotrons"). Circular accelerators are more compact, but require massive magnets to bend the beam into a circle. Linear accelerators do not require such magnets, but they can be inconveniently long. Whether the fields are natural ones around planets or artificial defense fields around spacecraft, the same fields used to accelerate the particles in the weapon can be used to fend them off.
As such, you can no longer afford to use a laser CIWS, and have to switch to something projectile/missile based, which is liable to be less effective. If you do not have the atomic mass of coolant or heat capacity of coolant, you can instead use the specific Heat capacity of coolant. This is useful if the coolant is a compound instead of an element in the periodic table. Getting rid of the waste heat from a laser is a problem if you don't dare extend your heat radiators because you are afraid they will be shot off. A strictly limited solution is storing the waste in a heat sink, like a huge block of ice. "Limited" because the ice can only absorb so much until it melts and starts to boil.
In August 2010, they agreed to collaborate on screenwriting, and their first script, a pilot about the assassination of John F. Kennedy called The Knoll, appeared on the Black List of popular unproduced screenplays. Their talent agents urged them to produce another script they could use as a staffing sample. Since the agents thought it was unlikely a network would option a script from first-time writers, their intent was to use the sample script to land them entry-level writing positions in the industry. The agents advised them to write something in which they were personally invested.
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The depth depends on the properties of the beam and density of the target material. All energies discussed in this post are more than enough completely strip any electrons from an impacting particle. In fact, the target material acts like a 100% effective stripper.
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