And i'll call it a LAAAAAZER!!!

Kaak · October 21, 2003, 02:24

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/cda/ar...709759,00.html

Quote:

DOWN THIS tiled corridor, light does muscular, noisy work. Lasers dig dirt and weld metal. They pound aircraft parts into shape.

In Bob Yamamoto's lab, light devours.

He straps on emerald green goggles. A technician stabs a fire button and calls out the computer countdown. "Three ... two ... one ..."

Then ... nothing. Just a buzz of electronics and an ephemeral glow in this darkened room at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. But inside Yamamato's target chamber, a block of steel spits flame and molten metal.

In those two seconds, 400 blasts of light poured into slabs of clear, manmade garnet. Swollen in energy, the crystal's atoms then unleashed torrents of infrared light to ricochet 1,000 times between two mirrors and multiply, finally escaping as 400 pulses of pure, square beam.

Kilowatt for kilogram, this is

the world's most powerful solid-state laser. Its invisible beam drilled Yamamoto's inch-thick steel plate in two seconds. Add larger crystals and it will eat steel a mile or more away.

"What we're building," Yamamoto explains, "is a laser weapon."
........................

read the rest :-D Terrorists beware

Asher · October 21, 2003, 02:35

What was the big energy cannon called in Starcraft? Wasn't it the Yamamoto Cannon or something?

Nubclear · October 21, 2003, 03:06

Oh god, I hope this weapon doesnt get any further than it has.
OR
I hope some other nation steals this technology from us as well.

DaShi · October 21, 2003, 05:44

I hope everyone has one. Then we can all experience it.

Urban Ranger · October 21, 2003, 05:57

/me looks at it, gets bored, returns to where he came from

DaShi · October 21, 2003, 06:04

'Bout time.

CerberusIV · October 21, 2003, 06:07

And just how big is the power plant needed to make a practical laser weapon work?

Paul Hanson · October 21, 2003, 06:10

From the sounds of it, about the same size as one required to power a large town.

Urban Ranger · October 21, 2003, 06:13

Quote:

Originally posted by CerberusIV
And just how big is the power plant needed to make a practical laser weapon work?

That's exactly why I got bored. You can't get that kind of a power plant to the battlefield.

We have had lasers that could bore through steel plates quickly for a long long time. That's not a problem. The problem are power source and coherency.

Spiffor · October 21, 2003, 06:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
What was the big energy cannon called in Starcraft? Wasn't it the Yamamoto Cannon or something?

The Yamato gun

Q Classic · October 21, 2003, 07:32

Quote:

What was the big energy cannon called in Starcraft? Wasn't it the Yamamoto Cannon or something?

yamato gun (200), researched at the physics lab addon (50/50) to the terran science center(150/150) for the terran battlecruiser (400/300/6). reqs. 150 energy.

iirc about the prices. the energy cost is correct, as is where you get it.

Wraith · October 21, 2003, 07:52

--"Wasn't it the Yamamoto Cannon or something?"

Yamato. After Space Battleship Yamato's Wave Motion cannon.
Guess this is the mark 1 version ^_^

--"From the sounds of it, about the same size as one required to power a large town."

The article mentions 100 kw is what they're after (with 25 by the end of the year). I'm assuming that's output power rather than input power, but with reasonable efficiency that's not bad at all. Certainly within range of what a ship-mounted point-defense weapon could be fed.

Wraith
How can I build a Death Ray if they won't let me have any busbars?

Spiffor · October 21, 2003, 07:59

You're so Korean, Q3, knowing Starcraft by heart and all that

Dr Strangelove · October 21, 2003, 08:03

Isn't the usual efficiency of a laser somewhere on the order of 1%?

Q Classic · October 21, 2003, 08:10

Quote:

You're so Korean, Q3, knowing Starcraft by heart and all that

actually, i'm a disgrace.

i don't remember all the details by heart, and i can't do the rush worth squat. i think the yamato cannon does about 250-450 in damage if it doesn't kill something outright.

either way, this new laser's cool.
how big is that machine?

tinyp3nis · October 21, 2003, 08:47

Sci facility is 100/150 and yamato does 260 dmg

Urban Ranger · October 21, 2003, 12:18

Quote:

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Isn't the usual efficiency of a laser somewhere on the order of 1%?

They are talking about semiconductors lasers I believe. If their energy efficiency is on par with LEDs they are going to be good. But since the biggest GaN laser they have now is like about 35W, you are going to need a whole truckload of them for a 100kW output, and you are going to have a hell of a time to have them produce a single, coherent beam of light.

Lancer · October 21, 2003, 13:35

If they want holes in inch thick plate they should use a drill! Idiots.

Oerdin · October 21, 2003, 13:41

Using an old fashioned drill would no doubt cost a fraction of using a laser but I high powered laser cannon is just so much cooler.