In our impression, light beam is already a very fast way of transmission. Recently, the video of laser beam transmission in the United States has shocked our eyes again. The speed is 300 times, and the transmission is completed in 3.5 seconds. The future is about to change. At the same time, what is the video transmitted by the United States through the laser beam? The mystery of the magic laser beam weapon of the United States has been revealed.
What is a laser beam
The laser passes through the cesium gas 300 times faster than the speed of light___ On July 20, 2000, the British journal Nature published a report jointly written by Dr. Wang Lijun, a Chinese scientist, and his colleagues at the NEC Research Institute in the United States. They announced that they had obtained a laser beam with a speed more than 300 times the speed of light in the laboratory. This result immediately caused a sensation when it was published. Scientists agree that this is a major scientific achievement.
Dr. Wang Lijun et al. Shot a laser beam into a gas chamber containing cesium vapor in the laboratory. By adjusting the frequency of the laser pulse to match the energy level of the cesium atom, the laser pulse obtained the above-mentioned incomprehensible ultra-high speed. However, Dr. Wang Lijun explained that this does not violate Einstein's principle that "the speed of any object in vacuum cannot exceed the speed of light (300000 kilometers per second)", because the laser pulse used in their experiment is not in vacuum, but in the vapor of cesium atom. In addition, the lack of mass of photons is also an important reason. No matter with mass can do it To this point. (what's the secret of the video sent back by laser beam in the United States on the next page)
The magic laser beam from the United States sent a video
According to NASA, a 37 second high-definition video named "Hello, the world!" was successfully transmitted back in 3.5 seconds in a technical demonstration held on May 5, equivalent to a transmission rate of 50 megabits per second, while the traditional technology needs at least 10 minutes to download.
It is reported that one of the challenges of the test is to 'extremely accurately' lock in the ground station in the small town of Wright wood, California, USA. Because the space station is 400 kilometers above the ground and runs at a high speed, the mission 'seems to be aiming at the end of a hair with a laser pointer all the time while walking at a distance of 9 meters,' NASA said.
In the 5 th technical demonstration, the ground station first aimed at the space station and sent a laser cursor, which was then locked by the opals system on the space station, and then began to transmit video. The whole test lasted 148 seconds.
According to NASA, opals uses very small laser beams to transmit data at a rate 10 to 1000 times faster than existing radio wave based communications. 'it's like upgrading from dial-up to broadband. 'said Bogdan & middot; Vaid, the Engineer in charge of the project. (more than one page of laser beams will be sent on the next page. Not only can video be transmitted, but also the United States is conducting laser beam weapon tests.)
Laser beams can not only transmit information, but also be weapons
Laser weapon has always been regarded as one of the most advanced weapons in the 21st century. Although we have made some progress in the research of laser weapons, after years of research and development, compared with the last century, we still think that laser weapons are high-end weapons that can only be used in the future. In the future battlefield, laser weapons will become the necessary equipment of the army, navy and air force, and will make great achievements in the battlefield. This paper briefly summarizes the research and development of laser weapons by the US military and its defense contractors.
Among the army, navy and air force, the U.S. Navy has become the first service to use laser weapons because of its own characteristics. What you see in the picture is the US Navy laser demonstration platform, which was designed and built by Northrop Grumman company according to the order of the US Naval Research Bureau. The naval laser demonstration platform successfully charred a ship in the distance during tests in early 2011. Major general Matthew of the U.S. Naval Research Agency said in August that the U.S. Navy is developing a laser weapon for the sea fleet to combat small unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and threatened small ships.
The boat was a moving target for the U.S. Navy's laser weapon test in 2011. The test was part of the U.S. Navy's high seas tests from October 2010 to April 2011. The image shows that the laser weapon accurately hit the engine of the target ship, causing the target to fire.
Northrop Grumman revealed that in this special test, the laser weapon system was tested more than 35 times, and it withstood the interference of waves as high as 7 feet (about 2.13 meters) in the sea at that time. The laser weapon was installed on the Spruance class destroyer 'paul-f-foster', which was decommissioned in 1976. The purpose of this test is to demonstrate the technical maturity of solid-state laser weapons in the following aspects: whether they can be installed on mobile warships; whether they can cope with enemy ships and aircraft in the shooting range and marine environment; whether they can adapt to the current power level and cooling capacity of ships; and whether they can be compatible with the current Shipborne Combat Command and support system. Steve Hixson, vice president of space and directional energy systems at Northrop Grumman, believes that solid state laser technology is now more mature and can be loaded onto ships.
This is another laser project developed by Northrop Grumman - Flame strike. Earlier this year, the company demonstrated its latest technology in California: after discovering cruise missiles that threaten U.S. Navy ships, flame laser weapons can attack the exterior and key parts of missiles. The two pictures above are the effect pictures after the attack.
One of the objectives of the flame strike program is to 'downsize' solid-state laser weapons. The laser weapon shown here weighs 500 pounds (about 227 kg) and has a volume of 23 inches & times; 40 inches & times; 12 inches. This means that the weapon has reached the goal of "downsizing".
In the future, the missile, the missile and the missile can be used to attack the missile in short range. In the image above, Northrop's image of how to protect a laser weapon at the seaside is shown in the image above. Northrop Grumman named its laser defense system skyguard at that time. The coverage radius of skyguard system was 5km, and the defense radius of shoulder launched missile could be expanded to 20km.
Skyguard defense system is derived from Northrop Grumman's tactical high energy laser system (thel), which was developed by Northrop Grumman for the US space and missile defense command and the Israeli Defense Department. The test-bed for tactical high-energy laser system was built in the 1990s at the White Sands Missile Test Site in New Mexico.
The core of the tactical high energy laser system is the electron beam generator shown in the figure. According to information released by Northrop Grumman, the tactical high-energy laser system successfully shot down 46 targets in range experiments from 2000 to 2005.
This is how Northrop Grumman announced a decade ago that tactical high-energy lasers go from detecting targets to hitting targets.
This is a screenshot of a rocket that is truly concentrated by a tactical high-energy laser system.
Although the tactical high-energy laser system has achieved remarkable experimental results, it has been temporarily shelved because of its high cost and complexity. The U.S. Department of defense has now integrated tactical high-energy laser systems into the joint high-power solid-state laser (jhpssl) program.
In the joint high-power solid-state laser project in March 2009, the company announced that its laser weapon has exceeded 100kW, reaching 105.5kw, which is a new record of electronic laser weapon. Now 100kW is generally regarded as the standard of laser weapons.
The yal-1a airborne laser weapon (ABL) system of the US Air Force was installed on a modified Boeing 747 aircraft. Through the infrared sensors and trackers on the aircraft, the laser aimed at an air force fighter as a target aircraft, and then the modified 747 emitted simulated light on the target aircraft, and successfully hit the intended target.
Aircraft equipped with airborne lasers are used to attack ballistic missiles, especially in the start-up phase, which is also the most vulnerable period. The airborne laser is equipped with a megaterahertz laser, which is fully capable of jamming and attacking ballistic missiles. Initially, the U.S. Department of defense planned to produce seven aircraft carrying the al-1a airborne laser weapon, but this plan was rejected by then Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2009.
In fact, the performance of airborne laser in various tests from 2010 to 2011 is commendable. In February 2010, the airborne laser antimissile system developed by the US military carried out two tests over the Pacific Ocean and achieved success. The short-range missiles that have been aimed at the aircraft's mid range are to be tested. Two minutes after the ballistic missile was launched, the aircraft successfully tracked the missile and determined its trajectory. After that, the US military aircraft fired a laser column to irradiate the missile. After a few seconds, the target missile disintegrated due to 'overheating'. The experiments show that the US Airborne anti missile system can attack multiple targets hundreds of kilometers apart, and its main combat means is to destroy the enemy missile in the launch phase.
The above picture shows a screenshot of the target missile from being tracked by infrared to its final disintegration. The director of Boeing's airborne laser experiment program said that the success of these experiments has laid the foundation for the development of the next generation of high-energy, ultra-high-precision weapons.
In June 2004, the US missile defense agency described this as the "wall of fire" used by airborne lasers to attack missiles.
This is a modified Boeing 747 with an airborne laser.
In September 2009, a tactical high-energy laser hit a moving car on the ground in the air. But Boeing didn't provide more detailed information about the experiment, such as the altitude and speed of the laser plane.
In fact, the Pentagon hopes that existing laser weapons will be smaller and lighter, and will be able to accurately locate and attack ground-based threats. The mission is led by the high energy liquid laser defense system project team of the advanced research projects agency of the Ministry of defense. Their goal is to develop a 150 kW laser weapon with a volume of 3 cubic meters and a weight of 1650 pounds.
In May 2009, Boeing tested the performance of its mobile laser weapon system, tracking and destroying a small UAV. The mobile active pointing source integrated test equipment (matrix) was developed by Boeing for the air force laboratory. It can shoot down five UAVs at different distances by using a single beam of high-intensity laser.
Also in 2009, Boeing independently invested and developed laser avenger, which also shot down a UAV. The laser Avenger system installed on the military Hummer originated from the existing Avenger platform. ?
This is the high-energy laser technology demonstration platform (HEL TD) jointly developed by Boeing and the US military. Compared with the laser avenger, this platform has the biggest characteristics