Laser that can burn through 20 feet of steel per second.

[Analogue]

Navy Breaks World Record With Futuristic Free-Electron Laser - FoxNews.com

 

[shhh]

I will take one in a aa pen host.

 

[Blord]

Don't hold the pen in the wrong way. The laser goggle won't help you to protect

 

[Mohrenberg]

If the Navy happens to be watching, I'll gladly take a review unit
Can the radiant alpha thermopile handle it?

 

[Krogith]

If the Navy happens to be watching, I'll gladly take a review unit
Can the radiant alpha thermopile handle it?

According to ONR officials, that laser beam will eventually perform at a staggering “megawatt class,” a measure of the laser's strength. Right now, the accelerator at Jefferson Lab is performing at just 14 Kilowatts.

Awesome

 

[ShuRugal]

producing a supercharged electron beam that can burn through 20 feet of steel per second

ummm, is this a laser or a particle accelerator?

 

[Scottyzedinosaur]

The question is-
Will it pop a balloon? I want to use it to scare my little brother.
Also, will it hurt his eyes? I want to point it at his face to annoy him. And how many mW is it?

 

[danefex]

^^ haahaa beat me to it

I was just going to reply asking if it could pop balloons, which of course is all that truly matters. +1 :beer:

 

[qumefox]

ummm, is this a laser or a particle accelerator?

It's actually both. I was originally going to say I didn't think it was a laser as well, but after digging, this is what wiki has to say.. the source is even cited so it's unlikely to be totally made up. heh.

The free-electron laser has the widest frequency range of any laser type, and can be widely tunable,[2] currently ranging in wavelength from microwaves, through terahertz radiation and infrared, to the visible spectrum, to ultraviolet, to X-rays

 

[ShuRugal]

well, yes, a Free Electron Laser works by using a circulating stream of electrons as the lasing medium, but it doesn't output a beam of electrons, which is what the article states.

Most likely yet another case of journalist who didn't listen to the what the scientists were saying and just wrote what sounded cool.

 

[DrSid]

I guess Radiant LPM will handle it. Just make a line of them 1 km long. Then measure time it takes to burn through them. Then just use simple formula:

power=8.67/time (time in seconds, result in MW).

Only problem is the shortage of these LPMs.

 

[Cyparagon]

14kW?... So they left out the word "foil." 20 feet of steel foil per second.

 

[qumefox]

I could have sworn I saw 'broke the 500kW barrier' somewhere in the article. Not sure where the 14kW comes from. Though I did see something about 'passing 10kW 4 years ago' I believe.

 

[Prototype]

I could have sworn I saw 'broke the 500kW barrier' somewhere in the article. Not sure where the 14kW comes from. Though I did see something about 'passing 10kW 4 years ago' I believe.

They mentioned breaking a barrier by injecting 500kV into an accelerator, maybe that's what you saw?

Scientists there, in coordination with the Office of Naval Research (ONR), injected a sustained 500 kilovolts (KV) of juice into a prototype accelerator where the existing limit had been 320 kV -- a world’s record, the scientists explained.

 

[qumefox]

Ah. Well I did only read it once, a few days ago.

 

[Ymerej]

A FEL handheld...:lasergun: