Space Industry and Business News  
Lasers May Aid Missile Defense, Engine Crack Detection

Extreme nonlinear optical techniques have succeeded in upconverting visible laser light into X-rays, making a tabletop source of coherent soft X-rays possible. The interaction of atoms and molecules is both useful for making coherent X-rays which, in the future, may show previously undetectable cracks in jet turbine blades. (Courtesy photo/University of Colorado)
by Maria Callier
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Arlington VA (AFNS) Oct 28, 2008
Air Force Office of Scientific Research-funded work at the University of Colorado at Boulder could lead to possible future technologies that use the high energy densities of lasers. Studies by university officials explore how atoms and molecules respond to light pulses, which could show cracks in high-performance engines.

The husband and wife research team of Dr. Henry Kapteyn and professor Margaret Murnane has developed new, practical, laser-like sources in the ultraviolet and soft X-ray regions based on the most extreme form of nonlinear optics.

In this work, an intense femtosecond laser is focused into a gas-filled hollow waveguide. The interaction between the laser field and the atoms in the gas is so strong that electrons are violently accelerated, and then liberate their energy as a coherent beam of X-rays.

Ultrafast coherent beams of X-rays have a myriad of applications in technology and science -- from next-generation microscopes that have the capability to image thick samples in 3-D, to understanding how heat flows in nanostructures or how electrons move at interfaces relevant to energy harvesting.

This research impacts the Air Force by making ultrafast lasers useful in remote sensing, missile defense and adapted optics. The femtosecond lasers that the couple develops to power the X-ray source are also used in micro-machining and may be applied to aircraft aerodynamics and high-performance engines.

"Our research straddles the boundary between laser science and technology," Ms. Murnane said. "We take ideas all the way from conception to integration in systems that can then be used by other scientists. This takes a team of physicists, engineers and chemists all working together. We discovered that the interaction of atoms and molecules is both useful for making coherent X-rays which, in the future, may image previously undetectable cracks in jet turbine blades."

A major future challenge is to find ways of generating coherent X-ray beams which require the scientists to control quantum phenomena at very high laser intensities. The challenges have also yielded new demands on the technology the couple uses to meet their goals.

"After a number of years of exploiting the laser technology that we already developed, we are now planning a new push for high-power laser technologies," Ms. Murnane said.

Related Links
Air Force Office of Scientific Research
The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


LM F-35 Successfully Wraps Up Testing
Edwards AFB CA (SPX) Oct 28, 2008
The first Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter has finished all planned testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., demonstrating that the aircraft, the support crews, and contractor and military service personnel are ready for the dramatically expanded flight testing on the program's horizon.







  • Workers Discover A Second Life At Work
  • Free US wireless network a step closer
  • Google adds computer games to online advertising kingdom
  • Web traffic jam as people search for financial news

  • European science satellite launch delayed until at least February
  • Boeing Launches Third Italian Earth Observation Satellite
  • GOCE Launch Delayed Until 2009
  • Launch Complex Now Available For Civil, Commercial Launches

  • New EU CO2 caps anger airlines
  • Energy Department has high school contest
  • Researchers Scientists Perform High Altitude Experiments
  • Airbus expecting 'large' China order by early 2009: CEO

  • LockMart Delivers Key Hardware For US Navy's Mobile User Objective System
  • Boeing JTRS GMR Engineering Model Enters New Test Phase
  • Raytheon Reaches Milestone On Critical Communications Capability
  • Raytheon Awarded First Phase Of Integrated Battle Command System

  • The Sky Isn't Falling And That's A Problem
  • Sarantel Antenna Featured In New Iridium 9555 Satellite Phone
  • NASA Launches IBEX Mission To Outer Solar System
  • MSV Awarded Patents For Next-Gen Satellite-Terrestrial Comms Network

  • Berndt Feuerbacher New President Of IAU
  • Orbital Appoints Frank Culbertson And Mark Pieczynski To Management
  • Chris Smith Named Director Of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
  • AsiaSat Appoints New General Manager China

  • GeoEye Releases First Image Collected By GeoEye-1
  • Maps Shed Light On CO2's Global Nature
  • 2008 Ozone Hole Larger Than Last Year
  • Smog Blog For Central America And Caribbean Debuts

  • Google releases Google Earth for iPhone
  • Sparklike: First CE Certified GPS Repeater On Sale In EU
  • Tele Atlas Releases Industry's First Global Digital Map Database
  • Chicago Taxis To Utilise CMT Technology

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement