POET Technologies Inc.

over 9 years ago

for those who missed it
The US Navy Has Revealed It Has A Working Laser Weapon (LaWS)
video 1:34
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/10/us-navy-test-laser-weapon-persian-gulf

please

The Navy (see report link below) focuses on electrically powered lasers and are developing 3 principal types of lasers for potential use on Navy surface ships:

- SSLs (fiber solid state lasers)
a) LaWS (Laser Weapon System) situation 2014
b) Mark 38 Tactical Laser System (TLS) situation 2011 - see Appendix D

- slab SSLs(fiber solid state lasers)
a) Maritime Laser Demonstration (MLD) - situation 2009 - see Appendix E

- FEL (Free Electron Laser)
a) situation 2012 - see Appendix F

let’s have a closer look at the LaWS:

A) LaWS (Laser Weapon System) - situation dec. 2014

consists of six fiber SSLs—commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) welding lasers—each with a power of 5.5 kW, to create a laser with a total power of 33 kW and a Beam Quality of 17. The light from the six lasers is said to be incoherently combined because the individual beams are not merged into a true single beam. Coherently combining the six beams into a true single beam (i.e., one in which the six beams are “phase locked”) would require a system with more-complex internal optics and electronic control systems.

The LaWS consists of a 30-kilowatt solid-state infrared laser, a Phalanx CIWS (close-in weapon system) radar detection and tracking system, and a special computer terminal that controls the LaWS.

LaWS is about 25% efficient, meaning that about 400 kW of ship’s power would be needed to operate a future version of LaWS producing 100 kW of laser light. The remaining 300 kW of electrical energy would be converted into waste thermal energy (heat) that needs to be removed from the system using the ship’s cooling capacity.

The Navy estimated that production copie of the LaWS system would be roughly $17 million

Firms involved in the LaWS effort:
Directed Energy Warfare Office (DEWO) is the lead system integrator (LSI) and technical direction agent.
Raytheon, the prime support contractor and maker of close-in weapon system (CIWS) radar detection
IPG Photonics (the maker of the fiber SSLs)
BAE Systems
L-3 Communications
Boeing.
Pennsylvania State University Electro-Optics Center and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

For additional information and photos see Appendix C page 34 below

and the Navy next milestones

a) joint Army-Navy testing later in 2015

b) a low power Terahertz Sensor FEL is also being developed under the INP (Innovative Naval Prototypes, top secret), with a prototype scheduled to be available in FY2015. ONR (Office of Naval Research) states that “Possible uses of this system include [target] interrogation, sensing and discrimination of high value targets, and weapons of mass destruction detection.

probable firms involved in this effort:
the Office of Naval Research (ONR) is the project leader
Boeing (CA) is primary contractor
Raytheon(MA)
SAIC (VA)
Niowave (MI)
Advanced Energy Systems (NY).

plus MIT Lincoln Laborat ory in Massachusetts, Vanderbuilt University in Tennessee, Colorado State University, the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, Stanford Univers.ity in California, Yale University in Connecticut, the University of Texas, and the University of Maryland

and Lockheed Martin

demonstrated a 30 kW version of its electric fiber laser in January 2014, the “highest power ever documented while retaining beam quality and electrical efficiency,” according to the company. The laser system uses 50 percent less electricity than more conventional solid-state designs, which means it requires less cooling and thus takes up less space. In February 2014, the U.S. Army followed up on this successful testing with a US$25 million contract for Lockheed to take the fiber system to “weapons-grade” at 60 kW.
http://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_25/october_2014/features/high-energy_lasers_new_advances_in_defense_applica/#.VOPXWcaoeHk

and BAE Systems