A history of high-power laser research and development in the United Kingdom

Danson, C.; White, M. S.; Barr, J.R.M.; Bett, Thomas H.; Blyth, Peter L.; Bowley, D. J.; Brenner, Ceri; Collins, Robert J.; Croxford, N.; Dangor, A. E.; Devereux, Laurence; Dyer, P. E.; Dymoke‐Bradshaw, A. K. L.; Edwards, Christopher B.; Ewart, Paul; Ferguson, A. I.; Girkin, John M.; Hall, D. R.; Hanna, D.C.; Harris, W.S.; Hooker, C. J.; Hooker, Simon; Hopps, N. W.; Hull, Janet; Hunt, D. J.; Jaroszynski, D. A.; Kempenaars, M.; Kessler, H.; Knight, Sir Peter L.; Knight, Stephen; Knowles, Adrian J.; Lewis, Ciaran; Lipton, K.; Littlechild, Abby; Littlechild, John; Maggs, P. N. D.; Malcolm, Graeme P. A.; Mangles, Stuart; Martin, W.; McKenna, P.; Moore, Richard O.; Morrison, Clive L.; Najmudin, Z.; Neely, D.; New, G.H.C.; Norman, Michael; Paine, Ted; Parker, Anthony W.; Penman, Rory; Pert, G.J.; Pietraszewski, Chris; Randewich, Andrew; Rizvi, Nadeem Hasan; Seddon, N.; Sheng, Zheng-Ming; Slater, David; Smith, R. A.; Spindloe, C.; Taylor, R. J.; Thomas, Greg; Tisch, J. W. G.; Wark, J. S.; Webb, C. E.; Wiggins, S. M.; Willford, Dave; Winstone, Trevor

doi:10.1017/hpl.2021.5

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 341 publications

(293 reference statements)

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“…However, the first practical application of this technology is attributed to Sweden and Great Britain, which between 1968 and 1970 created several models of laser rangefinders and installed them on armored vehicles. In both cases, the rangefinders were based on a solid-state laser with a ruby active medium, which allowed them to accurately measure the range (Danson, et al, 2021). Of the earliest rangefinders, the British Barr and Stroud LRF (1969) should be singled out as the first documented laser rangefinder, that was installed onto armored vehicles as the part of their production process (Barr, 1999, p. 257).…”

Section: Auxiliary Uses Of Laser Technology In Military Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Modern theoretical research examines possible principal laser schemes for individual applications (Zejin, Weiqiang, Kai, & Xiaojun, 2021;Yun, Song, & Pei, 2020;Cunha, Giacomelli, Kaufman, Brajer, & Pereira, 2021), while current studies such as Nature (Extance, 2015) and the work of Danson, et al (2021) analyze problems, inherent to the long-distance usage of lasers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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History of military laser technology development in military applications

Bernatskyi

Sokolovskyi

2022

Hist. sci. technol.

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The aim of this research is to study the development as well as the known cases of military applications of laser technologies – from the first lasers employed in auxiliary systems to modern complex independent laser systems. For better understanding and systematization of knowledge about development of historical applications in the military field, an analysis of publicly known knowledge about their historical applications in the leading world countries was conducted. The study focuses on development that was carried out by the superpowers of the Cold War and the present era, namely the United States, the Soviet Union and the Peoples Republic of China, and were built in metal. Multiple avenues of various applications of laser technology in military applications were studied, namely: military laser rangefinders; ground and aviation target designators; precision ammunition guidance systems; non-lethal anti-personnel systems; systems, designed to disable optoelectronics of military vehicles; as well as strategic and tactical anti-air and missile defense systems. To summarize and compare the results, an analysis of a number of previous works was considered, which considered the historical development, prospects and problems of the laser weaponry development. The issues of ethical use of laser weapons and the risks of their use in armed conflicts, which led to an international consensus in the form of conventions of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, were also considered. As a result of the analysis, a systematic approach to the classification of applications of laser technology in military products by three main areas of development was proposed: ancillary applications, non-lethal direct action on the human body and optical devices of military equipment, and anti-aircraft and anti-missile defensive systems. Due to the constant comprehensive modernization of laser technology systems in use, it was decided not to use the periodic classification model, but to indicate important and key events that indicated the main directions of further developmental work. However, it is important to note that the main focus of historical development of laser weapons depended not only on the technological limitations of the time, but also on the military-geopolitical situation in the world.

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Section: Auxiliary Uses Of Laser Technology In Military Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

History of military laser technology development in military applications

Bernatskyi

Sokolovskyi

2022

Hist. sci. technol.

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“…High-power laser systems are used worldwide to support high-energy-density scientific research activities, inertial confinement fusion (ICF), and astrophysics communities [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Typically, single or multiple beams are pointed at a small target or accurately injected into a target through a small hole.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability improvement of multi-beam picosecond–petawatt laser system for ultrahigh peak-power applications

et al. 2023

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Pointing fluctuations of beams reduce the possibility of incoherent or coherent addition for ultrahigh peak power in a multi-beam picosecond–petawatt laser system. Pointing fluctuations on the target were observed on Shenguang Upgrade Petawatt (SGII-UP-Petawatt) beam using a high-speed and high-resolution active pointing stabilization control system. The maximum frequency of the pointing fluctuations was less than 50 Hz, and the amplitude was approximately 2.8 µrad (RMS). An online test of pointing fluctuations with active stabilization control demonstrated that pointing fluctuations could be reduced to 0.63 µrad (RMS), approximately one-quarter of that without active stabilization control. The benefits of reduced pointing fluctuation were estimated using a multi-beamlet petawatt laser system; the results demonstrated that peak power could be increased by 51.7% when active stabilization control was used in an eight-beamlet picosecond–petawatt laser system.

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“…Owing to the great progress in chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) [1] and optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) techniques [2], ultrahigh peak-power lasers have achieved significant improvements in recent years; more than fifty lasers worldwide have achieved peak powers of several hundred terawatts (TWs) [3][4][5][6][7] and even petawatts (PWs) [8]. Very recently, 2 10-PW lasers were in operation in the Shanghai Super-intense Ultrafast Laser (SULF) facility in China and the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) in Europe [9][10][11][12]. Furthermore, several 10 s to 100 s PW laser facilities have been proposed based on OPCPA [13][14][15][16]; for instance, the SEL-100PW facility [17,18] is currently being constructed and is expected to reach 100 PW in the next few years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multistage Smoothing Compressor for Multistep Pulse Compressors

Shen

Liang

et al. 2023

Applied Sciences

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Ultrahigh peak-power lasers are important scientific tools for frontier laser physics research, in which both the peak power improvement and operating safety are very important. Based on spatial-chirp-induced beam smoothing in both the near field and far field, a multistage-smoothing-based multistep pulse compressor (MS-MPC) is proposed here to further improve safety and operating convenience. In the MS-MPC, beam smoothing is not simply executed in the pre-compressor or main compressor but is separated into multiple stages. As a result, important and expensive optics are directly protected in every stage. The prism-pair-based pre-compressor induces a small spatial chirp, making it both easier to achieve than the previous multistep pulse compressor and sufficient to protect the first grating directly. Furthermore, the asymmetric four-grating compressor, which serves as the main compressor, induces a spatial chirp that further smooths the laser beam, protecting the last grating. In this way, a 10 s to 100 s petawatt laser pulse can be compressed with a single laser beam using the currently available optics. Additionally, an extra beam-smoothing stage can be added before the main amplifier to safeguard the largest amplification crystal from damage. The MS-MPC can be easily integrated into all existing PW laser facilities to improve their potential compressed pulse energy and operational safety.

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A history of high-power laser research and development in the United Kingdom

Cited by 16 publications

References 341 publications

History of military laser technology development in military applications

History of military laser technology development in military applications

Stability improvement of multi-beam picosecond–petawatt laser system for ultrahigh peak-power applications

Multistage Smoothing Compressor for Multistep Pulse Compressors

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