Documents / Report
This Defense Intelligence Reference Document from the Defense Intelligence Agency, dated 1 November 2010, was produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) Program. It describes nanosatellite technologies and proposes launching nanosats into orbit with laser Lightcraft propulsion. It also covers a weapon mission selection study and multi-megawatt laser options. The author recommends that the Department of Defense and NASA bring Lightcraft R&D back to the United States and restart the X-50LR flight demonstration program.
“Weaponized”14 pages
UNCLASSIFIED/,'P9Pl 9ffl@Itl\k HSI: &Hbl:f
• Efficient, generally a FEL can transform 10% (> 60% for microwave tubes) of its
energy into laser radiation.
• Reliable, systems now run 24 hours per day for weeks.
• Can produce picosecond laser pulse widths.
• Systems are big (40 m x 60 m) and expensive ($1 Million to $100 Million).
The Naval Sea Systems Command's (NAVSEA) Directed Energy and Electric Weapon
Systems (DE&EWS) Program Office is supporting research, development and testing of
advanced high-energy/high-power FEL designs for the purpose of deploying them as
directed energy weapons on board warships in the near future. The DE&EWS program is
emphasizing the development of disruptive innovations to reduce FEL system size,
weight, and operational (and lifetime) cost, as well as to increase overall system
operating efficiency. One design that has emerged to reach all of these goals is the
recirculating-beam FEL system (RBFEL), which uses a superconducting accelerator, RF
power liquid helium refrigerator, an electron beam injector, an electron beam dump,
and a modified laser resonator-undulator cavity that boosts the production of amplified,
coherent laser photons (see Figure 31). The superconducting accelerator gives good
efficiency and gradient while recirculation of the electron beam recovers beam energy
to increase efficiency and reduce the beam dump size.
Electron Accelerator
•
•
•
!\./\f-\1-·\:·\1··\(',:·\/'
. ···············~·••ti••··· . ,r' "-' '1 \j 11 \j \'}\_) ( • :
•
•
•
• •
•
• Beam
Dump
RF Power
Liquid Helium Refrigerator Injector
•
ti••·····
•
•
••
•
•
Reflecting ~irror Undulator Out-Coupling )vfinor
Figure 31. Recirculating-Beam FEL System (courtesy of the Naval Post-Graduate School FEL
Lab).
The key (typical) technical features of the Navy RBFEL are as follows:
• Total system volume: 16 m x 4 m x 4 m = 256 m 3 .
• Undulator/Wiggler
- Length: 46 cm to 60 cm.
- Period: 2.9 cm.
- Number of periods: 18.
- Magnetic field strength: 1 Tesla.
60
UNCLASSIFIED/ /1"91t 91"1"1!111it 1!191!! 9HLY Not linked to a story yet.
Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 77 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.