Energy Transmission, Using Self-Channeling Short-Pulse Lasers.

Ionized laser filaments can be generated with very small amounts of energy, as long as the energy density in the laser pulse is sufficiently high. The effect has been demonstrated over meters, without suffering the defocusing effects of diffraction, and it has shown remarkable immunity to turbulence, density gradients, and combustion and combustion products. Filaments carry lethal energy densities, capable of destroying any material in their path, and they have been demonstrated to scale over an order of magnitude. Current models predict the effect to scale over at least three further orders of magnitude, generating ionized paths of kilometers in length. An ionized path can serve not only as an electrical conduit, but also as an optical waveguide. As a result, this project will investigate the use of these long ionized paths (filaments) to channel large amounts of electrical and/or laser energy on target.