High Energy Laser with Rechargeable Energy Magazine

The proliferation of unmanned aerial systems and missiles on the battlefield has led to increased interest in short range air defense for both fixed base and maneuver elements.  This situation is motivating the adaptation of high energy laser weapons to smaller combat vehicles, which amplifies the challenge of creating systems with the footprint, power, and thermal management that can be supported by these resource limited vehicles.  Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to develop a compact, battery-powered, high power direct diode laser integrated with a rechargeable magazine. By separating the system into a laser subsystem and a rechargeable magazine that contains the cooling and battery power subsystems, the footprint is minimized. Our magazine concept includes a liquid carbon dioxide cooling system and PSI’s high-performance batteries. The magazine will provide sufficient cooling and electrical power for several cw shots up to 10 seconds in duration. The laser subsystem will provide up to 10 kilowatts of optical power at a wavelength near 1 micron with good beam quality (M2 < 2).