Laserful

Virtual Journal of Laser is a web tool to help laser researchers follow publications from major academic journals. It automatically aggregate updates from Physics or Optics journals. Only abstracts of articles that are directly related to laser are imported into the system. By voting, commenting and simply visiting, interesting papers will be promoted and become more visible and easy to find.

It has been rebuilt, now one can vote on papers to promote them. It can sort popularity of papers with an algorithm similar to "radioactivity". I use it for checking new papersr and see what other people are interested in.

Chunlei Guo, an associate professor of optics at the University of Rochester, had use ultrafast laser to turn any metal pitch black. Now he has successfuly demonstrate a reverse process, make metal radiate light more effectively!

An ultra-powerful laser can turn regular incandescent light bulbs into power-sippers, say optics researchers at the University of Rochester. The process could make a light as bright as a 100-watt bulb consume less electricity than a 60-watt bulb while remaining far cheaper and radiating a more pleasant light than a fluorescent bulb can.

The laser process creates a unique array of nano- and micro-scale structures on the surface of a regular tungsten filament—the tiny wire inside a light bulb—and theses structures make the tungsten become far more effective at radiating light.

The findings will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.

More from University of Rochester

As reported by Optics.org, Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) in Aachen, Germany, will unveil a femtosecond laser of a world-beating power output of 400 W at LASER World of Photonics in Munich, Germany, next month.

That's a monumental improvement on most commercial femtosecond lasers, which produce an average output power around the single-watt level, while even high-end models are limited to the 50-100 W range.

"The Fraunhofer ILT is introducing a paradigm shift in the design of commercial femtosecond lasers," claimed Axel Bauer, head of the institute's marketing and communications group. "Our laser module holds the world record for average output power among lasers with pulse durations of less than one picosecond."

Scientists for decades have been hunting for ways to harness the enormous force of the sun and stars to supply energy here on Earth. The National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory may spark the light at the end of the tunnel.

An openning ceramony of the facility is held today. via: UC

Laser targeting aircraft and helicopters has become a serious issue in last few years. Now polices in UK start equipping hand-held Laser Event Recorders (LER) to locate attackers.

Officers are now using hand-held Laser Event Recorders (LER) to gather evidence when they are "attacked" from the ground. The LER is held up to the helicopter's window when the laser is first spotted.

The device, first adopted by the US Air Force, is a sophisticated digital camera which can detect laser radiation and take a picture of the attack.

It can also warn the police if the laser is powerful enough or close enough to cause physical damage to the eyes. There is a GPS receiver to record the location of the helicopter when attacked.

watch the video report:

...... Mr. Gates said he would cut from programs for defense against missiles, including halting the increase in the numbers of defensive missiles deployed in Alaska. Defense experts were also expecting that Boeing’s airborne laser system, which would equip a modified 747 jetliner with a laser to shoot down missiles, might be killed.......

via Gates Budget Plan Reshapes Pentagon’s Priorities - NYTimes.com.

It has been reported that construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) was ready earlier this year. Now its completion is offically certificated by Department of Energy.

The Department of Energy today announced that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has certified the completion of the historic effort to build the world’s largest laser. Housed at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is expected to allow scientists to achieve fusion ignition in the laboratory, obtaining more energy from the target than is provided by the laser. The completion of NIF opens the door to scientific advancement and discovery that promises to enhance our national security, could help break America’s dependence on foreign oil, and will lead to new breakthroughs in the worlds of astrophysics, materials science and many other scientific disciplines.

......

Engineering TV visited The Center for Ultrafast Optical Science at the University of Michigan to take a closer look at HERCULES, a high-field petawatt class laser. The beam measures 20 billion trillion watts per square centimeter, contains 300 terawatts of power (300 times the capacity of the entire U.S. electricity grid), and is capable of producing this intense beam once every 10 seconds. Applications include optical communications at the terabit level, studies involving the behavior of electrons in quantum structures, and biomedical fields such as eye surgery , subcellular "nanomachining", and in vivo sensing (for example in vivo cytometry of circulating cancer cells). The National Science Foundation through the Physics Frontier Center FOCUS supports the development and construction of this laser.

During tests last month at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Laser Avenger achieved its principal test objectives by using its advanced targeting system to acquire and track three small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying against a complex background of mountains and desert. The laser system also shot down one of the UAVs from an operationally relevant range. These tests mark the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV, and was enabled by IPG Photonics' GaAs diode-based laser systems. Credit: Boeing. via: IOP

Wikileaks has released many quasi-secret reports commissioned by the United States Congress, which should be in public domain legally. Among as much as 6,780 reports, I find 3 of them are on lasers. You might be interested in reading them.

1. Airborne Laser (ABL): Issues for Congress (RL32123 / 2007-07-09)
2. Lasers Aimed at Aircraft Cockpits: Background and Possible Options to Address the Threat to Aviation Safety and Security (RS22033 / 2005-12-21)
3. The Airborne Laser Anti-Missile Program (RL30185 / 2000-02-18)