Israel Develops Chemical Super-Laser
22:58 Dec 30, '03 / 5 Tevet 5764
An Israeli super-efficient laser developed at Ben Gurion University has caught the eye of the U.S. security establishment. The development of a Chemical Oxygen-Iodine Laser is noted as one of the significant breakthroughs of 2003 by Aerospace America, the journal of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The journal lauds the chemical laser developed at BGU for opening up new and less expensive possibilities for the future use of chemical laser technology.
"Laser development is moving ahead in a number of countries, including the U.S. Russia, China, Japan and Germany," the head of the research team at BGU, Professor Zamik Rosenwaks explained to Israel21c.com, "however, in these countries, most of the lasers being developed are extremely large in size. Because the Israeli work is being done in a university laboratory, they have kept it small - and this limitation has become an advantage."
The Israeli laser, which one-ups existing technology and research in the U.S., is of particular note because of the large financial backing for competing projects across the globe. "The big powers are building big machines," said Rosenwaks, explaining why Israel had come out on top. The Israeli researchers' constraints turned into their "advantage" enabling them to easily study changes in their smaller version of the laser. "We can easily change components and do a lot of diagnostics, to really monitor how it behaves and so on. By that means, we have been able to devise a better, more efficient device," Rosenwaks said.
By efficiency, Rosenwaks explains that his team has been able to produce more laser power using a given amount of chemical reagents. The Israeli-developed laser uses nitrogen as a dilutent, instead of helium, which is usually used in chemical lasers. Nitrogen, Rosenwaks pointed out, is cheaper than helium in most countries.
Rosenwaks, who chairs the Chemical Physics department at Ben-Gurion, says he is aware of the many industries around the world carefully watching the department's research, preparing to put it to work for industrial and defense uses.
Industrial applications that have been discussed involve an alternative form of oil drilling, massive welding and cutting, and cutting through debris in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Defense applications, of particular interest to the U.S., involve airborne lasers for anti-missile weapons.
Israel21c.com reports that the U.S. military is developing a system in which Boeing jets would carry a mounted laser system and patrol territory from which there is a missile threat. Flying above 40,000 feet, the airplane would carry a monitoring system that would be able to detect when a missile was being put into the "boost phase" before launch. The hope is that the jets would then be able to use the laser to destroy the missile at an offensive stage rather than a defensive one.
Published: 22:50 December 30, 2003
Last Update: 22:58 December 30, 2003
 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=55388
and, did the US government use the WTC1 hit as an experimental test of the laser plane technology:
WTC1 9-11 plane had BRIGHT FLASH before striking showing IT'S NOT COMMERCIAL JET
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/12/275927.shtml
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