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An electrolaser is a directed energy weapon that ionizes a corridor of air using laser-induced blooming, then sends an electric current to a target through the conductive channel. It can be lethal or non-lethal depending on the voltage used. Two defense contracting companies have created portable electrolaser weapons. The electrolaser is one of several directed-energy weapons that some military leaders and scientists have said will be the inevitable next step in warfare.
An electrolaser is a hybrid optical/electrical directed energy weapon. It works by ionizing a corridor of air using laser-induced blooming, then sending an electric current to a target through the conductive channel. This is similar to how a bolt of lightning works.
At least two defense contracting companies have created portable electrolaser weapons: Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems of Anderson, Indiana, and Ionatron of Tucson, Arizona. Ionatron markets its proprietary Laser-Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC) technology as “artificial lightning” and wants it to “replace handguns as the weapon of choice in close-range defense.” An electrolaser can be lethal or non-lethal depending on the voltage used.
Normally, bloom is the bane of laser defense technology: At power densities above about one megajoule per square centimeter, a laser strips electrons from the nuclei of air molecules, creating a plasma and redirecting the energy away from the beam. principal. A number of strategies have been devised in an attempt to circumvent this problem, including the use of large mirrors to project a focus on the target or laser pulses so short that the bloom does not have time to occur. The electrolaser is the only directed-energy weapon that harnesses the bloom rather than working against it.
The plasma region created by the laser-induced bloom can be made highly conductive if enough electrons are liberated from their atomic orbits. This provides the perfect conduit for passing a current through a target at a moderate distance. Using step-up transformers, an electrolaser system creates a high voltage, low amperage alternating current to be fed into the plasma corridor. To create a complete circuit, there must be a way to reverse the current, which can be done via an auxiliary laser beam or a sufficiently strong ground current. Depending on its size and application, an electrolaser weapon can use an electromotive force of between one thousand and one billion volts.
The electrolaser is one of several directed-energy weapons that some military leaders and scientists have said will be the inevitable next step in warfare. Electrolaser technology would be particularly useful for disabling electronics without the need to fire a shot. Pacifists hope that the non-lethal nature of some electrolaser systems will minimize casualties in future conflicts.
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