The high average power infrared Free Electron Laser (FEL) provides intense beams of laser light that can be tuned to atmosphere-penetrating wavelengths.
While some of these weapon and sensor systems like the Electromagnetic Railgun or the Free Electron Laser are at least a decade away, the Laser Weapon System and Air and Missile Defense Radar systems are almost ready for prime time deployment today.
The US Navy's free-electron laser has broken a few records already, but it's just plowed through another fairly big one -- one that its creators say could put it on the fast track to actually being used to shoot down missiles.
To build their desktop Big Bang, the researchers arranged strips of acrylic and gold so that laser light hitting the gold excites waves of free electrons called plasmons.
"It's not any normal kind of entertainment, " said student Kelly Tsang, after she and four friends failed to break free from Dr. Alpha's Laboratory, which featured a "Mission Impossible" style laser maze.