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A St. Rose, Louisiana homeowner reportedly shot two armed burglar who broke in to his home and threatened his life. Police say that a pair of burglars, who were armed with a pistol, kicked down the down the back door to a St. Rose home. Upon entering the house, one of the robber then reportedly shined his pistol's laser sight on the homeowner. Fearing for his life, the homeowner is said to have fired one shot from his shotgun, which caused both intruders to flee, according to police. One suspected burglar, 21 year old Michael Cockerham, was found dead from...

It sounds like something from a James Bond movie: a massive satellite, the largest ever launched, equipped with a powerful laser to take out the American anti-missile shield in advance of a Soviet first strike. It was real, though—or at least the plan was. In fact, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev walked out of the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, because President Ronald Reagan wouldn't abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, the Soviets were closer to fielding a space-based weapon than the United States was. Less than a year later, as the world continued to criticize Reagan for...

Some defense thinkers believe directed energy weapons, lasers, hold out real battlefield promise, particularly against future enemies armed with large numbers of relatively cheap precision guided weapons. For example, the folks at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington say lasers provide a potential solution to the so called G-RAMM (guided rockets, artillery, mortars and missiles) problem. Using missiles to shoot down incoming rounds can get very costly and a counter G-RAMM arsenal can be rapidly depleted; lasers solve the finite counter-munition arsenal problem. Granted, directed energy weapons are not ready for prime time, although they are getting...

New laser weaponry being developed at Boeing has dealt a telling blow to airborne aircraft -- all of them unmanned -- in successful tests that take military laser technology a few steps closer to assuming a key role in future conflicts. Laser weapons are seen by industry analysts as a major step toward a more effective -- and more cost-effective -- deterrent to enemy threats from the air. Laser weapons can be fired at enemy targets without any apparent risk to human crews involved. However, most defense laser technologies are still many stages behind fictional depictions of laser weapons in...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Nov. 18, 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] in May demonstrated the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to perform a unique mission: track and destroy small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). During the U.S. Air Force-sponsored tests at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, Calif., the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX), which was developed by Boeing under contract to the Air Force Research Laboratory, used a single, high-brightness laser beam to shoot down five UAVs at various ranges. Laser Avenger, a Boeing-funded initiative, also shot down a UAV. Representatives of the...

The Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa has inaugurated an advanced laboratory for an innovative cancer treatment using nano-particles of gold, and laser beams. The treatment is non-invasive, has no side effects and damages only the cancerous cell, without damaging the healthy cells that surround it...

The U.S. Air Force has successfully tested its new Paveway II Plus laser guided bomb. The existing Paveway II bomb has a range of 14 kilometers and will hit within less than half a meter of where the laser designator is reflecting off the target. Paveway is actually a guidance kit (costing about $20,000) that is fitted to a dumb bomb, turning it into a glide bomb that homes in on the reflected laser light. The Paveway II Plus is more accurate and reliable, but the exact figures are classified. Laser guided bombs have been in use since the 1960s....

Enlarge ImageBoom! After being hit with laser beams, a small plastic pellet (sunlike object) emits x-rays, some of which bombard a pellet of silicon (blue and purple). Credit: Adapted from S. Fujioka et al., Nature Physics, Advance Online Publication A team of researchers has created conditions analogous to those found outside of a black hole by blasting a plastic pellet with high-energy laser beams. The advance should sharpen insights into the behavior of matter and energy in extreme conditions. Astronomers can't observe black holes directly because their immense gravity won't let light escape. Instead, they have focused on what...

The Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) ray-cannon, mounted in a specially-equipped Hercules transport plane flying above New Mexico, has now succeeded in "putting a hole in the fender" of a ground vehicle driving along beneath it. The not particularly awesome result was announced by Boeing, maker of the ATL, yesterday. "In this test, a directed energy weapon successfully demonstrated direct attack on a moving target," said Gary Fitzmire, Boeing raygun veep. Though that is nothing new; Boeing's Humvee-mounted "Laser Avenger" ray-turret shot down a small flying robot earlier this year

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force on Sept. 19 damaged a moving ground vehicle from the air using the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft, completing ATL's first air-to-ground, high-power laser engagement of a mobile target. During the test, the C-130H aircraft took off from Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque and fired a high-power chemical laser through its beam control system while flying over White Sands Missile Range. The beam control system guided the laser beam's energy to the unoccupied, remotely controlled target, striking the vehicle and putting a hole in a fender. The test demonstrated the ability to aim...

Kellogg's has developed a hi-tech method to stamp out imitation cereals - by branding individual flakes of corn with the company logo.   The new technology enables the firm - which makes 67million boxes of Corn Flakes every year - to burn the famous signature onto individual flakes using lasers.  Kellogg's plans to produce a number one-off trial batches of the branded flakes to test the system. Bosses will then consider inserting a proportion of branded flakes into each box to guarantee the cereal's origins and protect against imitation products.  If the system is successful it could be used...

In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And while we still haven't seen evidence of the laser "defeating" a ground target, as Boeing puts it, a video of it scorching a direct hit on the hood of a truck is still pretty amazing.Click here for the video. As you can see, the laser beam burns right through the truck's hood, and then through the engine, "defeating" the vehicle. Called the "Advanced Tactical Laser" (ATL), this is the first time the megawatt-powered chemical laser has...

A test-firing of a high-energy laser beam aboard a modified Boeing 747 has been called a success, the Missile Defense Agency said. A team from Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin conducted the Airborne Laser (ABL) test Tuesday over the California High Desert. The laser was fired into an onboard calorimeter, which captured the beam and measured its power. The test is preparation for an upcoming demonstration in which the laser will be fired through a nose-mounted turret on the aircraft toward the target. In a test Aug. 10, a low-power laser beam hit an instrument-equipped missile. "This test shows...

Defense: The Air Force airborne laser program successfully completes a simulated kill from a plane able to find, track and destroy a live ballistic missile. We can shoot down enemy missiles. Instead, we're shooting down the laser program.The Aug. 10 effort was the third such test — sort of like a sniper sighting the target with the red dot of a laser without actually pulling the trigger. In early June, the airborne laser (ABL) program engaged two un-instrumented missiles. This was the first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile. A modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air...

Never has Ronald Reagan's dream of layered missile defenses—Star Wars, for short—been as politically out of favor as in the Age of Obama. Nor as close, at least technologically, to becoming realized. The latest encouraging news came Thursday courtesy of the Misssile Defense Agency. The Airborne Laser prototype aircraft this week found, tracked, engaged and simulated an intercept with a missile seconds after liftoff. It was the first time the Agency used an "instrumented" missile to confirm the laser works as expected. Next up this fall will be the first live attempt to bring down a ballistic missile, but this...

The world's smallest laser, contained in a silica sphere just 44 nanometres across, has been unveiled. At about 10 times smaller than the wavelength of light, however, this is no ordinary laser, it is the first ever 'spaser'. Whereas a laser amplifies light, using a mirrored cavity to intensify it, a spaser amplifies surface plasmons — tiny oscillations in the density of free electrons on the surface of metals, which, in turn, produce light waves. The spaser could be used as a light source for scanning near-field optical microscopes, which can resolve details beyond the reach of standard light microscopy,...

Strategic Defense: The Air Force's airborne laser program passes yet another test, proving "unproven" missile defense once again. The question is not whether we can get it to work, but whether we can afford not to.The news that Iran has enough nuclear material to build a nuclear weapon in relatively short order and is well along on missiles to deliver its nukes has put a sense of urgency on the proposed missile defense system slated for Poland and the Czech Republic. Fortunately, another answer to the threat posed by rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea has just passed a...

EDWARDS AFB, CA - The Boeing Company and the US Missile Defense Agency successfully completed the Airborne Laser's (ABL) first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile, achieving a historic milestone.During the test, the modified Boeing 747-400F used its infrared sensors to find a target missile launched from San Nicolas Island, Calif. The battle management system aboard ABL issued engagement and target location instructions to the beam control/fire control system, which acquired the target and fired its two solid-state illuminator lasers to track the target and measure atmospheric conditions.ABL then fired a surrogate high-energy laser at the target, simulating a...

PHILADELPHIA, PA—The Federal Bureau of Investigation, today, arrested James Gautieri, of Williamsport, PA, on a federal complaint and warrant charging that he interfered with, and attempted to interfere with, the authorized operation of an aircraft with reckless disregard for the safety of human life, in connection with the use of a high powered laser light directed at a Philadelphia police helicopter, announced United States Attorney Michael L. Levy. The incident occurred on April 30, 2008, near the Northeast Philadelphia Airport. Philadelphia police located and apprehended Gautieri a short time after the incident. He was originally charged by the Philadelphia District...

The ultra-precision of high-energy lasers soon may be the pinpoint, measured response that will keep threats a safe distance from U.S. Navy ships. Under a new Navy initiative called the Maritime Laser Demonstration, Northrop Grumman will apply its solid-state laser systems expertise and successes to demonstrate a laser weapon system to defeat a wide range of current threats. "Naval forces face a wide range of challenges from small surface craft to advanced aerial threats. New solutions are required to meet these challenges within cost and force structure constraints," said Steve Hixson, vice president of Advanced Concepts - Space and Directed...

Millions of people could have their eyesight saved thanks to ground-breaking laser treatment that has the potential to eradicate the most common cause of blindness. One of Britain's leading eye experts has developed a technique to reverse the disabling effects of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which leaves many older people unable to read, drive or live independently, and eventually robs them of sight in one or both eyes. Professor John Marshall has developed a way of "cleaning" eyes which, due to the ageing process, have accumulated tiny particles of debris which start to cloud their sight. His pioneering technique uses...

Note: The following text is a quote: Roseville Man Pleads Guilty to “Lasering” Police Helicopter SACRAMENTO, CA—Acting United States Attorney Lawrence G. Brown announced today that BALTAZAR VALLADARES, 30, of Roseville, pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge William B. Shubb to interference with the safe operation of an aircraft. This case is the product of a joint investigation by the Federal Air Marshals, the FBI, the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, the Roseville Police Department, and the Sacramento Police Department. According to Assistant United States Attorney Matthew D. Segal, who is prosecuting the case, VALLADARES pleaded guilty to shining a...

New approach offers more pleasant light of traditional bulbs without the energy guilt Thanks to a bit of ingenuity, Chunlei Guo, associate professor of optics at the University of Rochester, and his assistant Anatoliy Vorobyev have been able to squeeze out fluorescent-like energy performance from an incandescent light bulb. The breakthrough boils down to a laser treatment of the bulb's tungsten filament, a processing step which could one day become a standard in the light bulb industry. Traditionally, incandescent light bulbs provide more pleasant light, however they lack the efficiency of fluorescent designs. The new bulb offers the brightness and...

New approach offers more pleasant light of traditional bulbs without the energy guilt Thanks to a bit of ingenuity, Chunlei Guo, associate professor of optics at the University of Rochester, and his assistant Anatoliy Vorobyev have been able to squeeze out fluorescent-like energy performance from an incandescent light bulb. The breakthrough boils down to a laser treatment of the bulb's tungsten filament, a processing step which could one day become a standard in the light bulb industry.

A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star. The National Ignition Facility's main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in safe fusion power. "We have invented the world's largest laser system," actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said during a dedication ceremony attended by thousands including state and national officials. "We can create the stars right here on earth. And I can see already my friends in...

A man was jailed today for shining a laser at a passenger plane preparing to land. Hossein Hosseiny briefly illuminated the cockpit of the Dublin to Cardiff aircraft which was carrying 52 people on board on the evening of March 8. The pilot said the actions of the 21-year-old father-to-be from the Countisbury Avenue area of Llanrumney, Cardiff, caused a "momentary loss of concentration" during his approach to the runway due to a "dazzling green light". The incident was reported immediately by the pilot to air traffic control and Hosseiny, a failed asylum seeker from Afghanistan, was arrested soon after...

TUSTIN – A 19-year-old Tustin man and a friend were arrested by Tustin police Wednesday night on suspicion of pointing a laser at commercial aircraft landing at John Wayne Airport. Mengyang Sun and an underage girl were arrested around 11 p.m. after Tustin police were sent to the area of El Camino Real and Parkcenter Lane to check out reports that someone was shining a laser at passing cars. (snip) Sun and the girl were arrested and taken to the Tustin Police Department. The girl was released to a parent. After FBI investigators interviewed Sun, he was booked into...

LOS ANGELES, CA—A resident of Orange has been found guilty of willfully interfering with aircraft pilots for intentionally shooting a laser at two commercial airliners that were on approach to John Wayne Airport. Dana Christian Welch, 37, was convicted yesterday afternoon of two felony counts, each of which carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. The evidence presented at trial showed that Welch intentionally aimed a handheld laser at two Boeing 7-series jet airplanes that were preparing to land at John Wayne Airport on the night of May 21, 2008. The first plane, a United Airlines...

At a cost of $3.5 billion and more than a decade of work, the 192 laser beams are billed as the most powerful in the world.Scientists working at the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, have built the most powerful laser in the world, capable of simulating the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun itself. “The system already has produced 25 times more energy than any other laser system,” said NIF Director Ed Moses. The Energy Department is expected to announce Tuesday that it has officially certified the National Ignition Facility, which...

onstruction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest and highest-energy laser system, was essentially completed on Feb. 26, when technicians at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where the laser is located, fired the first full system shot to the center of the NIF target chamber.

Star Wars-style laser weapons have taken another step closer to reality with Northrop Grumman reporting that it has produced a 105 kilowatt (kW) light ray from an electric laser in the final demonstration milestone of Phase 3 of the U.S. military's Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) program. At this energy level such a "weapons grade" laser would be capable of taking out cruise missiles, rockets and artillery from land, sea and airborne platforms, but Han Solo won't be slipping this still hefty device into his side holster anytime soon. Northrop Grumman's scalable modular system uses "laser amplifier chains"...

Science fiction fans and generals alike have long fantasized about what it'd be like to have a laser weapon at their command. Now at last such dreams are nearing reality. After years of steady milestone progress, military contractor Northrop Grumman has reached a significant mark -- the first 100 kW steady-state laser. The laser is part of the Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser Phase 3 Program, which combines 8 lasers in chain fashion to create a "superlaser" of sorts. Each laser can deliver up to 15.3 kW individually and is about the size of a large briefcase. Together they form...

Physicists have created a laser weapon that targets mosquitoes. It is hoped that by finding an effective weapon against mosquitoes, the incidence of malaria could be reduced. Today, malaria kills about one million people every year around the world. "We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power," says Jordin Kare, an astrophysicist who once worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the birthplace of some of the deadliest weapons known to man. More recently he worked on the mosquito laser, built from parts bought on eBay. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the...

Remember those sweet guns in star wars that shoot lasers instead of bullets? Ray guns if you will? Well, they are one step closer to being a reality: Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time -- paving the way for energy weapons to go to war. In recent test-blasts, Pentagon-researchers at Northrop Grumman managed to get its 105 kilowatts of power out of their laser -- past the "100kW threshold [that] has been viewed traditionally as a proof of principle for 'weapons grade' power levels for high-energy lasers," Northrop's vice president...

SEATAC, Wash. -- Port of Seattle police say a 24-year-old Burien resident has been arrested in connection with recent incidents in which a laser beam was aimed at planes approaching Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to land. Police say the person was arrested Friday afternoon for investigation of first-degree unlawful discharge of a laser, a Class C felony. A police news release says a laser was seized from the suspect, who was booked into the King County Jail. Further details were not released. Since Feb. 22, pilots of more than a dozen planes have reported that a laser beam was directed at...

Despite medicine's inestimable progress over the past century, surgery can still leave scars that look more appropriate to Frankenstein's monster than to the beneficiary of a precise, modern operation. But in the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Irene Kochevar and Robert Redmond have developed a method that has the potential to replace the surgeon's needle and thread. Using surgical lasers and a light-activated dye, the researchers are prompting tissue to heal itself. Laser-bonded healing is not a new idea. For years, scientists have been trying to find ways to use the heat generated by lasers to weld...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan. 26, 2009 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has successfully demonstrated that a laser system mounted on an Avenger combat vehicle can shoot down a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) like those that increasingly threaten U.S. troops deployed in war zones. 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 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...

This year for Christmas I decided to build something out of gingerbread. I didn't want to build the typical gingerbread house so I decided to do a bridge of some sort.

Conceptual design for a LIFE engine and power plant based on National Ignition Facility (NIF)-like fusion targets and a NIF-like laser operating at an energy of 1.4 megajoules (MJ) at a wavelength of 350 nanometers (ultraviolet), with a 2.5-meter-radius target chamber and with the final optics at a distance of 25 meters from the target. The National Ignition Campaign will begin during 2009, and ignition and fusion energy yields of 10 to 15 megajoules (MJ) are anticipated during fiscal years 2010 or 2011. Fusion yields of 20 to 35 MJ are expected soon thereafter. Ultimately fusion yields of 100 MJ...

The US military has carried out the first test-firing of a laser weapon system housed aboard a 747 plane. The Airborne Laser (ABL) was conceived to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles in the early stages of their flight. An airborne intercept of an in-flight ballistic missile is planned for 2009. Scientists are reported to be working out other uses for the flying weapon - which could help secure continued funding. These extra missions include shooting down surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles and even enemy aircraft. A laser beam travelled the length of the aircraft at 670 million miles per hour. It...

Today, however, mobile lasers can be fielded for low-power weapons, (approximately 25 KW). Such weapons, while not very powerful, would be effective for addressing a range of threats. They could, for example: Disable the engines of small boats and planes; Detonate shoulder-fired missiles before they strike their targets; and Trigger IEDs from a safe distance before they threaten passing convoys.

Surgeons of the future may have to learn welding rather than sewing, now that a team of applied physicists at Tel Aviv University have developed an efficient and safe way to close incisions in the skin that they say could also be used on cuts inside the body. Dr. David Simhon performs the experimental 'welding' procedure. Photo: Courtesy of Tel Aviv Universtiy The team was led by Prof. Abraham Katzir, who found a way to maintain laser heat at the correct temperature so that the incision is sealed to minimize the risk of infection and scars and speed healing. Katzir...

A 39-year-old Campbell man who allegedly shined a green laser at police helicopters and other aircraft repeatedly over the past three years has been arrested, the Santa Clara sheriff's office said Friday.Michael Weeker was arrested at his home Monday night shortly after he shined a laser at a sheriff's helicopter, Sgt. Don Morrissey said. He was charged with 10 counts of shining a laser at an aircraft and faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted.Pilots in the South Bay have reported periodic laser shinings since 2005, authorities said. Such shinings can cause temporary blindness and long-term eye...

Northrop Grumman Corporation today introduced the Firestrike™ laser, a ruggedized, high-energy, solid-state laser designed as a line replaceable unit (LRU) for battlefield applications. The Firestrike™ laser offers warfighters a 15 kilowatt (kW) fieldable laser as well as a combinable LRU building block for much higher power, based on a laser beam combining architecture validated by Northrop Grumman over many years with the Joint High Power Solid State Laser program, Vesta and Vesta II. The Firestrike™ laser LRU system is uniquely designed for scaling high-energy lasers to desired power levels. Each 15kW LRU can be combined with multiple units to fit...

They're blinding them with science. U.S. Marines fighting in Iraq have been issued low-power laser weapons designed to temporarily blind enemy forces, the Washington Post reported Monday. "Dazzlers," as they're called, shoot green beams designed to "warn or temporarily incapacitate individuals," according to a Defense Science Board report extensively quoted in the Post's story. The Geneva Conventions ban weapons meant to cause permanent blindness, but a Pentagon spokesman explained two years ago that "Dazzlers" didn't fall into that category. "They don't blind people," Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable told reporters. "It's like shining a big light in your eyes." The...

Green laser beam aimed at planes, choppers in Cleveland Posted by Donna J. Miller June 05, 2008 17:54PM Four people were arrested Wednesday night and accused of pointing a green laser beam at two passenger planes attempting to land at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The laser was also pointed at a police helicopter, temporarily blinding the pilot, and at a Life Flight chopper that responds to emergencies for MetroHealth Medical Center. The police helicopter pilots said the laser beam entered their cockpit and struck the pilot directly in the eyes. The beam also created a disorienting matrix effect, with the...

Laser creates brightest light on Earth By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 3:01pm BST 08/04/2008 The brightest light on Earth now shines in a laboratory in Texas, one which will enable scientists to create a tabletop star. The $14m Texas Petawatt laser reached greater than one petawatt - one thousand million million watts - of laser power in the past few days, making it the highest powered laser in the world, says Prof Todd Ditmire, a physicist at The University of Texas at Austin. The laser in action in the lab, the blue glass amplifiers can also be seen...

The United States Defence Department has developed a prototype of an aircraft armed with a laser gun that could destroy tanks 10 miles away. The Airborne Tactical Laser weapon is to be mounted on a Boeing aircraft and is capable of destroying targets up to 15km (10m) away, according to Defense Update online magazine. The ten-centimetre-wide beam will heat targets almost instantly to thousands of degrees and will slice through metal even at maximum range. It is intended both for battlefield use and for missile defense.

US weaponry goliath Northrop Grumman says it has achieved the "first major building block" necessary for manufacture of a 100 kilowatt solid-state laser - that is, a viable battlefield raygun. The company said yesterday that its Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) programme has "exceeded all target requirements of its second major demonstration milestone". This was the trial of a "laser chain" with 15 kilowatt power. Northrop intends to combine eight such units to produce a single laser beam of more than 100 kilowatts - which is generally considered the level at which energy beams would become useful combat weapons....

Northrop Grumman has demonstrated exemplary performance capability of a laser chain, the first major building block of a solid state demonstrator laser designed to reach a power level of 100kW. The Joint High-Powered Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) Phase 3 program exceeded all target requirements of its second major demonstration milestone, including excellent beam quality. The JHPSSL system is designed to accelerate solid-state laser technology for military uses, including force protection and precision strike missions for air-, sea-, and ground-based platforms. "Northrop Grumman's JHPSSL will demonstrate the laser technology for the next generation of protection for the nation's warfighters on the...