Directed Energy

The laser weapons enterprise of the 21st century in many ways parallels that of the nuclear wapons enterprise of the 20th century.This enterprise requires end-to-end dedication to laser system design, engineering and production for specific applications and missions, experimentally validated first-principles understanding of weapon lethality and vulnerability, and diligent evaluation and prediction of the emergence of potential threats.The flashlamp-pumped Heat Capacity Laser. PS&A has developed world-record average-power single-aperture solid-state lasers.

The directed energy systems and technology (DEST) program element of PS&A is developing "electric" laser systems that will enable the tactical and strategic laser missions of the 21st century. In the last 15 years, LLNL's technological advances and innovations in scaled, semiconductor diode-laser pump arrays and large-aperture transparent ceramic gain slabs have made possible much more efficient and less massive all-electric laser systems with power levels and beam characteristics suitable to a wide variety of defense applications.

Unique PS&A electric lasers for defense missions include tailored-aperture ceramic lasers (TACL) nano-structured optical-fiber (NSOF) lasers and diode-pumped alkali lasers (DPAL), the latter of which were invented at LLNL. The world's largest ceramic laser gain slabs are used in LLNL's solid-state heat-capacity laser. This system consistenly provides high-power beams for laser interaction studies and has illustrated the potential of diode-pumped lasers to meet the needs of both tactical and strategic laser missions in the coming decade.

The emergence of industrial systems with near-military power levels creates the potential for new weapons proliferation and terrorist problems that need to be assessed. PS&A's unique knowledge of electric laser technology, high-power laser optics and advanced laser materials, along with its broad experience in both government and commercial industry programs, will be important to understanding and anticipating these new threats. The combination of PS&A's laboratories with highpower laser capabilities and LLNL's world-leading computation infrastructure enables a science-based, predictive understanding of laser weapons effects, countermeasures and analysis of emerging threats.