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It can generate 250 terabytes of random bits per second. In fact, it was so fast that the team behind it struggled to record its output using a high-speed camera. According to the researchers, their system trumps physical random number generators both in speed and through its ability to create many bitstreams simultaneously. The results are published in the journal Science. The new invention utilizes a tiny laser, just one millimeter long, which bounces light between mirrors positioned at either end of an hourglass-shaped cavity before exiting the device, reports Science News. Unlike previous laser-based systems, the new process can...

After decades of toiling and dead-ends, the dream of operational laser weaponry is about to become a reality. So, what changed that made what had been bulky systems go from clumsy pipe dreams to hardened, miniaturized, and reliable weapons that will be able to be deployed even in the harshest of conditions? We recently had an in-depth interview with Dr. Rob Afzal, Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow, Laser and Sensor Systems, where I pressed him on everything related to laser weaponry and the emerging military applications that go along with it. In the course of answering my maelstrom of queries, Dr....

Rioters in Washington, D.C., injured 14 police officers in the chaos that ensued during the city’s second night of protests over the death of Karon Hylton. The injuries include one officer losing eyesight after being targeted with a laser. DC Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters on Thursday that 14 of his officers sustained injuries during overnight protests, according to a tweet from Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo. The injures included eight officers being struck by incendiary devices, one eye injury from a laser, four struck by rocks or bricks, and one sprained ankle, the chief stated.

Image by Northrup Grumman, from military.com, scaled and cropped by Dean Weingarten In my 30+ year career in Army Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation, (RDT&E), there was some exposure and support of laser weapons. A principle concern with lasers is how the interact with the atmosphere. That is where my old outfit came in.Lasers have been used in weapons systems since shortly after their development, for ranging and sensing, and information technology. I am writing about weapons that burn, shoot down, and blow things up.My team supported a laser weapons test about 1975 as I recall. This correspondent was not...

The Defense Department expects to stand up its first battalion of Stryker vehicles outfitted with high-powered laser weapons by some time next year, Army officials say.“Expect to have the first battalion fielded in 2021 with four battalions by 2023,” U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command chief Lt. Gen. Dan Karbler told the audience at the virtual Space Missile Defense symposium on Tuesday The so-called "laser battalion," as Defense One described it, would eventually deploy the new 50 kw Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE-MSHORAD) Stryker that the Army is working to field by 2022, a ten-fold power increase over the 5 kw-class system...

Once again I'm tapping the collective brain trust of Free Republic to get some answers concerning Laser Eye Protection. If you're up on current events, and if you're a Freeper, you are. You've seen antifa and blm terrorists blinding people with lasers. I just saw a video of a woman on her front porch surrounded by these terrorists and her face was green. There must have been at least 15 lasers pointed at her eyes. This does worry me and I've been researching laser protective eye protection and can't really seem to find a definitive answer as to what type...

The U.S. Federal Protective Service is spending $125,000 on sunglasses to protect federal officers' eyes from lasers shone at them by protesters, according to a procurement request. The July 10 document cites the use of lasers by Portland protesters as a reason to buy 1,000 pairs of Stingerhawk FT-2 Laser Protective Eyewear. "Our FPS personnel saw these lasers used firsthand in Portland," the request says, "and had discussions with Seattle Police Officers who felt the effects on the first night of rioting and then utilized laser resistant safety glasses and expressed that they were very effective."

At least three federal officers could be left permanently blind after they were attacked with lasers by protesters in Portland this week. The officers, part of the Federal Protective Service, were injured during rioting in the city on Monday night as they attempted to keep anti-government demonstrators from gaining entrance to a federal courthouse in the city's downtown area. “When officers responded to put out these fires, glass bottles were thrown and lasers – which can cause permanent blindness – were shined in their eyes,” said Deputy Director of Operations Richard Cline. “We have three officers who currently have eye...

FRESNO, Calif. — U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced a Turlock man today to two years and three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for purposefully striking a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter with the beam of a powerful laser, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.In March 2018, Roger Shane John, 34, pleaded guilty. According to court documents, on the evening of Oct. 22, 2017, John struck a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter, Air 101, five to six times with a powerful green laser, causing visual interference of both the pilot and tactical flight...

the future...

As astronauts explore the Moon during the Artemis program, they may need to make use of the resources that already exist on the lunar surface. Take water, for instance: Because it's a heavy and therefore expensive resource to launch from Earth, our future explorers might have to seek out ice to mine. Once excavated, it can be melted and purified for drinking and used for rocket fuel. But how much water is there on the Moon, and where might we find it? This is where NASA's Lunar Flashlight comes in. About the size of a briefcase, the small satellite —...

Scientists have been chasing silicon-based lasers for years—they’d provide a faster, cheaper way to move data across or between computer chips. Now researchers say they’ve gotten efficient light emission from silicon by forcing it into a new shape. Replacing copper wires with beams of light makes it possible to send data from one transistor on a chip to another, or from one chip to another, at higher speeds and with less power, without having to worry about the excess heat generated by electrical resistance. Other types of lasers can do that, but the semiconductors they’re made of are more expensive...

The U.S. Navy has sent an apparent warning to China that it better stop harassing American service members, following an incident in which a Chinese warship aimed a military-grade laser at a Navy P-8A Poseidon surveillance plane. “You don’t want to play laser tag with us,” the Navy posted on its official Instagram account on Feb. 28. The incident happened on Feb. 17 in international airspace over the Pacific Ocean about 400 miles west of Guam, a U.S. territory, according to the military. “The laser, which was not visible to the naked eye, was captured by a sensor on board...

A Chinese destroyer used a weapons-grade laser to target a US Navy P-8A surveillance aircraft flying above the Pacific last week, US Pacific Fleet said Thursday.

Florida man was arrested last week after he was caught on video pointing a laser — attached to an AR-15 — at a police helicopter flying overhead, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. The sheriff’s office chopper was working with Port St Lucie Police on an unrelated burglary last Saturday when the incident took place, the sheriff’s office said. A video camera onboard the helicopter captured Norman Flaxman walking outside his home, pointing the rifle directly at the helicopter and “deploying the laser two to three times,” deputies said.

The Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), at the Israel Ministry of Defense revealed that a technological breakthrough has been achieved in the development of lasers for the interception of RAM (rocket, mortar, and artillery) threats, UAVs, and ATGMs Head of the Directorate of Research and Development in the DDR&D, Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem stated: “We are entering a new age of energy warfare in the air, land and sea. The R&D investments made by the DDR&D in the last years have placed the State of Israel among the leading countries in the field of high-energy laser systems. Throughout...

Police have developed a laser-based defense system, similar in essence to the Iron Dome system and intended to thwart incendiary balloons and drones launched from Gaza toward Israel, Yisrael Hayom reported. The laser system is known as the "Light Blade", and police say it is the first in the world to demonstrate operational capability to blast balloons and drones. The balloons and kite threat from Gaza that sparked fires in the south and hilly localities and that have the capability to carry payloads and other explosive devices, led the Border Patrol and the Police Means Development Department - in collaboration...

Toward a High-Velocity Astronomyby Paul Gilsteron May 15, 2019 Couple the beam from a 100 gigawatt laser with a single-layer lightsail and remarkable things can happen. As envisioned by scientists working with Breakthrough Starshot, a highly reflective sail made incredibly thin — perhaps formed out of graphene and no thicker than a single molecule — could attain speeds of 20 percent of c. That’s good enough to carry a gram-scale payload to the nearest stars, the Alpha Centauri triple system, with a cruise time of 20 years, for a flyby followed by an agonizingly slow but eventually complete data return....

U.S. Air Force says a ground-based laser downed multiple test missiles over New Mexico. A successful ground test has moved the U.S. military one big step closer to putting anti-missile lasers on its aircraft. A ground-based laser shot down “several” missiles in flight during an April 23 test at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Air Force officials said. Run by the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, the test was part of the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD, a program intended to protect aircraft from incoming missiles. AFRL officials said security reasons prevented them from...

Commercial satellite images have provided the first photographs of a secret Chinese anti-satellite laser base in western Xinjiang province, along with other high-technology weapons facilities. The laser facility is located near a lake and is about 145 miles south of the Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. The facility was discovered by retired Indian Army Col. Vinayak Bhat, a satellite imagery analyst who specializes on China. China is using its satellite tracking stations located throughout the country as a means of identifying and targeting satellites.