Lasers Death Rays And The Long Strange Quest For The Ultimate Weapon

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1633884600
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon written by Jeff Hecht and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The whole story of laser weapons with a focus on its many interesting characters and sometimes bizarre schemes The laser--a milestone invention of the mid-twentieth century--quickly captured the imagination of the Pentagon as the key to the ultimate weapon. Veteran science writer Jeff Hecht tells the inside story of the adventures and misadventures of scientists and military strategists as they exerted Herculean though often futile efforts to adapt the laser for military uses. From the 1950s' sci-fi vision of the death ray, through the Reagan administration's Star Wars missile defense system, to more promising developments today, Hecht provides an entertaining history. As the author illustrates, there has always been a great deal of enthusiasm and false starts surrounding lasers. He describes a giant laser that filled a Boeing 747, lasers powered like rocket engines, plans for an orbiting fleet of robotic laser battle stations to destroy nuclear missiles, claims that nuclear bombs could produce intense X-ray laser beams, and a scheme to bounce laser beams off giant orbiting relay mirrors. Those far-out ideas remain science fiction. Meanwhile, in civilian sectors, the laser is already being successfully used in fiber optic cables, scanners, medical devices, and industrial cutting tools. Now those laser cutting tools are leading to a new generation of laser weapons that just might stop insurgent rockets. Replete with interesting characters, bizarre schemes, and wonderful inventions, this is a well-told tale about the evolution of technology and the reaches of human ambition.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Jeff Hecht
ISBN 13 : 0306415461
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Beam Weapons written by Jeff Hecht and published by Jeff Hecht. This book was released on 1984-03-31 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beam Weapons examines the directed-energy weapons that became a central part of the Reagan Administration's Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as "Star Wars." First published in 1984, it describes the science and technology behind directed energy weapons, the state of the art at the time Reagan launched the program, and the military issues involved. The first full-length book published on the topic, it exhaustively documents the technical and military realities and uncertainties.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119310644
Total Pages : 608 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Understanding Lasers written by Jeff Hecht and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-12-27 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The expanded fourth edition of the book that offers an essential introduction to laser technology and the newest developments in the field The revised and updated fourth edition of Understanding Lasers offers an essential guide and introduction that explores how lasers work, what they do, and how they are applied in the real world. The author—a Fellow of The Optical Society—reviews the key concepts of physics and optics that are essential for understanding lasers and explains how lasers operate. The book also contains information on the optical accessories used with lasers. Written in non-technical terms, the book gives an overview of the wide-variety laser types and configurations. Understanding Lasers covers fiber, solid-state, excimer, helium-neon, carbon dioxide, free-electron lasers, and more. In addition, the book also explains concepts such as the difference between laser oscillation and amplification, the importance of laser gain, and tunable lasers. The updated fourth edition highlights the most recent research and development in the field. This important resource: Includes a new chapter on fiber lasers and amplifiers Reviews new topics on physics of optical fibers and fiber lasers, disk lasers, and Ytterbium lasers Contains new sections on Laser Geometry and Implications, Diode Laser Structures, Optimal Parametric Sources, and 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Puts the focus on research and emerging developments in areas such as spectroscopy, slow light, laser cooling, and extremely precise measurements Contains appendices, glossary, and index that help make this book a useful reference Written for engineering and physics students, engineers, scientists, and technicians, the fourth edition of Understanding Lasers contains the basic concepts of lasers and the most recent advances in the technology.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Prabhat Prakashan
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book Optics Light for a New Age written by Jeff Hecht and published by Prabhat Prakashan. This book was released on 1987-01-01 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the wonders of light and optics, exploring such developments as lasers, fiber optics, and holography.

Author : Louis A. Del Monte
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 1640124357
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

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Download or read book War at the Speed of Light written by Louis A. Del Monte and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War at the Speed of Light describes the revolutionary and ever-increasing role of directed-energy weapons (such as laser, microwave, electromagnetic pulse, and cyberspace weapons) in warfare. Louis A. Del Monte delineates the threat that such weapons pose to disrupting the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, which has kept the major powers of the world from engaging in nuclear warfare. Potential U.S. adversaries, such as China and Russia, are developing hypersonic missiles and using swarming tactics as a means to defeat the U.S. military. In response, the U.S. Department of Defense established the 2018 National Security Strategy, emphasizing directed-energy weapons, which project devastation at the speed of light and are capable of destroying hypersonic missiles and enemy drones and missile swarms. Del Monte analyzes how modern warfare is changing in three fundamental ways: the pace of war is quickening, the rate at which weapons project devastation is reaching the speed of light, and cyberspace is now officially a battlefield. In this acceleration of combat called "hyperwar," Del Monte shows how disturbingly close the world is to losing any deterrence to nuclear warfare.

Author : C. Breck Hitz
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470916206
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Introduction to Laser Technology written by C. Breck Hitz and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-04-10 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only introductory text on the market today that explains the underlying physics and engineering applicable to all lasers Although lasers are becoming increasingly important in our high-tech environment, many of the technicians and engineers who install, operate, and maintain them have had little, if any, formal training in the field of electro-optics. This can result in less efficient usage of these important tools. Introduction to Laser Technology, Fourth Edition provides readers with a good understanding of what a laser is and what it can and cannot do. The book explains what types of laser to use for different purposes and how a laser can be modified to improve its performance in a given application. With a unique combination of clarity and technical depth, the book explains the characteristics and important applications of commercial lasers worldwide and discusses light and optics, the fundamental elements of lasers, and laser modification.? In addition to new chapter-end problems, the Fourth Edition includes new and expanded chapter material on: Material and wavelength Diode Laser Arrays Quantum-cascade lasers Fiber lasers Thin-disk and slab lasers Ultrafast fiber lasers Raman lasers Quasi-phase matching Optically pumped semiconductor lasers Introduction to Laser Technology, Fourth Edition is an excellent book for students, technicians, engineers, and other professionals seeking a fuller, more formal introduction to the field of laser technology.

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 904 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Military Review written by and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 904 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Todd Neff
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 163388466X
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Laser That's Changing the World written by Todd Neff and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the story of a laser technology that will have a big impact on society and the brilliant innovators responsible for its developmentLidar--a technology evolved from radar, but using laser light rather than microwaves--has found an astounding range of applications, none more prominent than its crucial role in enabling self-driving cars. This accessible introduction to a fascinating and increasingly vital technology focuses on the engaging human stories of lidar's innovators as they advance and adapt it to better understand air, water, ice and Earth - not to mention mapping Mars and Mercury, spotting incoming nuclear warheads, and avoiding pedestrians and cyclists on city streets.Award-winning science writer Todd Neff invites readers behind the scenes to meet some of the great innovators who have explored and expanded the uses of this amazing technology: people like MIT scientist Louis Smullin, whose lidar bounced light off the moon soon after the laser's invention; Allan Carswell, who plumbed the shallows of Lake Erie en route to developing the aerial lidar now essential for coastal mapping and hurricane damage assessment; Red Whittaker, the field robotics pioneer who was putting lidar on his autonomous contraptions as early as the 1980s; and David Hall, whose laser sombrero on a Toyota Tundra gave birth to modern automotive lidar.These are just some of the stories Neff tells before looking ahead to a future that could bring lidar to unpiloted air taxis, to the contaminated pipes of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and to satellites capable of pinpointing greenhouse gas sources from orbit. As the author makes clear, the sky is no limit with lidar, which promises to make our world safer, healthier, and vastly more interesting.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Mariner Books
ISBN 13 : 9780899192864
Total Pages : 276 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Laser, Supertool of the 1980s written by Jeff Hecht and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 1982 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laser: Supertool of the 1980s, describes the many uses of lasers, from outer space to farms, and from operating rooms to checkout counters. Written for the general public, it tells about the wonders of modern laser technology.

Author : Jeff Hecht
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195162554
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book City of Light written by Jeff Hecht and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2004 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text presents the history of the development of fibre optic technology, explaining the scientific challenges that needed to be overcome, the range of applications and future potential for this fundamental communications technology.