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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Science
- Business Standard
China builds laser weapon that works in Arctic cold and desert heat
Chinese scientists have developed a high-powered laser system that can function reliably across some of the Earth's harshest temperature conditions—ranging from -50 degrees Celsius in Arctic regions to 50 degrees Celsius in desert environments such as the Sahara—without the need for heating or cooling systems. According to a report by South China Morning Post, the 2-kilowatt fibre laser was designed by a team led by Chen Jinbao, vice-president of the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT), a prominent figure in high-energy laser research. The laser's compact and portable design marks a sharp departure from existing systems with similar power outputs, such as the European HELMA-P or India's IDDIS, which rely on bulky container-sized cooling infrastructure and truck-mounted platforms. Breakthrough in temperature-resilient laser tech 'Our team has achieved a technological breakthrough in the performance of wide-temperature operating fibre lasers,' Chen and his colleagues wrote in a peer-reviewed paper to be published in July in the Chinese-language journal Higher Power Laser and Particle Beams. The system's resilience stems from several design innovations. These include the use of 940-nanometre pump lasers that exhibit minimal thermal drift and the configuration of nine forward and 18 backward fibre-coupled diode lasers for light injection. Crucially, pump combiners were placed outside the resonator chamber to protect heat-sensitive components, and ytterbium-doped fibre was coiled at 8cm diameters to suppress unwanted parasitic lightwaves. At the heart of the laser lies a dual-clad optical resonator, with highly reflective gratings at both ends enclosing ytterbium-doped fibres. When pumped, ytterbium ions emit photons that are amplified into a powerful 1,080nm beam, filtered and collimated through quartz end-caps. Lab tests confirm consistent high performance In simulations mimicking rapid shifts between freezing and scorching environments, the laser consistently delivered over 2kW in output, peaking at 2.47kW at 20 degrees Celsius. It achieved a power efficiency of 71 per cent with near-perfect beam quality. Ytterbium, a rare earth element largely sourced from China, played a pivotal role in this achievement. Its quantum properties enable efficient energy conversion while resisting performance degradation at high temperatures—a phenomenon known as thermal quenching. Compact system suited for rapid deployment Chen's team stressed the need for wide-temperature capability as laser systems find expanding applications beyond controlled indoor settings. 'To ensure stable output, all standard fibre lasers require integrated cooling systems to maintain temperature control for internal components and optical paths, resulting in a narrow operating temperature range typically centred around room temperature,' the researchers noted. By contrast, the NUDT prototype approaches suitcase-scale portability, a stark contrast to shipping container-sized alternatives in use globally. This makes it particularly suitable for quick deployment in remote, mobile, or conflict-prone environments where temperature extremes are common. Applications across defence and industry 'Fibre lasers offer high efficiency, low cost and compact size, enabling widespread deployment across industrial processing, optoelectronic countermeasures, precision cutting and other fields,' the researchers wrote. They added that future work will focus on pushing the output power higher and broadening the laser's effective operating temperature range. The development signals a significant advance in China's laser weapon capabilities, with implications for both defence and industrial technologies.
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Chinese scientists build a laser weapon that can operate without cooling in Sahara Desert
Chinese researchers have developed a two-kilowatt (kW) fibre laser capable of operating without the protection of heating or cooling systems across Earth's most extreme climates – from temperatures of minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Arctic to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Sahara Desert The device, designed for quick and ultra-portable deployment for both defence and industrial purposes, starkly contrasts with counterparts with similar power output such as the European HELMA-P or India 's IDDIS, which require truck transport with container-sized cooling units to achieve a 1km (0.62 miles) kill range on drones. Led by Chen Jinbao, vice-president of the National University of Defence Technology and a national award-winning pioneer in high-energy lasers , the team overcame a decades-long challenge: stabilising laser performance across 100-degree temperature swings. Their innovation hinges on some radical design choices, including 940-nanometre pump lasers with minimal thermal drift, directly injecting light via nine forward and 18 backward fibre-coupled diodes. They also put pump combiners outside the resonator to isolate heat-sensitive components. Coiling ytterbium-doped fibre at around 8cm (3.1 inches) diameters helps to suppress parasitic lightwaves. 'We have achieved a technological breakthrough in the performance of wide-temperature operating fibre lasers,' wrote Chen and his colleagues in a peer-reviewed paper to be published in the Chinese-language journal Higher Power Laser and Particle Beams in July, now available online. At the laser's core lies a dual-clad optical resonator – 99 per cent reflective gratings at both ends sandwiching ytterbium-doped fibres. When pumped, ytterbium ions emit photons amplified into a lethal 1,080nm beam, filtered and collimated through quartz caps.
