Liquid laser from General Atomics and Boeing could win the race to develop high-energy laser weapons

[rangerrebew]

Liquid laser from General Atomics and Boeing could win the race to develop high-energy laser weapons

In 2015, General Atomics, with funding from DARPA, produced a prototype ‘High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense system’ (HELLADS).
Nov 17th, 2020
Laser Weapons 17 Nov 2020

SAN DIEGO – The military has been striving to build a laser powerful enough to make an effective weapon literally since the first ruby laser was demonstrated back in 1960. Forbes reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

16 Nov. 2020 -- Now General Atomics is working with Boeing to realize the goal of a truly weapons-grade laser using new liquid laser technology to break through the barrier holding back current devices.

The original ruby laser had an output of a fraction of Watt, and could not be scaled up. Many other types of laser have been developed over the last sixty years, with generous military funding channeled into those that showed weapons potential.

https://www.militaryaerospace.com/power/article/14187437/laser-liquid-weaponsgrade

[Elderberry]

Not a liquid laser at all.  The lasing material is not a liquid. It is a Liquid Cooled laser.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/10/30/general-atomics-liquid-laser-could-win-high-energy-weapon-race/?sh=5b351e695b3e

In 2015, General Atomics, with funding from DARPA, produced a prototype ‘High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense system’ (HELLADS). The liquid laser is actually a solid-state device, but with channels built into the solid material to allow cooling liquid to circulate. This only works if the cooling liquid has exactly the same refractive index as the solid material so there is no optical boundary between them – a block of the solid would be invisible in a bowl of the coolant (unlike, say, glass in water, which is visible from the refraction and reflection at the interface between the two materials).