Non-Lethal Weapon: DOD seeks to use lasers to create shouting will-o-the-wisp
Laser-Induced Plasma Effect can create sounds up close and personal to scare off crowds.
Sean Gallagher - 3/22/2018, 7:15 AM
The Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Development Program (JNLWD) is closing in on a directed energy weapon that can literally tell people to go away—creating sound waves with laser pulses that can annoy, frighten, or otherwise send the message to people approaching a military unit that getting closer is not a good idea.
The Non-Lethal Laser-Induced Plasma Effect (NL-LIPE) system can be used to manipulate air molecules, creating a ball of plasma that oscillates to create sound waves with a stream of femtosecond-long laser bursts. A first laser creates the plasma ball, and a second then oscillates the plasma ball to create the sound. As Defense One's Patrick Tucker reports, the current Laser-Induced Plasma Effect implementation can only manage an indistinguishable mumble—though it can create a wide variety of very distinguishable sounds, as demonstrated in the video below.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/03/non-lethal-weapon-dod-seeks-to-use-lasers-to-create-shouting-will-o-the-wisp/
