STO-Activities: (no title)
Activity title:
Military Applications of Extreme Laser Fields
Activity Reference:
SET-334
Panel:
SET
Security Classification:
NATO UNCLASSIFIED
Status:
Planning
Activity type:
RTG
Start date:
2024-07-29T00:00:00Z
Actual End date:
2027-07-29T00:00:00Z
Keywords:
directed energy, extreme laser fields, Femtosecond lasers, laser generated plasmas, SET
Background:
The SET-303 Research Task Group determined the military applications of femtosecond and picosecond laser pulses, the current state of the art and benchmarked codes developed by individual nations to improve predictive capabilities. As next steps, the RTG concluded, that a follow-on effort is required to drive the usage of the technology for military applications. The RTG reviewed the state-of-the-art of moderate and high energy ultrashort pulse laser systems within industry and has seen that rapid development is taking place world-wide to advance the source technology. This rapid advancement in technology will enable alternative means for military application, but also scientific fields such as laser machining, laser driven particle sources, high resolution X-ray imaging etc. The military applications that will provide game changing utility are deemed to be Directed Energy, Sensing and Electronic Warfare. As a result, it is important for NATO to be further invested in studying the potential applications, opportunities and threats made possible by this emerging technology area. We propose the establishment of a follow-on Research Task Group (RTG) to strengthen the NATO community on this field and to enable the development of predictive military models, backed by experimental campaigns to aid future interoperability with this technology.
Objectives:
The applications of this technology are relevant for our forces, but their suitability depends on the distance at which they are produced from the laser source: therefore, the complex propagation of ultrashort and intense laser pulses in the atmosphere is crucial to master these applications. Weather conditions, such as local humidity as well as scattering processes, can also limit the range of usability of such laser pulses for interrogation and interaction with standoff targets. The SET-303 RTG goal was to compare and benchmark advanced simulation codes for predictive capabilities. Due to the complex physics and varying utility of extreme laser fields, the type and complexity of pertinent numerical codes differ significantly. The team developed benchmarking test cases that include the basic physics and completed the baseline benchmarking of all the codes for linear and non-linear propagation in turbulent environment at one wavelength. To further enable predictive capabilities, the test cases need to be extended and more physics need to be included. Specifically, ionization in turbulent nonideal atmosphere, thermal effects of high repetition rate heating of the atmosphere and extension to mid and far infrared wavelengths are needed. Those results then need to be validated against experimental field data, that nations have been collecting over the years.
To strengthen the NATO community in the field and provide significant inputs to the above benchmarking efforts, the team will strive for a small-scale collaborative trial at a user facility in parallel. During the initial planning phase, in the first year, the team will determine the exact topic and parameters that will be beneficial to all participants at a feasible ultra short pulse laser facility such as at one of the European Laser Infrastructure (ELI) lasers, HILASE or similar facilities across NATO nations. In the first year, the members will down select a topic through a workshop. The scientific topics include laboratory propagation through aerosol and its effects of ionization, propagation at nontraditional wavelength, thermal blooming, and its effect on filamentation, and various gas species and its effect on propagation. There are ample opportunities for all Nations to contribute through these efforts, from experimental design, actually carrying out the trial to data analysis and modeling support.
Topics:
The ET determined two main scientific priorities that the RTG need to cover.
1. Continue the benchmark of advanced simulation codes from different NATO nations and compare with experimental test data that will improve predictive capabilities across all NATO nations.
2. Small scale laboratory campaign to answer open scientific questions that support the above benchmarking efforts. Question of interest are how do ultrashort pulses propagate through aerosol environments and how they affect laser ionization, propagation dynamics change at non-traditional wavelengths, what are the effects of thermal blooming, and what are the effects of various gas species and densities
Contact:
Open2Partners:
Title:
Created at 05/10/2023 19:02 by System Account
Last modified at 16/05/2024 08:00 by System Account
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