In the above-mentioned vision of high-tech warfare, lasers were mentioned many times. This is definitely not a bizarre myth. Laser is a magical light beam with high intensity, concentrated direction and good monochromaticity formed by the stimulated emission effect. It not only plays a huge role in production, medicine, scientific experiments and other fields, but also greatly promotes the development of military technology.
During the Second World War, Nazi Germany studied it and called it " death light ". The result of their research was that they used a "death light" to kill a rabbit 9 meters away. After World War II, , the United States and the Soviet Union followed the path of "death light" and launched laboratory competitions. Everyone wanted to be the first to obtain research results.
After more than ten years of hard work, in 1960, Columbia University in the United States and the Lebedev Institute of Physics in the former Soviet Union developed lasers almost simultaneously. They further affirmed the huge potential of laser weapons from the unique characteristics of lasers, and immediately began research on using lasers for anti-satellite and anti-ballistic missiles. As a weapon, laser has three destructive and killing effects: one is burning, the other is shock wave , and the third is radiation. When a strong laser beam shines on the target, the surface material of the target absorbs the light energy and melts into vapor. The vapor flow rapidly expands outward, bringing out the target structural material, causing the target to be corroded and form pits or holes.
During the process of gasification and ejection of the target structural material, a shock wave is formed inside the target, giving the target a strong recoil and producing a strong reflection on the back of the target. These two forces attack from the front and back, causing the target to crack. Cause widespread damage and killing. The laser irradiates the target to produce ionization, forming high-temperature plasma, forming ultraviolet radiation and X-ray radiation, causing structural damage to the target material and failure of photoelectric components. The propagation speed of the laser is 30 kilometers/second. There is no need to calculate the advance when shooting. The hit rate is high and the target is difficult to avoid it.
