High Energy Laser (HEL)

About the Book

Directed Energy Weapons is nothing new to mankind, historically the origination of such weapons falls in centuries ago when first time the famous Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer Archimedes of Syracuse used different mirrors to collect sunbeams and focusing them on Roman’s fleet in order to destroy enemy ships with fire. This is known as the Archimedes Heat Ray. Archimedes may have used mirrors acting collectively as a parabolic reflector to burn ships attacking Syracuse. The device was used to focus sunlight onto approaching ships, causing them to catch fire. Of course the myth or reality of Archimedes Heat Ray still is a questionable story, but certain experiments with the help of a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology was carried out with 127 one-foot (30 cm) square mirror tiles in October of 2005 that was focused on a mock-up wooden ship at a range of around 100 feet (30 m). The flames broke out on a patch of the ship, but only after the sky had been cloudless and the ship had remained stationary for around ten minutes. It was concluded the device was a feasible weapon under these conditions.

About the Author

Dr. Bahman Zohuri is currently at the Galaxy Advanced Engineering a consulting company that he stared himself in 1991 when he left both semiconductor and defense industries after many years working as a chief scientist. After graduating from University of Illinois in field of Physics and Applied Mathematics, he joined Westinghouse Electric Corporation where he performed thermal hydraulic analysis and natural circulation for Inherent Shutdown Heat Removal System (ISHRS) in the core of a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) as a secondary fully inherent shut system for secondary loop heat exchange. All these designs were used for Nuclear Safety and Reliability Engineering for Self-Actuated Shutdown System. He designed the Mercury Heat Pipe and Electromagnetic Pumps for Large Pool Concepts of LMFBR for heat rejection purpose for this reactor around 1978 where he received a patent for it. He later on was transferred to defense division of Westinghouse where he was responsible for the dynamic analysis and method of launch and handling of MX missile out of canister. The results are applied to MX launch seal performance and muzzle blast phenomena analysis (i.e. missile vibration and hydrodynamic shock formation). He also was involved in analytical calculation and computation in the study of Nonlinear Ion Wave in Rarefying Plasma. The results are applied to the propagation of "Soliton Wave" and the resulting charge collector traces, in the rarefactions characteristic of the corona of the a laser irradiated target pellet. As part of his graduate research work at Argonne National Laboratory he performed computation and programming of multi-exchange integral in surface physics and solid state physics. He holds different patent in areas such as diffusion processes and design of diffusion furnace while he was senior process engineer working for different semiconductor industries such as Intel, Varian and National Semiconductor corporations. Later on he joined Lockheed Missile and Aerospace Corporation as Senior Chief Scientist and was responsible for Senior in R&D and the study of vulnerability, survivability and both radiation and laser hardening of different components of payload (i.e. IR Sensor) for Defense Support Program (DSP), Boost Surveillance and Tracking Satellite (BSTS) and Space Surveillance and Tracking Satellite (SSTS) against laser or nuclear threat. While in there he also studied and performed the analysis of characteristics of laser beam and nuclear radiation interaction with materials, Transient Radiation Effects in Electronics (TREE), Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), System Generated Electromagnetic Pulse (SGEMP), Single-Event Upset (SEU), Blast and, Thermo-mechanical, hardness assurance, maintenance, device technology. He did few years of consulting under his company Galaxy Advanced Engineering with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), where he was supporting development of operational hazard assessments for the Air Force Safety Center (AFSC) in concert with other interest parties. Intended use of the results was their eventual inclusion in Air Force Instructions (AFIs) specifically issued for Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) operational safety. He completed the first version of a comprehensive library of detailed laser tools for Airborne Laser (ABL), Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL), Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), Mobile/Tactical High Energy Laser (M-THEL), etc. He also was responsible on SDI computer programs involved with Battle Management C3 and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and autonomous system. He is author few publications and holds various patents such as Laser Activated Radioactive Decay and Results of Thru-Bulkhead Initiation.