The Genius of Louis Pasteur

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U.S. DOB The Soviets are two to five years ahead of the United States in the development of an X-ray laser system. According to Teller, the Soviets have carried out expensive tests in large, underground tunnels, while the United States has used tunnels that have simple vertical bore holes. Shown here is the Nevada Test Site, where preparations are underway for an underground nuclear test. The cable will be lowered down the hole to relay scientific data to diagnostic trailers at the surface. The Soviets reportedly use 40 such trailers, compared to the five or six diagnostic trailers used in U.S. tests. defense and probably know what we will discover in the next two years, or perhaps five years. He further emphasized that the Soviet Union has conducted expensive tests in large, underground tunnels, while the United States has carried out only much cheaper, underground tests utilizing simple vertical bore-holes. Teller called for adding $200 million to the SDI program to pay for U.S. tests that are similar to the Soviets'. The use of expensive, evacuated tunnels in underground nuclear X-ray laser tests indicates that the Soviets are carrying out actual weapon-simulation tests. It is not necessary to test X-ray lasers in space to demonstrate and develop full-scale antimissile and antisatellite applications. In fact, this author does not know—and has found no expert who could otherwise detail—a means whereby the deployment of pop-up X-ray laser weapons could be detected. Even X-ray laser predeployment in satellites would be difficult, if not impossible, to detect. (Nuclear weapons have been designed with extremely thin layers of fissile fuel, which means that the device has an extremely low radioactive signature.) The Soviets Are Ahead SDI Director Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson testified that the United States had obtained intelligence data showing that the Soviets were as much as five years ahead in developing X-ray lasers. In particular, Abrahamson noted that the Soviets had conducted an X-ray laser underground test in 1982— probably one of the tunnel tests referred to by Teller—a test that the United States will not be able to carry out until 1987. The Abrahamson assessment had further backup from a report in a new newsletter, TechTrends International, whose first issue May 12 reports that the Soviet Union is carrying out "an energetic developmental program for nuclear-pumped X-ray laser devices at its secret Degalin Valley underground test site." Apparently, this is part of the Chelyabinsk complex near the Ural mountains. The report goes on to state that "X-ray lasers . . . have been high priority development programs in the USSR for at least a decade, with increased activity and funding in the past several years." TechTrends states further: "The effort . . . involves tens of thousands of scientists, engineers, and technicians, according to the Defense Department and intelligence community officials. . . . Space-based sensors have observed numerous tests at the Degalin X-ray laser test site with as many as 40 trailers containing diagnostic equipment with line of sight from the surface to the X-ray test area underground." TechTrends contrasts this with the U.S. practice of seldom using more than "five or six" such diagnostic trailers during tests at its Nevada range. The Military Implications The nuclear-bomb-powered X-ray laser has a truly awesome firepower— a single device is capable of destroying the entire world inventory of missiles and nuclear warheads. As such, it can therefore find both offensive and defensive applications. Utilized in conjunction with a surprise first strike, the X-ray laser could surgically remove all of the opponents' space-based assets and help suppress any deployment of offensive and defensive missiles. Because of its high firepower, the system necessitates a minimum of additional requirements such as target tracking, discrimination, and command and control. Therefore, its deployment would be virtually impossible to detect—especially in a fire-onwarning pop-up mode. However, if both the United States and Soviets have the X-ray laser, it would be far more beneficial to the Continued on page 6 / 46 September-October 1986 FUSION Beam Technology Report
For directed energy weapons, beam brightness is a measure of the system's firepower: the brighter the beam, the greater the number of missiles or warheads that can be destroyed. There is also an inverse square relationship between brightness and the weapon's maximum effective range. That is, if the number of targets that the beam weapon is to engage is reduced by half, it will have a fourfold increase in effective range, and vice versa. The specific numbers Dr. Edward Teller gave in his congressional testimony—a beam diameter of 5 feet over a distance of 1,000 miles—confirm reports that the X-ray laser plasma focusing lenses demonstrated in underground tests have obtained a brightness 1 trillion times that of the hydrogen bomb. Brightness is usually measured in terms of energy or power per unit solid angle—steradians. The solid angle is roughly given by the square of the beam divergence angle measured in radians. Therefore, the brightness is inversely proportional to the square of the beam divergence. The figures given by Teller roughly indicate a beam divergence of one-millionth of a radian, a microradian. This is a factor of about 1,000 times smaller than that the Soviet and U.S. critics of SDI say is the minimum that the laws of physics would permit! Given the inverse square relationship, it also means that the X-ray laser is 1,000,000 times brighter than these critics predict is possible. This would mean that the device could either have a 1,000-fold increase in effective range, or, alternatively destroy 1,000,000 times more targets. Plasma Lens-Focusing The plasma lens-focusing system provides the means for both readily dividing the X-ray laser output into tens of thousands of individual beams and electromagnetically pointing toward separate targets. This large number of beams opens up entirely new types of firing strategies for X-ray lasers, particularly against massive missile salvos. In general, massive missile salvos lead to large numbers of warheads passing through relatively small "windows" in space. If these windows can be saturated with a sufficient density of lethal beams, all warheads and decoys could be destroyed without having to discriminate between them or target them individually. The result would be similar to that of the application of grapeshot or machine guns against massed infantry. The idea here of utilizing a large number of tightly focused beams instead of spreading the laser output evenly over a large area is that a sufficient density of beams achieves the same aerial coverage at a greater range. For example, warheads have an aerial cross section of 1 square meter or more, so having one beam per square meter would be enough to ensure destruction of all targets in a given area. The point is that the empty spaces between the beams represent an increase of least action for this particular firepower application. Given the variety of missile deployments and defen- X-RAY LASER FIREPOWER In this Department of Defense illustration, a single nuclear-driven X-ray laser (lower left) popped up into space, is shooting down the entire Soviet ballistic missile force in its boost phase. This one module could also shoot down these 10,000 Soviet warheads during their 20-minute flight time. The latest X-ray laser tests indicate that its plasma focusing system makes it possible both to divide the laser output into tens of thousands of individual beams and to point to separate targets. sive fields of fire deployment, a wide range of options would be open to the defense beyond this simple model, such as some selective targeting and partial discrimination combined with multiple barrages from different directions against the same window. An ordinary hydrogen bomb has an energy output on the order of 10 15 joules (1,000 trillion joules). Without any focusing, this would be evenly distributed over a sphere which has a total of 4 n steradians. Therefore, the brightness would be roughly 10" joules per steradian. At a trillion times this brightness, the X-ray laser would have 10 2b joules per steradian. To destroy existing types of missile boosters, an energy density of about 1 million joules per square meter would be required. For the tougher, warhead-carrying reentry vehicles, 1 trillion joules per square meter would be needed. This gives a maximum range for the full output directed onto an individual target of 10 billion meters (about 6 million miles) against a rocket booster and 300 million meters (almost 200,000 miles) against a reentry vehicle. Alternatively, if the output is broken up into 100,000 separately directed beams, the respective ranges would be 30 million meters (almost 20,000 miles) and 1 million meters (about 600 miles). In practice, the output would be divided to obtain lethal kills at a variety of ranges from the same device against multiple kinds of targets. For example, low power bursts at long ranges could be used to destroy decoys, leaving the real reentry vehicles more readily targetable. Beam Technology Report FUSION September-October 1986 47
Page 1 and 2: The Genius of Louis Pasteur His Dis
Page 3 and 4: FUSION SCIENCE • TECHNOLOGY • E
Page 5 and 6: Letters Put Fusion in Every School!
Page 7 and 8: strong, stable, homogenous magnetic
Page 9 and 10: SDI OPPONENTS PRESENT PETITION TO U
Page 11 and 12: just a containment structure around
Page 13 and 14: Fusion Report Fusion at the 'Breako
Page 15 and 16: H-mode has appeared only in tokamak
Page 17 and 18: university institute in a governmen
Page 19 and 20: Conference Report Warren Hamerman T
Page 21 and 22: Louis Pasteur After a photograph of
Page 23 and 24: ing classical geometric "projection
Page 25 and 26: action of the twisted staircase or
Page 27 and 28: light. The extent of rotational act
Page 29 and 30: could be as similar as Mitscherlich
Page 31 and 32: Figure 8 HUYGENS'S PRINCIPLE AND CI
Page 33 and 34: thetartrate/paratartrate problem th
Page 35 and 36: esponsbility to maintain leadership
Page 37 and 38: Illustration by Robert McCall, cour
Page 39 and 40: Illustration by Robert McCall. cour
Page 41 and 42: Chairman Talks About America in Spa
Page 43 and 44: and provides a fundamental insight
Page 45 and 46: Courtesy of George Washington Unive
Page 47: Beam Technology Report Teller Confi
Page 51 and 52: ing electrons. A free-electron lase
Page 53 and 54: Figure 1 THE NUCLEAR FISSION PROCES
Page 55 and 56: • the fuel rods of zirconium allo
Page 57 and 58: tion. This glow makes it harder to
Page 59 and 60: y liquid nitrogen to keep the liqui
Page 61 and 62: On Volcanoes, Sunspots, and the Jup
Page 63 and 64: Dr. Joseph M. Hendrie Continued fro
Page 65 and 66: Free Electron Laser Continued from
Page 67 and 68: Green Terrorists at War Continued B

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