At 02:15 PM 2/19/2003 -0500, Henry Spencer wrote:
On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, Ian Woollard wrote: > Semiconductor lasers >30+% efficient (wall plug to light)50% DC-to-light is now COTS for 800nm infrared diode arrays. *But*, and it's not a trivial but, the output of those arrays is incoherent: there's currently no practical way to phase the diodes together. This makes it awkward to use them for laser launchers. Not impossible, just awkward.
ISTR there has been some recent work on phase locking diode lasers to a reference beam. Am I completely out to lunch?
Cheap big lasers are the primary bottleneck for laser launch. A way to phase-lock diode lasers would be a major breakthrough.
True enough. I don't see why you couldn't go to microwaves, tho. Large phased-array microwave transmitters are remarkably close to off-the-shelf items these days.
-p
Mars or Bust!
www.marssociety.com
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