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Scientists Have Made Bullets Out of Light
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Atnal
State War Academy
Caldari State
#1 - 2013-11-13 00:12:15 UTC
Pew Pew


Quote:
Light beams can be super powerful, but they tend to scatter and lose focus over distance. Bullets are great for aiming at a far-off target, but tend to do a bit more damage than photons. What if you combined the two? You'd have light bullets, which sound like science fiction, but are very recently real.
Related
The Moon, Lasers, and the Ultimate James Bond Torture Device

This week, we learned that NASA can beam data to the moon -- at a frankly astounding 622Mbps -- using a high powered laser. Sounds like cutting edge… Read…

Scientists in Greece and France teamed up to experiment with ring-Airy beams, a particular shape of light waves that actually focuses itself more intensely as it travels, unlike other light forms that disperse over distance. When a high-intensity light source is focused into precise ring-Airy blips, the beam forms into "light bullets" that travel further and more predictably than even conventional Gaussian laser beams. Just look at that diagram. While the other light forms are dissipating into nothingness, the ring-Airy form is actually getting more focused. It sure looks like a bullet.

More than sounding like pure badass, these light bullets could have great uses in industrial and medical environs. Imagine being able to aim super-precise light bullets at tumors or other tissue in laser ablation procedures. You'd excuse a doctor for muttering "pew pew pew pew pew" during that procedure. [Nature Communications via PhysOrg]
Matokin Lemant
#2 - 2013-11-13 02:18:49 UTC
Atnal wrote:
Pew Pew


Quote:
Light beams can be super powerful, but they tend to scatter and lose focus over distance. Bullets are great for aiming at a far-off target, but tend to do a bit more damage than photons. What if you combined the two? You'd have light bullets, which sound like science fiction, but are very recently real.
Related
The Moon, Lasers, and the Ultimate James Bond Torture Device

This week, we learned that NASA can beam data to the moon -- at a frankly astounding 622Mbps -- using a high powered laser. Sounds like cutting edge… Read…

Scientists in Greece and France teamed up to experiment with ring-Airy beams, a particular shape of light waves that actually focuses itself more intensely as it travels, unlike other light forms that disperse over distance. When a high-intensity light source is focused into precise ring-Airy blips, the beam forms into "light bullets" that travel further and more predictably than even conventional Gaussian laser beams. Just look at that diagram. While the other light forms are dissipating into nothingness, the ring-Airy form is actually getting more focused. It sure looks like a bullet.

More than sounding like pure badass, these light bullets could have great uses in industrial and medical environs. Imagine being able to aim super-precise light bullets at tumors or other tissue in laser ablation procedures. You'd excuse a doctor for muttering "pew pew pew pew pew" during that procedure. [Nature Communications via PhysOrg]





Now we finally have an explanation for all the "laser bullets" in sci-fi. I could never get my head around seeing seeing a "bullet" of light actually travailing to the target like in Star Wars

Granted it dont account for the slow speed but at-least it now makes it possible.
Noriko Satomi
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2013-11-13 02:33:23 UTC
Matokin Lemant wrote:
Atnal wrote:
Pew Pew


Quote:
Light beams can be super powerful, but they tend to scatter and lose focus over distance. Bullets are great for aiming at a far-off target, but tend to do a bit more damage than photons. What if you combined the two? You'd have light bullets, which sound like science fiction, but are very recently real.
Related
The Moon, Lasers, and the Ultimate James Bond Torture Device

This week, we learned that NASA can beam data to the moon -- at a frankly astounding 622Mbps -- using a high powered laser. Sounds like cutting edge… Read…

Scientists in Greece and France teamed up to experiment with ring-Airy beams, a particular shape of light waves that actually focuses itself more intensely as it travels, unlike other light forms that disperse over distance. When a high-intensity light source is focused into precise ring-Airy blips, the beam forms into "light bullets" that travel further and more predictably than even conventional Gaussian laser beams. Just look at that diagram. While the other light forms are dissipating into nothingness, the ring-Airy form is actually getting more focused. It sure looks like a bullet.

More than sounding like pure badass, these light bullets could have great uses in industrial and medical environs. Imagine being able to aim super-precise light bullets at tumors or other tissue in laser ablation procedures. You'd excuse a doctor for muttering "pew pew pew pew pew" during that procedure. [Nature Communications via PhysOrg]





Now we finally have an explanation for all the "laser bullets" in sci-fi. I could never get my head around seeing seeing a "bullet" of light actually travailing to the target like in Star Wars

Granted it dont account for the slow speed but at-least it now makes it possible.

Turbolasers and pulse phasers FTW.
Khergit Deserters
Crom's Angels
#4 - 2013-11-13 17:44:56 UTC
Matokin Lemant wrote:
Atnal wrote:
Pew Pew


Quote:
Light beams can be super powerful, but they tend to scatter and lose focus over distance. ]





Now we finally have an explanation for all the "laser bullets" in sci-fi. I could never get my head around seeing seeing a "bullet" of light actually travailing to the target like in Star Wars

Granted it dont account for the slow speed but at-least it now makes it possible.

Now we need and explanation for light sabers. What makes the light into a saber-long segment, instead of an infinitely long ray?
Krixtal Icefluxor
INLAND EMPIRE Galactic
#5 - 2013-11-13 18:03:10 UTC  |  Edited by: Krixtal Icefluxor
Khergit Deserters wrote:

Now we need and explanation for light sabers. What makes the light into a saber-long segment, instead of an infinitely long ray?


We covered this when I posted the same article 2 months ago:

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=3660875

"He has mounted his hind-legs, and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck."  - Ambrose Bierce on Oscar Wilde's Lecture in San Francisco 1882
Lugia3
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#6 - 2013-11-14 04:19:35 UTC
Khergit Deserters wrote:
Matokin Lemant wrote:
Atnal wrote:
Pew Pew


Quote:
Light beams can be super powerful, but they tend to scatter and lose focus over distance. ]





Now we finally have an explanation for all the "laser bullets" in sci-fi. I could never get my head around seeing seeing a "bullet" of light actually travailing to the target like in Star Wars

Granted it dont account for the slow speed but at-least it now makes it possible.

Now we need and explanation for light sabers. What makes the light into a saber-long segment, instead of an infinitely long ray?


A lightsabre is a plasma jet contained within a magnetic field. That is the most likely answer, anyway. In some books there are references to a crystal in the device itself which is also responsible for the different colored lightsabres.

"CCP Dolan is full of shit." - CCP Bettik
Tul Breetai
Impromptu Asset Requisition
#7 - 2013-11-14 08:54:32 UTC
Lugia3 wrote:
Khergit Deserters wrote:
Matokin Lemant wrote:
Atnal wrote:
Pew Pew


Quote:
Light beams can be super powerful, but they tend to scatter and lose focus over distance. ]





Now we finally have an explanation for all the "laser bullets" in sci-fi. I could never get my head around seeing seeing a "bullet" of light actually travailing to the target like in Star Wars

Granted it dont account for the slow speed but at-least it now makes it possible.

Now we need and explanation for light sabers. What makes the light into a saber-long segment, instead of an infinitely long ray?


A lightsabre is a plasma jet contained within a magnetic field. That is the most likely answer, anyway. In some books there are references to a crystal in the device itself which is also responsible for the different colored lightsabres.

^Confirming. It's not laser guns and swords, but charges superheated to plasma.

There's nothing worse than an EVE player, generally considered to be top of the food chain in the MMO world, that cannot smacktalk with wit and coherency.
Lugia3
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2013-11-14 21:07:10 UTC
Magnaguard droids also used special staffs coated with a metal which caused lightsabres to overload and temporarily short-out on contact. The staffs could be charged from just stunning a target to fully electrocuting a person on contact.

In short, don't go within 10 feet of a Magnaguard, especially if your only weapon is a lightsabre.

"CCP Dolan is full of shit." - CCP Bettik