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Article: Free-electron lasers. (includes related articles on LINAC and RF LINAC)
- Article from:
- Popular Science
- Article date:
- December 1, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FREE-ELECTRON LASERS
Scene: 1991. Near Oro Grande, N.M., a row of steel electric towers marches across the barren reddish-brown desert, terminating amid a cluster of warehouse-like buildings. These long, low structures house the world's largest laser, five-eighths of a mile in length. Some distance away, inside a cluster of domes, are large telescopic instruments that focus the laser light, directing it upward.
Now an unmanned aircraft traces a white vapor trail across the cloudless sky. What happens next is too fast for the eye to follow. A rapid sequence of intense laser pulses flashes from a telescope, striking the plane. This monster laser could ...