Questions tagged [lasers]
Questions about monochromatic, coherent light sources working by stimulated emission.
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Can lightning destroy 1 meter of concrete and steel with ease?
There is a character in my story who is a cyborg and as such they have decided to incorporate an electro laser into their body which has the same voltage and amperage as normal lightning due. An ...
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What would be the optimal amount of pulses per second for pulsed laser rifles?
Setting is near-future and the military starts using pulsed laser rifles and machine guns so they don't need to worry about the logistics of carrying ammunition from one side of the globe to another ...
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Exploring the Feasibility of Laser-Based Ram Scoops Powered by Micro Black Holes [closed]
Ram scoop ships are a well-loved element of hard science fiction, typically employing magnetic fields to harvest interstellar gas. However, this concept often grapples with practical issues like drag ...
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Can we combine a laser with a gauss rifle to get a cinematic 'laser rifle'?
So, I've been trying to think of ways to have a sci-fi "laser beam" in a setting that at least gives a fig leaf of realism. After reading through many other posts here it's become clear that ...
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Effects if a human was shot by a femtosecond laser
Laser guns in science fiction are extremely common to the point of being a common cliche. According to atomic rockets lasers would be much more effective as pulsed lasers compared to continous-wave ...
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Laser finger guns
This is not really connected to my story but I had an idea of having finger guns that actually work. Because lasers are cool I thought that you could have a character with the ability to magically ...
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Could black holes be used to warp a laser transmission back to the point of origin?
I had an idea, in which humanity sends signals out (via Laser Communication), in a search for extraterrestrial life. As a result of gravitational lensing, the laser signals are eventually turned back ...
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Could laser collisions be used as an interstellar dust deflector?
What inspired this question is this : I was once reading that a real effort is underway to dream up a 0.2c spaceship (0.2c means one fifth the speed of light). Another story I read tells that ...
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What would the effects of a space based laser weapon system capable of tracking and destroying any projectile posing a threat to human life?
Imagine a constellation of satellites equipped with sensors capable of identifying any object posing a risk to humans and targeting it with lasers to neutralize it. The constellation covers the entire ...
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Is a world laser possible?
Right now, I am developing a weapon of mass destruction dubbed 'The World Laser'. Basically, the antagonist is trying to destroy the world completely by cutting it in half in a singular motion using a ...
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Thermal Superconductors vs Pulse Lasers...in atmosphere
Based of a conversation with @Starfish Prime regarding the answers from this question here.
In short, while the question itself had a satisfactory answer with it being that pulse lasers would ...
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Thermal Superconductors vs Pulse Lasers
How well can a thermal superconductor protect against pulse lasers?
First off, what is a thermal superconductor? It is a material that has a theoretical infinite thermal conductivity, similar to what ...
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Can lenses defend against lasers in space combat?
You have a spaceship, covered in steel armor. The enemy is shooting a laser at you in pulses intense enough to vaporize the steel. But you have a brilliant idea: float a big glass lens in front of ...
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How to protect against laser blinding warfare?
Here is the problem:
You have a spaceship, with cameras and view ports, and there is a new laser technique going around: Simply shoot cameras with your laser, and blind anyone who tries to peer ...
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Viability of lasers in space [duplicate]
Specifically, if lasers were to be used as a weapon, or as a mining tool, for a spaceship, would it be at all practical? Most spaceships in my world are made of aluminum and/or titanium, at least ...
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Why is my laser’s effectiveness dependent on the target material?
This is for a moderately hard sci-if (as in, as real as I can get it, minus FTL & humanoid aliens)
Side B has been captured by Side A, in order to get them to fight Side C. But Side B has a plan, ...
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Would a laser resistant (heavily heat resistant?) armour for space ships have unfortunate consequences and would it still have to deal with heat?
Basically, I want to decisively put an end to any idea that lasers could be used in my space combat in any large degree. One of the solutions I've thought of is a world having advanced armour (either ...
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What is the Distance needed for gravitational lensing for offensive lasers?
Space Navies A and B are on sufficiently distant orbits around a black hole. They are on similar orbits to each other, and neither side is risking going around the gravity well (for reasons). Lt. ...
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Weapon damage assessment, or What hell have I unleashed?
In Weaponizing the return-energy channel of a one-way portal, I describe the function of a hermes portal, which are magical devices that, when activated by some command, create a connection to a ...
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Could a human brain be non-lethally manipulated by an array of overlapping masers (microwave lasers)?
Suppose a person's head is stabilized in the middle of a dome. The inside of the dome is lined with very fine, weak and accurate masers. Suppose then that these masers are set such that they may ...
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Excuse for plasma, projectile, laser, and particle-beam weaponry to coexist?
My (science-based but certainly not hard sci-fi) world is basically a large island run by a couple of mad billionares. They have each built an army of aircraft armed with cliche "futuristic" ...
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Can Dusty Plasma radiators protect against lasers?
From Project Rho:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/heatrad.php#:~:text=Dusty%20Plasma%C2%A0radiator%3A
Example Image: https://twitter.com/toughsf/status/1154692082478526465
A dusty plasma ...
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How much energy would flashtubes/rods need to receive to emit a pulsed laser strong enough to kill a human at 300 yards in less than a second?
Context:
It is a military sci-fi story where they use technologies that are expensive today because they already became common place. For example, laser-induced-graphene supercapacitors, carbon ...
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Countering Free-Electron Lidar?
In my hard sci-fi setting, there is a technology called free-electron lidar, usually deployed in space. Edit: Essentially, it is a lidar with the ability to change its laser frequency.
One free-...
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Beam Convergence?
I have a character that can release laser beams from both his hands and i just want to know if he can shoot these 2 lasers at a single point and converge causing it to become a singular stronger beam.
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How much resources would be needed to make significant damage with a chemical laser?
Context:
It is the future and some sci-fi technologies are starting to be used, such as lasers. More specifically, chemical lasers.
The thing is that I want to know about nowadays technologies in ...
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What Would Be The Consequences of An Asteroid Literally Falling Onto An Ice Sheet?
On this alternate Last Glacial Maximum Earth powerful psychics bring an asteroid into near earth orbit and deorbit it using entirely laser ablation. Bringing it carefully down onto the Laurentide Ice ...
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Helmet that shoots lasers?
I have a character who wears a high-tech helmet with a high-powered laser mounted on it. Basically, the wearer “stares” at a stationary victim, and the laser is activated. The laser would take a short ...
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Methods for mitigating impact of a large high speed cloud of dust in space
Vaughn Heppner wrote a science fiction series in which humans have to defend against a growing cyborg threat. The star of the series, Martin Kluge, comes up with a way to destroy a group of military ...
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What are reasonable units of energy measurement for my sci-fi RPG?
I am currently creating my own custom sci-fi tabletop RPG system. While I'm willing to make concessions where necessary, my goal is to use plausible physics whenever possible, at least when it comes ...
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Obtaining laser
I did some research on electric dragons and found a post asking about it, in it there was a answer that mentioned an apparently chemical laser used to ionize the air and allow the electric discharge ...
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What wavelength of electromagnetic energy is best suited for burning into a tank's hull?
Background: in my setting, there's a defensive directed-energy weapon installation that runs off of four gas turbine engines similar to the General Electric T64. Between the four of them, ...
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How fast can an alien laser cannon be charged with a magnetic field?
I have some alien laser cannons that I pulled out of a perpetual hurricane. They're cylinders that are two feet long and one foot across. They can only be charged by magnetodynamic coupling - that is, ...
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How would a 21st-century war play out if every country had these alien directed-energy weapons?
Before we get into the gigantic wall of text, here's the question: what applications would the following device have in a 21st-century war - asymmetric, conventional, nuclear, etc. - if every country ...
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Is it possible to have lasers that travel slower than light?
In science-fiction, what are referred to as "laser guns" are usually just plasma weapons that travel slower than the speed of light. But I want to have actual laser - not plasma - weapons in ...
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Plasma windows as justification for Free Electron Lasers?
There are two main types of military lasers: Free Electron Lasers (FEL lasers from now on) and Medium Lasers.
FEL lasers work by "wiggling" electrons through a line of magnets to create ...
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How powerful could lasers be at various sizes if the power source issue is solved? [closed]
How powerful and how long a range could lasers get with no power source issue at
the sizes of:
~5-7 kilograms, man portable
~20 kilograms, semi man portable like
the PTRS
~300 kilograms, wheeled ...
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How to explain why the humans in my setting limit laser weapons to large anti-tank armaments instead of miniaturizing them
So, in my world, the human’s UEN military mainly uses conventional firearms as their primary infantry weapons. However, they do have one non-ballistic weapon: the heavy, shoulder mounted M/DEW-96C ...
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Why wouldn't a space fleet use their lasers for a precision strike?
You are the admiral of a fleet of warships in orbit around Saturn (EDIT: the individual ships can be anywhere in the Saturnian system, including into Titan's orbit), tasked with performing a precision ...
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Could a photon with negative, dark, or anti energy be used to create a freeze ray?
I'm not really a science whiz, but I know lasers generally use photons to increase the kinetic energy of atoms in their path, thus raising the temperature. Now I know electrons have negative energy, ...
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Features of a tricorder from 2060 [closed]
The tricorder (in the generic, non-trademarked sense) is a vital companion for any colonist to the outer Solar System. But what does it detect, and how?
Passive imaging. Using superlens/hyperlens/...
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Copper Armor as defence against laser weaponry?
As I'm sure many of you educated folks on this stack exchange know, copper is one of the most heat-conductive common metals out there. My question: if, for some reason a society with early 20th ...
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What does it take to vaporize (Or possibly put a hole through) a planet? (G.R.B.C. Part 2/2) [closed]
Now, like, 40 minutes ago, I asked a question concerning a possible Gamma Ray Burst Cannon. And I was disappointed, to say the least, with the answers. So, it's time for Gamma Ray Burst Two: Electric ...
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Is a Gamma Ray Burst Cannon possible? (G.R.B.C. Part 1/2)
Now, for a little context, L.G.R.B.C.s, or Lesser Gamma Ray Burst Cannons, are extremely powerful weapons that are used almost exclusively by the Karan, a race of religious automatons that wish to ...
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Does the technology to create a laser weapon naturally provide defense from it?
In a space-faring, war-torn world with mostly-realistic technology, the engineers have been developing laser weaponry and defenses. All sides of the war have roughly equal technology. This question ...
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What are some realistic defenses against laser weapons in space? [duplicate]
In a mostly-realistic sci-fi setting (similar to the Expanse) there are spaceships, satellites, and drones who make use of high-powered lasers for weaponry - both for attack and for point defense.
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Wattage of Laser Rifle
Looking for a ballpark estimate of the wattage of a pulse laser that would do a similar amount of damage as a .22 LR round. Something farmers would use for pest control. This is for flavor in a far-...
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Is it possible to have a mecha act as a walking particle accelerator?
I am thinking of writing a story that is a remake/homage of classic Super Robot anime like Mazinger Z. Part of my idea is to make the main "heroic" robot as "realistic" as possible....
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Dramatic orbital spotlight feasibility and price
Background: It is the year 2021 and I am a reclusive and enigmatic billionaire with a flair for the dramatic. I would like a dramatic spotlight to shine down on me on command (at night), so that I can ...
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Viability of laser cooling a person (trying to create a freeze ray)?
So in my story, I'm trying to develop a plausible freeze ray. Now many people suggest liquid helium, but it seems to have a number of practical setbacks, such as being hard to obtain, needing vast ...
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