Fiscal Year	2014
Division	Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department	Physics
Investigator(s)	Price, Michael J.
Sponsor	Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command (Navy)
Summary	Currently, the USS Ponce has been deployed with a Solid-State Laser (SSL) for use in defensive capabilities. This laser has the ability to destroy Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UA V's) and small ocean crafts at very small cost per shot compared to other methods (e.g. Close-In Weapon System (CWIS), missiles). The SSL, however, has a fixed wavelength, the output power is limited to approximately 100kW, and it has poor optical beam quality. The Free-Electron Laser (FEL) could provide additional capabilities since its wavelength is adjustable, its power can be scaled to MW level, and it has better optical beam quality (very close to Gaussian). Current research at NPS is exploring atmospheric propagation at wavelengths beyond the traditional 1?m band of SSL's. There are longer wavelengths that appear to allow good propagation through the atmosphere. Currently, solid-state lasers are unable to obtain these longer wavelengths, but an FEL can. At longer wavelengths, an FEL can be designed to be much smaller and cheaper than previous designs. The proposed research will study FEL designs at longer wavelengths, using simulations developed at NPS.
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Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal