Power Breakthrough Claimed for Multiband IR Laser

NASHUA, N.H., Mar. 30 -- Sanders, a Lockheed Martin company, has reported the development of an infrared multiband laser that has demonstrated what the company describes as unprecedented efficiency and power output.
Evan Chicklis, director of Laser and Electro-Optic Technology with Sanders' Advanced Systems & Technology, said that the laser system -- which was constructed to fit the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures system deployed by the US Armed Forces -- has demonstrated simultaneous output power of 5 W in infrared band I; 0.5 W in band II; and 5 W in band IV. These bands denote the portions of the IR spectrum in which the guidance units of IR missiles commonly operate. Just a few years ago the generation of these levels of power in the infrared countermeasures bands was unachievable even in the laboratory, Chicklis noted.