Laser-boosted light sail experiments with the 150-kW LHMEL II CO2 laser

Leik N. Myrabo; Timothy R. Knowles; John O. Bagford; Daniel B. Seibert II; Henry M. Harris

doi:10.1117/12.482034

13 September 2002 Laser-boosted light sail experiments with the 150-kW LHMEL II CO₂ laser

Leik N. Myrabo, Timothy R. Knowles, John O. Bagford, Daniel B. Seibert II, Henry M. Harris

Proceedings Volume 4760, High-Power Laser Ablation IV; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482034
Event: International Symposium on High-Power Laser Ablation 2002, 2002, Taos, New Mexico, United States

Abstract

Laser-boosted lightsail experiments were carried out on 4-8 December 2000 with the 150 kW LHMEL II carbon dioxide CW laser at Wright Patterson Air Force Base - in their 2.74 m long, 2.13-, diameter vacuum chamber. All 5-cm diameter sail specimens were fabricated by ESLI. The prior Dec. '99 pendulum tests used ultralight carbon microtruss discs, sputter-coated with molybdenum on the front face to improve reflectivity at 10.6 um - and are the first known measurements of high power laser photonic thrust with real candidate lightsail materials. The Dec. '00 vertical wire- guided tests employed an improved moly-coated carbon-foil material with the same basic microtruss substructure. The performance of this new carbon foil sail was superior to the earlier specimens.

Citation Download Citation

Leik N. Myrabo, Timothy R. Knowles, John O. Bagford, Daniel B. Seibert II, and Henry M. Harris "Laser-boosted light sail experiments with the 150-kW LHMEL II CO₂ laser", Proc. SPIE 4760, High-Power Laser Ablation IV, (13 September 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482034

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